The following was written for the weekly newsletter of the church where I
serve, Country Club
Congregational United Church of Christ.
I’m not sure when I was first
condemned to hell for what I believed or didn’t believe, but it had at least
happened by my college years. Despite
the conservative religious world I grew up in, my parents taught me things like
there was more than one way to interpret the Bible, women were equal to men and
grace was more important than dogma. In
my college years, I was still pretty conservative socially and religiously, but
I had begun asking questions that others frowned upon. Pretty soon I began to enjoy the role of
upsetting the sensibilities of others who claimed to have all the answers. It would take years for me to understand that
my own religious views could be just as arrogant as those I disagreed
with. Eventually, I grew to no longer
care who thought I was a heretic or why; I learned that there were too many
hurting people in the world who needed love to bother wasting my time on people
who judged me.
At this point in my life I’ve found
myself often in the role of being too liberal for conservative Christians and
too conservative for liberal Christians.
I’m considered too liberal by Christians who don’t like my
universalistic views on salvation, my refusal to believe the Bible is the
literal Word of God, my support of and acceptance of LGBT people and so
on. Yet, liberal Christians tend to
wonder why I still believe in the divinity of Jesus, the doctrine of the
Trinity and the supernatural intervention of God in the natural realm. I guess I just can’t please everybody—and
maybe I can’t completely please anybody.
During our recent new member
orientation, I shared about the United Church of Christ and that the common
joke is that UCC really stands for Unitarians Considering Christ. (Although I’m learning that in Kansas City it
could just as easily be called Unity members Considering Christ.). Here at CCCUCC, I’m finding that nickname to
be true for plenty of folks, just as I’ve found it true at other churches where
I have served. So, as one heretic to
another, let me reassure all you folks who doubt Jesus was God or who hold some
other non-traditional belief, that I your minister am neither worried nor
threatened by your beliefs. I don’t
understand my role to be the doctrinal enforcer, rather I see my job as helping
our community of heretics to grow in love of God and love of neighbor. Exactly what form that love takes in terms of
specific religious beliefs is open for negotiation as far as I’m concerned.
In worship on Sunday mornings, I
pray in the name of Jesus Christ and I often use language that equally
interchanges God, Jesus and Spirit. I
will pray in language that speaks of God somehow making a difference in our
lives and bringing healing to our minds and bodies. BUT I will do all these things without the
expectation that everyone in the sanctuary speak, think, sing and pray in the
same way I do. I’ve come to the conclusion
that just as my beliefs have changed over my life thus far they will change
during the rest of my life. Since there
are beliefs I hold today that I may not hold in the future, I have to admit
that I cannot be certain what I believe about God is true or that it even makes
complete sense. My beliefs are the best
I have been able to cobble together thus far on my journey. I view everyone else’s beliefs the same way.
A good example of the mixture of
religious belief I cling to comes when I try to describe what I think about
Jesus. I’m fully aware the doctrine of
the Trinity doesn’t make a whole lot of sense from a strictly rational
perspective, but I have stubbornly clung to a belief in the divinity of Jesus—not
because an external authority like scripture or tradition tells me to do so,
but because I take comfort in the thought that God has experienced what it
means to be human. When I look at the
amount of suffering in our world, at least I can find solace in the thought
that God has personally experienced that suffering too. It seems to help when I fail to find a good
answer for why God allows such suffering to exist. So, if I’m honest, I’m forced to admit that
what I believe about Jesus probably has more to do with my own personal
existential struggles than any kind of objective proof. If I’m willing to admit that my beliefs come
in large part out of my own experience, I have to allow for others to do the
same.
Take heart all you heretics in the
pews! When you hear me using religious
language that resembles that of others who may judge you, please remember that
all I’m doing is proclaiming my own faith perspective and I don’t expect or
want you to agree with everything I believe.
I suspect that you will challenge and shape my faith at least as much as
I as your minister will shape yours.
Even though it might be easier if we all believed the same thing and
could live our life together without anyone changing, such a relationship
sounds awfully boring. I’d rather have
the exciting and at times difficult journey where we challenge each other to
transform and grow. I hope you want that
too.
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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