TRUE RELIGION

August 28, 2005

Texts – Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

James 1: 19-28

            Religion . . . the word has an increasingly forbidding ring to it.  Time was, not so long ago, that we thought of it in essentially positive terms.  Now many of us hedge our bets.  “I’m not really ‘religious,’” people will say, “but I am spiritual.”  Have you heard that one?  I have. 

            “I do benefits for all religions,” Bob Hope once said; “I’d hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality.”  It was funny back in the 1960s and 1970s, but that was a different world.  Now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction.  Now we associate the word with “extremism” and “terrorism.”  Pat Robertson’s disgusting remarks last week urging the assassination of the democratically elected President of Venezuela are a case in point.  Who was it who said, “We have met the enemy and he is us”?

            Religion.  Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines it as “a cause, principle or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.”  Interesting, isn’t it?, that there’s nothing in there about devotions or denominations.  Religion is not primarily the various forms and rituals, creeds and cultures we often associate with the word.  It does not refer to a certain smarmy personality, pious appearance, or emotional extremism.  Clearly that is not what we hear in our text today from the Letter of James.

            His is a classic definition.  “Religion that is pure and undefiled ... is this:  to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” [James 1: 27]  In the old King James translation, that last part reads: “to keep oneself unspotted by the world.”  So much for eating spaghetti while wearing a white blouse!

            To keep oneself from being corrupted by the mores of contemporary culture . . . that’s what James is talking about here, isn’t it?  It’s a dimension of all healthy, authentic religion, without which neither individuals nor societies can survive.  All great religion involves a controlling view of life over against the confusing and chaotic ideas and attitudes peddled by the culture around it.  True religion always involves limits, boundaries, and restraints.  It involves struggling with wit and will to keep ourselves from corruption by current cultural values in so far as they contradict the high moral demands of God.  True religion means, you see, surrender to ... submission to ... control by fundamental principles and perspectives, injunctions and rules, because without this we become the victims of every external or internal impulse that comes along.  We lose both our sense of worth and our sense of direction.

            Our English word comes from the Latin term, religio, which means “to bind,” as in “to bind oneself to God and God’s will.”  Behind it lies the insight that we are not truly free to be human and happy unless we bind ourselves to certain eternal perspectives and principles, no matter what the current fads may be.  A society that forgets this, loses sight of this, is headed for confusion, chaos, and collapse no matter how wise its institutions.

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            We learned this the hard way back in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, didn’t we?  Back then the pendulum was swinging the other way.  Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud were all the rage, arguing that religion was a fantasy and always had been.  They allied themselves with Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote in 1866 that “the decline and collapse of the religious impulse will leave a huge vacuum which (will) produce new messiahs, uninhibited by any religious restraints.”  He turned out to be right.  Think Hitler.  Think Stalin.

            A Russian Christian, the philosopher Nicolas Berdyaev, who watched all this happen drew this conclusion – “Man [sic] without God is no longer man,” he said . . . “Humankind without God,” we would say today, “is no longer truly human.”  Berdyaev continued: 

            “that is the religious meaning of ... modern history.  Interiorly divided and drained of ... spiritual discipline, humankind becomes the slave of base and inhuman influences; ... the soul is darkened and alien spirits take possession of it.  The flowering of the idea of humanity (in western culture) was possible only so long as human beings had a deep belief in and consciousness of principles above (mere) self, and were not altogether cut off from their divine roots.”

            Interesting, isn’t it, the way the pendulum swings?  Religion back then was understood to be the key ingredient required to help us be fully human.  It was seen as absolutely essential if we were to have a chance to live together in peace and harmony.  Now the tables have been turned, thanks to the fundamentalists of too many great world religions.  Now words like “jihad” and “crusade” have taken possession of too many souls, threatening to plunge us all into darkness.

            I wonder if you remember Alvin Toffler and his groundbreaking book entitled Future Shock?   Toffler published that work more than thirty years ago, and though it’s been a long time since I read it, his message (as I recall) was that the future was going to be shocking because the waves of change would come so fast, so rapidly, that people would be overwhelmed and disoriented.  He said that as society got more and more complex, people would gravitate toward black and white answers to complex questions, looking for something secure to hold on to in a changing world ... and that people would seek a faith-source that would give them a black and white religion, with black and white answers.

            He was apparently right.  The culture has shifted.  People want black and white answers in a complex, changing world.  And more and more people are gravitating to churches and organizations that offer a black and white God and a black and white set of answers to complex issues such as abortion, human sexuality, war and peace, capital punishment, the role of women, the separation of church and state, and the origins of life.  We want “sound-byte theologies” and “brand name identities.”  In too many places, the question of what it means to be “a true Christian” has been reduced to a litmus test of certain beliefs and doctrines.

            For better or worse, you and I stand in a tradition that refuses – and has longed refused – to participate in this quest for ideological purity or simplicity.  When our forebears came together two hundred years ago to form this church, they called themselves the First Calvinistic Congregational Church of Burlington, Vermont.  Calvinistic, meaning “in the spirit of John Calvin.”  He’s the man who said, “Our mind is in service to God.”  He also said, “God alone is Lord of the conscience.” 

