Genesis 17:1-9 and 15-16

I’m not a biblical scholar and as such will not attempt this morning to present a biblically based sermon.  That’s the pastor’s job.  I’m going to speak to you from my heart, sharing with you what I think, what I believe and what I hope for my family.

Let me tell you a bit about me. I hope this will put my words into better perspective.

I grew up in Lewiston Maine .  Lewiston was a textile and mill town when I grew up.  The three main industries were shoe shops, the Bates Manufacturing Company which was then renowned for its bedspreads, and the Pepperell which made bed sheets.  Lewiston and Auburn were twin cities with Lewiston housing the two mills, and Auburn serving as home to the shoe industry.

The people of Lewiston/Auburn were a mix of Franco-Americans who came to this country from Canada looking for work and a steady income, and a mix of many other ethnic groups who had settled into these two cities years ago.

The Franco-Americans, and I am one, brought their Catholic churches with them. The largest was St. Peter and Paul in Lewiston which was the size of any great cathedral.  The church was then run by the Dominicans, an order similar to the Franciscans.  The Dominicans came from Canada and spoke mostly French. But then so did all of us.  You have to understand that this church had thousands of members, so many that mass services were offered on the hour every Sunday from 6 in the morning till 11 AND every mass was pretty much full.  The church even had two stories, the upper and the lower churches, with masses offered in both.

My grandparents moved to Maine from Canada and my folks were first generation Franco-Americans.  The Catholic Church played a very big role in the lives of Franco-Americans.

Tradition has it that every family should send one of its sons to the seminary to study for the priesthood, and families took great pride in having a son accepted to the seminary.

My father almost became a priest – he was in the seminary in Canada until his father died and he then had to assume responsibility for my grandmother and his siblings.  I’m not happy that my grandfather had to die to force my dad out of the seminary, but I have to admit that I am glad that my dad chose a different vocation – I like being aliveJ

 I spent four years at a Franciscan Seminary in the Catskills in New York , and then my brother spent four years in the same Seminary.  I wasn’t absolutely sure that I wanted to spend the rest of my life as a priest – I figured that out around my third year of high school. The message was made clear when our basketball team played a team from a neighboring high school AND they brought cheerleaders – yeh, the girl kind!  Suddenly the vow of celibacy took on a different meaning J

 All kidding aside, I saw myself as a family person even back then and the thought of living a cloistered life without wife and kids left a huge void in my heart. I knew that I could better serve God in another way.  It was a good experience though and I will always be grateful for the education it provided.

 Ok, back to my childhood.  As I said, I grew up very Catholic.  I was an alter boy from the day I was old enough to be an alter boy.  I went to Catholic grammar school run by the Dominican nuns and by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.  I grew up in church, in prayer and in fear of God.  We were constantly reminded of hell and damnation, of Satan, and of our sinful nature.

 BUT, as sinful and sorry as we were, we were also reminded that we were God’s chosen ones and IF we behaved…, IF we went to church every Sunday…, IF we didn’t eat meat on Fridays…, and IF we fulfilled our annual Easter obligations…, we COULD go to Heaven. We might first have to pass through the doors of Purgatory where we might have to do time for a short while, but Heaven always was an option.

 It was as a child that I first became aware of the fact that there were many other religions out there.  We were told though that ours was the only “real” one and the only one acceptable to God.  We were prohibited from even stepping foot into Protestant churches or Jewish synagogues.  That was actually considered a sin back then.

 We Catholics were taught that Protestants were people who had “fallen” from the church, perhaps like the “fallen angels.” 

 I have to confess that I had a really hard time with this one.  After all, I grew up in a neighborhood where there were many “Protestants” and there was even a Jewish Synagogue right across the street.  You know, to this day I have never stepped foot in that Synagogue.  I don’t even know if it’s still standing.  I must check that out next time I visit mom.

 So here’s my problem.  I looked at those “Protestant” kids that I was playing with and I wondered what it must have felt like to be condemned to hell without any say at all.  They were curiously just like me – well maybe not completely.  But, they seemed like good people and so did their parents.  Heck they even looked like us – they just didn’t speak French.  (Only Catholics in Lewiston spoke French – must be the language spoken in Heaven and we were well prepared.) … We did Mass in Latin with French sermons – what more could God ask for?

