December 18 (4th in Advent, candle lighting)

Carol Barriger &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Matt= hew 2:1-12

1^st Congregational <= st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">Church of Redwood C= ity, UCC &nbs= p; From Open Christianity (Jim Burklo)

January 8, 2006 (1^st Sunday in Epiphany)

“Yes,= There Is Another Way”

&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; …they left for their own country= by another road. (Mt 2:12)

Regardless of our age or background, we all like to imagine that we are free in our thinking – that we are open to new things. But let’s take a few minutes to think about things we always do the same way. For example .. Do you ta= ke the same driving route to work or school every day? Always start or end a letter, note= , or email with the same words? Li= mit your choice of books, music, or movies to the pool of things you already kn= ow that you like? Fill your clos= et with clothes that are one color or style?&= nbsp; Socialize out with the same people all the time? Are you the sort of person who is = always pretty sure in advance what will “work” and what won’t?

Why do we do such things in= a patterned fashion? Your respo= nse might be, “Why not?” Why are you asking this question?&n= bsp; If it’s the simplest, quickest, cheapest, most efficient, most reliable – whatever – way to get something done, why not? If we like it –= ; why not? If all we are talking ab= out is clothes, you’re right. = It may not make much difference except to be a little boring. It’s also a very secure feel= ing not to have to grapple with uncertainty.&n= bsp; But …when we get into the realm of patterning our habits around books and the people we associate with, it’s hard to be blasé.= That seems to border on being not-so-open after all. When it becomes a certainty that w= e know the one, right way to do something, the one right way to “be” in the world, then there is a real problem with rigidity, with a calcified outlook. In such a worldview,= there is no room for a God who is still speaking… Think of the scripture we read last week: See, I am making all things new (Rev 21:5). Th= ink of the words of our Separatist forebear John Robinson as he led his tiny band = from Holland to the New = World in 1620, “God has yet more light and truth to break forth …R= 21;

We like to say: “Our = faith is 2000 years old, our thinking is not,” but…sometimes it is. We are into very patterned ways in= our worship of God. Virtually 100= % of the time, our service includes either one or two readings from scripture – from the Bible as we have come to understand, treasure, and struggle with it -- the Hebrew Scriptures, the gospels, the letters of Paul. Today we included a reading not= from the Bible. And an advance note, there will be such another reading next week, too, though not all the time. The Bible is precious t= o us, but it is not the only source of inspiration or reflection from words writt= en and read. Christians do, inde= ed, read other things … we need to read other things … need = to hear the Christ-voice speaking from other places. We must hear the voice of Wisdom i= n the texts of other traditions, and in the writings of thoughtful, challenging, spiritual men and women. This “reading of other things” and seeking the sacred there, of invi= ting God into our reading, hearing, and understanding in all ways is a decidedly progressive focus for Christianity. Not only would fundamentalist Christians read only from scripture in= the worship of God, their pattern is to take the text literally without bringin= g to bear the God-given gift of intellectual questioning and discernment of context. There is another way.

This is not to say that the= re should be a Book of Jim Burklo in the scriptural canon. I am sure that Jim, were he standi= ng here now, would cringe at the very idea. But his book Open Christianity: Home by Another Road, from wh= ich Patti read, opened the door for many, many people to re-engage Christianity= , to re-engage faith generally. I’m going to read another segment in a moment. He takes us on his own journey, an= d the journey of others who came to him as a minister – in the struggle with doctrine and teaching which confound rather than clarify, hurt rather than heal, and exclude and limit rather than including and expanding possibiliti= es. Jim took seriously the reality that church doctrine and Biblical teachings interpreted out of context and thoughtlessly dictated became stumbling blocks to whole generations of peop= le who could not find their way back to a church that “made sense”= for their spirits and their minds. Almost two years ago we offered a book study group on Jim’s book. It was supposed to take= 8 weeks. It went on for months.= The participants could not stop en= gaging the questions and ideas in the book. Maybe we should do it again – but not for ourselves, for others. Christianity can be relevant and exciting, because there is another way. Today Jim, ordained in the United = Church of Christ, serves as pastor of the Sausalito Presbyterian Church, is a movi= ng force behind the Center for Progressive Christianity, and regularly crafts beautifully articulate “Musings” for his web log.

The gospel story from Matth= ew has much to tell us about finding our way.&nbs= p; Let us place ourselves in that story. First of all, with whom are we traveling? Tradition tells us= there were “three wise men.” But look more carefully; we don’t know that. The text does not say there were t= hree, it only says that there were three gifts.&= nbsp; And, regardless of translation, it does not say that the visitors we= re only men. It says in the orig= inal Greek that they were μαγοι (magoi) – magicians, astrologers, or people of power from the east. Yes, it might be a reasonable conc= lusion that people of such power and repute were male. They generally were in those days.= But the point that Matthew is tryi= ng to make is that the symbolically powerful people honored the humble Jesus. It also makes perfect sense that s= ome of these people could have been women of wisdom, or that this was a large traveling party, including women and children. We have companions on our journey; some we know, some we don’t. Some are strong, powerful and articulate. Some are quiet and supportive. So we travel. So they traveled.