            You will not hear in this church that “the Bible says” wives should be subordinate to their husbands, or that women should not be in church leadership positions, or that gay and lesbian persons are “godless” or that if you don’t believe a certain doctrine then you are not a true Christian.  You also will not hear that if you have a particular position on a social issue you will be denied communion or barred from membership.  We will not tell you what to think or believe.  What we will do, and I hope often have done, is to tell you what we believe and why we believe it, and we will challenge you to think carefully and prayerfully about all kinds of issues that impact our lives as human beings.  Why?  Because our minds need to be in service to God, recognizing that only God can be the true master of the human conscience.

“ . . . to keep oneself unstained by the world,” the brother of Jesus says, is the essence of true religion.  It is the ability to stand apart from the pressures and the programs, the cliches and the pendulum swings, that so characterize our species.  And I would add:  even when you agree with them; indeed, especially when you agree with them.  Why?  Because true religion calls us to bind ourselves to the high moral demands of God . . . not of our neighbors nor of our nation nor even of our co-religionists.  If we fail to do that, we not only wreak havoc on the world around us . . . we destroy ourselves.

            Notice what James cites as an example of the kind of discipline and restraint required by true religion.  It is not about sensual abuse, economic dishonesty or even self-aggrandizement, important as these are.  It is rather a little thing – the control of one’s tongue.  “If anyone thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue . . ., this man’s religion is vain.” [James 1: 26]  It almost seems trite, doesn’t it?  But an awful lot of the suffering in the world, from the international to the interpersonal, is caused by words.  It was with words that Hitler first began to destroy civilization.  It is with words, carelessly spoken, that many marriages begin to unravel.  It is speech out of control – personal and media speech, yielding to impulse, shooting for sensation, competing for attention – that eats at self-worth and meaning, generating anger and bitterness, desensitizing the heart and destroying love and relationships.  James is right.

            So true religion ultimately has little to do with elaborate ritual or pious posture.  It has to do, rather, with submission to a higher will and way – one that does not stifle but stimulates . . . it not only restrains, but renews.  Why?  How?  Because it enables us to transcend ourselves, our own petty preoccupations and miseries, in service of larger ends and care for one another.  The greatest mystery of life is that satisfaction and joy are felt not by those who take and make demands but by those who give and make sacrifices.  In these alone the energy of life does not fail.

            That’s what I have experienced in my life.  It is what I hear in the pages of this old book.  James gives a concrete example.  “Religion that is pure and undefiled,” he says, “is to care for orphans and widows in their distress.”  Doesn’t sound very exciting on the face of it, does it?  But consider – the peculiar service and sacrifice that characterized the life of Jesus, and which his brother James advocates, is service and sacrifice for the sake of those whom the times and the culture marginalize.  In those days, it was the widows and orphans.  They had nothing to offer.  They were unproductive as far as the economy was concerned.  They could give little or nothing in return.  It is precisely in reaching out to such as these, both James and Jesus say, that real life is to be discovered.

            There is a lot of talk about spirituality in our time, but much of it is shallow and self-centered, never leading beyond narcissistic navel-gazing to involvement in the needs of the real world.  That is why the sacrifice and service which lead to real life means standing against even dimensions of the religious culture of the day.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled,” James says ... true religion ... is to care for those who have nothing to offer, who can give nothing in return.  Common sense does not teach us this.  Popular culture invariably says, “Cater to those who can do you some good.  Love those who may be worth something to you some day – your family, your friends.”  Against that attitude comes the truth of life that real, rewarding, energizing, satisfying, joyful living involves reaching out to those in need.  It may be simply a matter of business women and men who care not only about the bottom line but who go out of their way to acknowledge the dignity and need in their colleagues and co-workers.  It may be professionals who care not only about excellence of performance but who take the time to see before them more than a kidney or a client.  But you know what it can involve.  Many of you volunteer at JUMP on Monday mornings.  You visit nursing homes or teach in the church school.  You stand alongside refugees and offer your services to the shut-in and the shut off.  Some of you even became “baby holders” this summer for children not your own.  It is not always easy or fun.  And it is not something you have to do.  Nor is it just a hobby or a way to kill time.  This is true religion; it is the source of meaning and joy for your life.

            Finally, a last thing to be said – the religion about which James writes is by definition a voluntary thing.  The religion that makes a difference in us is a choice, a decision.  A controlling view of responsibility, a care and concern for those in need; these have meaning and power only as they are freely and fully embraced.

            I always think this time of year about the little guy who was experiencing his first day of first grade.  At lunchtime, he packed up his crayons, papers, scissors and paste and was ready to head out the door.  His teacher stopped him and said, “It’s time for lunch, Tommy.  Why aren’t you with the other children?”

            “I always go home when the other kids go to eat,” he replied.  “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

            “No, Tommy,” his teacher said, “that was last year when you were in kindergarten.  This year you get to stay all day.  You go to lunch, then come back here in the afternoon to study and do more work.  You’re only half through for the day . . .  There’s lot’s more.” 

            Tommy thought about this for a moment, then shook his head in frustration and grumbled:  “Who signed me up for that?”

            Well, life feels that way for all of us on some days.  Somebody signed us up for learning and labor ... for mowing the lawn and buying the groceries ... for changing diapers and driving the car pool.  We really have no choice if we are to be responsible custodians of the gift of life we’ve received.  September and the beginning of a new school year just seem to accentuate the point and hasten the pace.  But true religion, and the opportunities to serve that make a difference . . . that can be the source of meaning and joy for our lives . . . for these we have to sign up.  We have to choose.