 But here we go again.

·        Why wasn’t everyone going to Heaven?

·        How did God decide?

·        Why did he decide to have such an exclusive Heaven?

·        Why couldn’t all these other people go? 

The priest never explained that to my satisfaction.

So anyhow,  I went to the seminary because I thought that was a noble thing to do, and I kind of liked the prospect of “speaking for God,” of “saving souls,” and of “being closer to God”… with perhaps a better seat in the theater of Heaven.

 I discovered in the seminary that the Franciscans seemed a bit more tolerant of “other religions.”  In 1965, the Second Vatican Council issued a Declaration which addressed the relationship of the Catholic Church to non-Christian religions.  This marked an important milestone in the history of Jewish-Christian relations.  The Council acknowledged the roots of Judaism in the church’s history and allowed, even encouraged, us to talk to each other without challenging our faith.  We entertained the idea of ecumenical services and some were actually held.

 So here we are today with three major faiths:  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and a host of other faith traditions and customs.  Three of the big guys share common roots, the belief in one God, and yet each are involved in serious struggles for life, for justice, and for freedom.  Each convinced that they have God’s full support. 

 There are then a number of faith communities that share relatively similar beliefs, yet are different in practice.  There are also the Hawaiians, the American Indians, the Indonesians, and so many others with their communities of faith and religious customs.  They represent ethnic groups (Hawaiians, American Indians, etc) and they also represent people of different faiths.  Many have come to accept one of the three major “faiths” while maintaining their cultural identities.  I find it interesting that Protestants and Catholics think of themselves as “Christians” and yet are sometimes be so far apart.  Amazing - I grew up thinking of Catholics and Protestants as two very different faiths.

 Having said all that, it is clear that the world has divvied itself up into several major camps of faith.

 History shows that most wars were fought in the name of God and religion, and we are today facing a challenge of such major proportion that it could, in fact, destroy the world.   It’s a whole new “us and them” much like the early sixties when blacks and whites were fighting each other, but this times it’s about God.  Bin Laden struck the twin towers on the advice of his God and Bush says he invaded Iraq after consulting his God.  Ok, it might be a little more complicated than that, but it’s scary because both wars were fought with the supposed endorsement of God. Why would any God sanction war and killing in his name? 

 Webster’s New Collegiate defines God this way:

·        “the supreme or ultimate reality: the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness whom men worship as creator and ruler of the universe…

·        the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit:

·        the infinite Mind - a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require man’s worship; specifically: one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality.

·        A person or thing of supreme value.

·        A powerful ruler.

 So, according to Webster, we have a “Being” a “Principle” a “Mind” or a “Ruler” who serves as “creator and ruler” of the universe.

     ·        Do you suppose there can be more than one?

 ·        Do you suppose that God is a single being, or could God be a committee of supreme beings and creators and rulers?

 ·        Do you suppose these Gods got together and divvied up the universe and agreed to each rule different faiths?

 Sounds pretty messy to me.

 ·        Do you suppose that one of these Gods said “I get the Pope” and another said “I get the Rabbi or Mohammed” and so on.

 ·        Did they mess up and send us all to the same planet, when maybe they really meant to send only one faith per planet?

 ·        Do you suppose there are three, four or five Heavens….one for each of the Gods and their believers?

·        How can we all possibly manage in the same Heaven if we can’t even get along down here?

I don’t get it.  I think that there is only one God.

I believe that he/she/whatever has chosen to manifest himself in ways that we will recognize, sensitive to our differing cultural eyes.

One of my favorite movies is a 1977 movie called Oh God directed by Carl Reiner. It’s both funny and serious. John Denver plays an ordinary guy, the assistant manager of a supermarket, who gets an invitation to talk with God.  At first God speaks to him on an intercom, then through all the channels on the car radio, and finally in person.

God, played by George Burns, turns out to be a feisty old man. He wants Denver to tell the world that he cares, that he believes in human beings, and that everything is going to be fine if people do right by each other and the good Earth.

