Truth or Fantasy?  2013 08 18 Jer 23:15-32

A mother asked her son what he learned in Sunday School.  He said that Moses led the Israelites on a pontoon bridge across the Red Sea while God sent fighter aircraft to stop the Egyptian soldiers from attacking them.  She was surprised and asked if that was really what he was taught.  He said, "No, but if I told you what she said, you wouldn't believe me."

There are many interesting stories in the Bible that seem strange to us today, and there were and are many claims made by religious people that can seem strange or even simply wrong.  Religious people were and can be inclined to make claims about what God has or is doing or wants, based on fantasies, wishful thinking or simply lies.  In the time of Jeremiah, the king's court had an abundant supply of religious leaders that would say whatever pleased the king and the ruling class and the people.  Our reading from Jeremiah was a rant against these people along with an invitation to try to get it right.  The way to get it right is to seek a personal relationship with God. "If they had bothered to sit down and meet with me, they'd have preached my Message to my people."

Meeting with God requires careful self-reflection to separate our inner voices from God's voice, diligent examination of the world including our experiences, and prayerful contemplation.  Hosea was a shepherd who listened to what was happening in the world around Israel, and could see what was almost certainly going to happen if Israel continued its path.  Jeremiah was a member of the court who carefully compared the practices of the day with God's demands for justice for all, and could see that Judah's leadership was deviating away from God's path.  

However, no one can be absolutely certain about what God is doing or wants done, and we need particular lenses that we knowingly use to make our own decisions about claims and events.

I use several lenses in my decision-making process.  My Biblical lenses begin with the claim in Genesis that God said all of creation is very good, even the parts I don't necessarily like or appreciate.  The second is the discussion between Moses and the voice in the burning bush where the name of God was given as I am or I am becoming.  Another is Jeremiah 31: 31 to 34 where Jeremiah claims that God will write God's laws in our hearts, and forget we have ever sinned, assuring me that God cares much for mercy and little for judgement in the end.  An important lens is the command to love one another as Jesus loved us -- this sets the bar for how I relate to others.  And there is Paul's passage on love in first Corinthians.  Job and Ecclesiastes claim God mostly lets events happen -- life happens and there is little value in expending a great deal of time to discern where we offended God or in congratulating ourselves on how God rewards us for being good people. Finally, there are Luke's stories about the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son.  These stories assure me that God patiently and persistently works and waits to bring us into right relationship with God and with each other.  God does not seem to want anyone left out of the wholeness God offers. 

My main non-biblical lenses include known information about  creation including laws and solid theories, history, and my observations of people and the world around me.

These are my lenses through which I interpret the rest of the Bible, our traditions, and events in the world. 

Each of you will have your own particular lenses, and because of that, we may come to different conclusions about events or Bible passages or theology.  Until we die, we will have no proof in the modern meaning of that word that one of us is wrong, and the other is right.  The important thing is to be aware of the lenses we are using, and why we use those lenses.

The next task is to distinguish things that can be shown to be true or false, and those things that may be truth or fantasy or wishful thinking or downright lies.  For example, the army of General Wolfe defeated the army of General Montcalm, which is a generally accepted historical truth.  Quebecois also learn that the British army lost most or all of its skirmishes with the habitants of Quebec.  Wishful thinking is that the defeat of the French army was defeat of the French in Quebec.  Similarly, the belief that the First Nations peoples in Canada were defeated is somewhere between outright lie and fantasy.

Most claims about the future fall into the wishful thinking, lies, or yet to be proven categories.  Some are reliable and others are not.  I am very confident that most of December and January will be significantly colder than July and August, but bizarre weather events may prove me wrong.  I could claim that the weather over the next 30 years will be very similar to the last 30, but that would almost certainly be a lie because I know from studies of the past 1000 years and my personal experience of the last 60 years that the weather will almost certainly be much different, probably warmer and more erratic.

