Jeremiah 31: 33-34a & Revelation 21: 3-5a
Roger Lynn
October 14, 2018
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” From time to time I see this message proclaimed from a billboard along the side of the highway. And every time I see it I wonder to myself, “What does that even mean?” For one thing, it is archaic language. We don’t actually talk that way any more. So I don’t really know what it means to believe “on” Jesus. It is not my intention to belittle people who use such language to express their faith. It just doesn’t work for me, in part because of the archaic language, but perhaps more significantly because of the emphasis on “believing.” As it was originally used when the New Testament was first written, the word “believe” was closely related to the word “trust.” It was personal, connectional, and relational. In short, in was powerfully heart centered. Unfortunately, over the last 2,000 years our understanding of this incredibly important word has largely migrated away from the heart and taken up residence in the head. Believing has become synonymous with giving assent to a set of precepts, principles, and dogmas. It frequently ends up being little more than an intellectual exercise. “Yes, I believe that this check-list of ideas is true.” There are conversations about God, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but all too often such conversations don’t actually involve anything that could be described as personal experience. It stays in the head but doesn’t touch the heart.
Admittedly this is a big generalization. Of course there are many people who use words like “believe” to describe their faith who have rich, vibrant, personal, heart-centered relationships with God. At the same time, however, I suspect that there are many other people for whom words such as “believe” prove to be a barrier which limits their access to the transforming power of a deep personal experience of Sacred Presence (aka God). It can be something like the picture on the front of the bulletin. Both halves of the image reveal a butterfly, but without the heart connection which comes with personal experience our perceptions can lack color and depth and vibrancy.
When I first conceived of this sermon I titled it “Believing in God versus Experiencing God.” But then I began actually working on it, and as I started to put words together and what I really wanted to say began to take shape I came to realize that my thinking had evolved and the title needed to be changed. The word “versus” needed to be replaced. It isn’t an either/or, this versus that, contrasting competition sort of a thing. It’s not that believing is bad and experiencing is good. What I am really trying to suggest is that it takes both halves to make a whole. Head and heart are both needed.
That having been said, however, I still come back to my main concern. Head and heart may both be needed, but for a long time now we have had a tendency to over-value what happens in our heads and under-value what happens in our hearts. So our lives, and our faith, have tended to become out of balance. Of course we need to pay attention to the work of our intellect. Words matter. Ideas matter. But without the important work that takes place in the heart our words and ideas tend to calcify and become rigid. We have a tendency to turn them into rocks to throw at people who disagree with us instead of blankets to wrap around people who need to be comforted. There is a need to give the heart its due, so that we can find our balance once again. In the words of Carrie Newcomer, “Let your head help, but let your heart talk.” In the words of the prophet Jeremiah, as he sought to speak on behalf of God, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33) It’s all about relationship. It’s all about connection. It’s all about experience. And when we get in touch with that truth then everything is transformed.
We might not be able to see God. We might not always be able to understand God. But it is within our grasp to experience God. When the wind blows I can’t see it, and I do not understand the physics behind what makes it blow, but I can feel it on my face. When I am in the presence of someone I love it is not necessary for me to “believe” that they are real or that they have a powerful impact in my life. I simply know it because my heart perceives the deep truth of our connection.
Let the word go forth among us from this day on, that God is inviting us to live ever more fully into the experience of being in connection with the Sacred Presence which surrounds us and fills us in every moment of our living. Let us take our faith to the next level as we bring head and heart into balance. Let us step boldly into this new reality as we open ourselves to the power of being touched and moved and transformed by an ongoing encounter with the Divine. Amen.
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