But, of course, no one believes that this unknown guy has actually talked to God, much less seen him. Denver 's wife is perplexed, his kids are embarrassed, and his boss is put off by the whole thing. The newspapers think he is a kook.

But this suburban Moses keeps trying to get God's message across. He finally appears on Dinah Shore 's TV show and is later questioned by a panel of theologians and religious celebrities."

There are a number of great lines in the movie which I want to share with you…  Ok, so you thought that a sermon should quote the Bible and other great theological literary sources.  Well, this morning you’ve got me, and so you’re stuck with quotes from a simple directed by Carl Reiner….  Sounds reasonable to meJ

See, I think that we sometimes take ourselves way too seriously and, in doing so, work too hard at finding answers that are right before our eyes.  I have found that the harder I look the more confusing the answers become.  Life is not that complicated, and God shouldn’t be either.

So back to the movie… When God first appears to Denver , he (George Burns) appears in Denver ’s bathroom dressed in a windbreaker, a plaid shirt, sneakers, glasses and a ball cap.  Denver looks perplexed and maybe somewhat disappointed.

God says: “I picked a look you could understand – for someone else, I would look different.  I could even be a woman.”

Denver is wonders why he was chosen by God to be God’s spokesman so he says: “Why me, I don’t even belong to any church?”  …And I love this answer! God replies: “I don’t either!”

At one point in this movie, a committee of theologians comprised of ministers, bishops and rabbis submit a list of questions for Denver to ask God.  These questions are intended to discredit Denver and put an end to his ranting.

One of the questions is: “Which of the world’s religions is the closest to divine truth?”  God answers: “The divine truth is not in a building, a book, or a story – the heart is the temple where all truth resides.”  I love that…profound and from a Reiner film no lessJ

Ok, that’s it for heavy quotes this morning, but in the simplicity of this movie I think there are hints of profound truth.  So I’m going to give you a homework assignment this morning. How many sermons come with homework?…  Must be my old teaching background showing through.

I’m going to challenge you to go to Blockbusters, or wherever, and rent this movie.  You’ll get a laugh, enjoy an evening with your family, and might even find hints of truth and wisdom in this lighthearted, mischievous movie.  I think you’ll feel good and you’ll be happy that you did watch this movie, even if you’ve seen it before.  You might pay close attention to the “Committee’s 10 Questions” – might give you something to think about.

Back to the serious…I have spent a lot of time these past six years thinking about, reading about, wondering about, and exploring what I call “the God thing,” and I still am not sure what the story is.

I have become much too experienced in dealing with death.  I have said before that death is a real eye opener.  It makes you rethink everything that you ever believed, took for granted, or didn’t believe.  It makes you think about life in the present, in the past and in the future.  It makes you wonder who this God person is, what his plans and schemes are, and where you fit in the scheme of things.  It makes you wonder whether there even is a scheme.

I have been on a renewed quest for knowledge and meaning for these past six years.  I have read numerous books and written volumes of notes in a diary that I hope to someday edit and publish to help others journey through the grieving process.  I have read Christian books, books by Jewish authors, the Dali Lama, books reflecting Toltec beliefs, and many others.  These all dealt with life, death, and finding meaning in both.   What I have found interesting is that all have a common string.  They all pointed to a supreme being, a god, spirituality as a common guide and they all were remarkably similar.

In preparation for today’s project, I read a new book called “One God, Three Faiths:  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam”  It’s a course taught by F.E. Peters who is a professor of history, religion and Middle Eastern Studies at New York University.  His professional interests have turned to the comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  It’s an interesting, if not heavy read, but it points out remarkable similarities in the three faith communities. 

Peters says that “Judaism, Christianity and Islam should be thought of as three faith communities rather than as three “religions. They are communities of believers, each with its own ideology, history, traditions, and of course, members - the great number of Jews, Christians and Muslims past and present.”

Interesting that these three faiths which have foundations in the Torah (the five books of the Old Testament), the Christian Bible, and the Quran each assumes the creation as the absolute beginning of time, and insist on an omnipotent creation from nothing.