I could claim that God wants each of us to donate10% of our income to the support of St. Matthew's, but I suspect that what matters most to God is that we use our money in loving and thoughtful ways.

Jeremiah focuses a great deal of attention on the political arena.  I believe the following about politics:  governments have a responsibility to work for the inclusion of all people in society in sharing the rewards and responsibilities of the nation -- everyone, I believe, is to be seen as being people of worth, worthy of respect and care.  One of the prophets condemned Israel for farming practices harmful to mountain slopes.  I believe governments have a responsibility to show respect for the environment, and to ensure that all entities: individuals, organizations, and corporations show this respect.

Jeremiah emphasized the need for personal connections with God.  I believe it is important for us to make space in our lives for nurturing our spiritual selves, and for developing a sense of connection to God and all that is.  This was an important part of my 16 day canoeing trip on the Churchill River.

Now, to discerning truth, fantasy and wishful thinking.  Today we baptized Alexander using ritual and water and words.  He became part of our congregation, and was welcomed by us.  These are simple truths, descriptions of what has happened and what is.  Where God was and is part of this, we can speculate, and when we die, we will know what was true about our speculation.  Until then, we cannot prove our particular belief .  We believe that his baptism makes Alexander part of the body of Christ, but what that means can be debated and whatever we may believe cannot be proven in the modern sense.  I believe the Spirit is part of this sacrament, and that God uses baptism to bless the person baptized and the family and community of that person, but I do not know the how or what of that and I cannot prove this.  Some people believe that baptism will protect us from harm. 

This belief is known to be wishful thinking or fantasy as baptised people experience hardships and death like everyone else.  I am confident that the baptism of Alexander was good for his family and that our sharing in his baptism was good for the rest of us.

Jesus told his followers to be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves.  This admonition reminds us of our need to be thoughtful and careful about what we do.

An issue for most churches in the West is the decline in membership, especially among people under 45.  There are many explanations about why, and many strategies offered to grow churches and to appeal to people under 45.

One truth that eludes most people discussing religious and spiritual issues is that spirituality and God are not on the near horizon of many people today, and probably never were. 

Jeremiah claims that the leaders and the people in worship services for the most part didn’t really care about God.  They were just going through the motions of socially accepted routines.  Reviewing our church history, I suspect this has always been true.  This means that church is not for everyone, and there is no shame in our failure to connect with them.

Some want to do what we have always done better, believing higher quality will win people.  This fantasy was shared by the makers of LPs, 8-track players, cassettes and CDs. The Blackberry Z10 and Q10 are quite superior to the older Blackberry phones and to their competitors by old metrics, but most people are not buying them anyway.  They do not fit the desires of most people today.

I believe we as the church need to focus more on building relationships with many people outside of the church.

We need to learn about them, and then apply the platinum rule to how we relate to them.  We need to be prepared to meet their needs that relate to our mission as a community of faith.

A conversation I had came with the declaration young parents from other places need the support of others such as foster grandparents, and how to be a Christian parent in today's society.  Right now, many young families are making connections in the playground by the Good Companions Hall.  Where might they be able to do this in the cold of winter? 

A modern claim I believe to have a lot of truth is that most people today need a connection with someone in church before they will come to church.   How can we do this?  A person who specializes in teaching sales seminars, and is apparently very good at it, has offered to present a seminar at a church in Marda Loop in September.  If it happens, I want to be there.  How many people here would appreciate an opportunity to develop skills in connecting with other people?

The false prophets of Jeremiah's time told the leaders they could do what they wanted, and God would bless them.  False prophets today claim we can do what we want without suffering any consequences.  The truth is that we live in balance with 6 billion other people,  possibly millions of species, and a world in constant physical change.  We need to understand that balance and make necessary sacrifices now to avoid greater losses in the future.  A fantasy is that science can fix anything, even though many of our problems come from science.  A lie is that humans do not have any significant impact on the environment.

May the Spirit help us sort out the truth, fantasies and lies in our religious and secular lives.