Peters says that “the history proper of the three great monotheistic communities of Jews, Christians and Muslims begins with God’s Covenant with Abram (later called Abraham)”.

All three are monotheistic.

The book details the eventual shift or split into different faith communities, but what I found most interesting and affirming was that all three shared Abram (Abraham) from the start.  All three are monotheistic, and all three share remarkable similarities as recorded in either the Bible or the Quran.  We are remarkably more alike than we are different.

We were doing quite well until politics, land and war came into play. 

So where am I going with this?  I began this exercise by saying that I am not a religious scholar.  I wasn’t trained as such and do not intend to present arguments based on scholarly credentials.  I was asked to speak from my heart, to tell it as I see it, right or wrong.

So, I put it out there.  Your job is to consider what I say and to be challenged by what I present…I am not here to convince anyone of anything… I’m just being me – that is sometimes what I do best.

Buddy said “tell them what you think, what you believe.”

 I wish it were that simple, but I’m not sure what I think or what I believe…I think that the minute I convince myself that I know all the answers I will cease to exist…  Thinking is living, and knowing might be dying.  Sounds morbid huh?!

What I have found for me, is that we’re all in this together.

I’m quite sure that I too am monotheistic.  It just makes sense.  As I argued when I taught science to 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders some 35 years ago, “if we can explain everything scientifically, down to the very first and smallest hydrogen atom, then where did that come from?”

I have often argued that religion differs from faith in that religion, in my opinion, is institutional, political, and created by man.  It has all of its inherent problems and weaknesses, most of which divide us rather than unite us.

Faith, on the other hand, is about our relationship to God and it is what unites us.  We may practice different religions which are driven by our different cultures, different politics, different socio/economic needs, but look closely and you will be amazed at our similarities:

·        We are all human

·        We are all struggling to make it day to day

·        We all love our children and our families

·        We all seek community

·        And we all “look up” to someone, something, bigger than us.

Peters talks about one God and three faiths.  He points out the common thread in these three major “faiths” and argues that all three share what I think is the same God.  Yet, despite our commonality in “faith” we are often so different in “religion.”

And, if these three “major faiths” are different yet the same, take a look at Christianity.  How many “religions” fall under the umbrella of Christianity?  I began by talking about my Catholic upbringing and I pointed out how different, and I suppose exclusive, we thought we were then, and to some, are still today.

If we “Christians” can’t get it together, how can we possibly get along with the other “big guys” and with everyone else?

I think we can.  I think that we can, and we often do.  But it’s a tough job and one that we can’t give up on.

Our own little church here is a combination of two “religions” – Presbyterians and Disciples.  We are, in a small way, the best example of what I am talking about.  We share the same God; we share the same Church; we share the same Congregation; we share the same Sunday Service; and we share the same faith.  And, we honor and celebrate our differences.... And so should it be with “the other guys!”

I have often joked that we will remain politically and religiously separated “until” we find a more compelling reason to unite.  Mankind will remain divided until we discover that there is “someone… or something else” out there.  Yeh, that’s what I’m talking about – ALIENS J.  Then we’ll be good friendsJ

OK, one last heavy philosophical quote, a thought for the day, from a highly respected source - a fortune cookie I got at Pandas last week:

THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE A FRIEND IS TO BE ONE.

See, you don’t have dig deep for wisdomJ

I really don’t think that there is a committee of gods up there making big decisions.  I think there’s one multi-lingual God trying his best to get all of our attention.

Hey, try this on for size, maybe he/she/whatever is not “up there” or “out there.”

Maybe we need to look “in here.”  Maybe we need to look to each other.  We’re a lot more alike than we give ourselves credit for

As our friend John Fink from channel 8 says. “Think about it.”     

We’re going to do something different this morning.  We’re not going to sing a hymn.  What I would like you to do is to pause and to turn inward. 

So, I invite you to sit back, close your eyes, and listen as Barbara Streisand sings a song that I think is appropriate right now.  It’s from her Christmas CD and it’s called “One God.”

Let the music and the words help you retreat into our weekly moment of stillness and quiet.