They … we … are strangers to the area. At fir= st, they are unaware of evil or distraction in their path; unaware that Herod m= ight have bad motives. They…= we … take a way pointed out to them by others, a way to carry them gener= ally in the direction of the celestial phenomenon they observed in the sky. Surely their plan would be to retu= rn by the same familiar road, for fear of losing their way in alien territory. Surely they can trust those = who speak authoritatively to guide them. After all, they do want to return home, and home is far away. We would do the same thing. Follow directions. Use a map. Check Mapquest. Go back the way you came. So here is a whole story about pow= erful people honoring a baby and slipped in, as an afterthought, Matthew writes:<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> And having been warned in a dre= am not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. (Mt 2:12)

This is huge. Can you imagine how much courage this took? They set out from Bethlehem, a tiny backwater village, by another road. It was an ill-m= arked trail, but seemed to be leading in the right direction, toward the safe hav= en of home. Yet, how could they = be sure that this road would lead them home?&= nbsp; We hear nothing in the gospels of the rest of the travelers’ story. They disappear. Hopefully, they escape the trap of Herod, fearful and controlling. It seems the purpose of the magi was to show us not only the importance of Jes= us, but the life-saving importance of stepping out on another road.

When we seek God, we are “se= eking home,” the safe haven, and it is a life-long trip. We are seeking after that place of= deep familiarity for our spirits; the place where we are reunited with the Great Love which is our Source. The= magi would have died had they gone the familiar way, the known, well-trodden road. And how many people in = our time have walked away from the unchanging church because they would die there? How many left the road= which led them into a spiritual dead zone? How many left because they are not fed by theology of a thundering, retributive God or of a wise, Spirit-filled man who had to meet a gruesome death so that generations of people could be “saved by his blood?” How many feel t= hat the message is in his life, not in his death? How many left, hemmed in by a rigi= dity which defines some as worthy and beloved of God, and others not? How can that be, if we embrace a s= avior who ate with outcasts and the unclean of his day, called them his brothers = and his sisters? We want those pe= ople to find their way home. We wa= nt them to hear the voice of God who is still speaking in this world. We want them to know Jesus ever mo= re deeply – not the institutional Christ that the early church invented,= but the Christ who was and is God’s love and compassion alive in this world. There is another way. From Jim Burklo:=

According to biblical legend, Jesus was born in a manger because th= ere was no room for his parents to stay at the inn. Today millions of people are told = there is no room for them in the inn of the church because their good common sense makes it impossible for them to accept certain doctrines of traditional Christianity. But just as Jes= us was born outside the proper confines of the inn, so can Christian faith be born outside the confines of traditional orthodoxy. Everyone is invited – shephe= rds and wise men, conventional believers and doubting seekers alike.[1]

&= nbsp; We are creating a church which does not shut anyone out, which recognizes that each person brings the gifts of self, and seeks after God who loves, heals,= and makes whole. We will not use = the words of scripture to limit or to punish – but to create wonder, or h= oly questions. Though we baptize happily, whether or where you were baptized makes no difference as we join = in the journey home to God. Wher= e you came from, your skin color, your language, who you love, what you do for a living mean nothing next to the question “Will you let me love you as= a brother or sister?’

There is another way. Home by another road. A living faith. Let’s walk. Amen.

c:\data\carol\redwoodc= ity 2006\sermons\ser0108.06 Yes, There Is Another Way

<= span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'>Whether the story of visitors from the East arri= ving at the manger birthplace of Jesus is actually true – we cannot know, and= it is probably not important. Wh= at is important is Matthew’s message that Jesus had an impact on the world outside of Judea where h= e was born. People were affected by= him – important people – and their lives were changed so that they could not travel the same road they had before.=

=

Matthew 2:1-12<= span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'>

1 In the time= of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East c= ame to Jerusalem,

2 asking, &qu= ot;Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." <= /span>

3 When King H= erod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;

4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of th= em where the Messiah was to be born.

5 They told h= im, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:&nbs= p;

6 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

7 Then Herod = secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star = had appeared.

8 Then he sen= t them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have fou= nd him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."

9 When they h= ad heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they h= ad seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.&nb= sp;

10 When they = saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.

11 On enterin= g the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 And having= been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Today we b= egin a practice of including an occasional reading from a source other than the Bible. Jim Burklo, a United C= hurch of Christ minister, wrote the book “Open Christianity: Home by Another Road” 5 years ago. It h= as transformed the lives of individuals and churches seeking another way to be= deeply Christian in the way of Jesus without the features of traditional Christian= ity which felt untrue, or even unjust. Jim calls Christianity the language of his soul, but he knew his own need, and the need of many others, to find a new road to his spiritual home= . This is an excerpt from “Open Christianity.”

Did the three= wise men who journeyed to Bethlehem= to pay homage to the newborn Jesus become Christians? We have no record that they ever affiliated with the church or professed the faith. They seem to have gone home and continued their lives as scholars and astrologers. We are told only that they went ho= me to the East by another way, deeply moved by what they had seen. … Many w= ho now seek a way back home to Christianity originally entered it through a tr= aditional form of religion that they can no longer follow. Others have been discouraged from exploring Christianity at all because their only exposure to it has come fr= om self-promoting evangelists and churches, or the dubious activities of the religious right. A more open = form of Christianity is needed to bypass doctrines that are obstacles to a living faith, enabling people to enter into the Christian experience by [another] road.<= ![if !supportFootnotes]>[2]

Like the stud= ents and church members whom I serve, I need to square my life story with the religi= ous story of which I am a part. I cannot reject Christianity without impoverishing my soul, cutting it off fr= om the nourishment which comes through its spiritual roots. But my embrace of the religion is significantly different from that of my ancestors in the faith. I have sought out another Christia= n road that can lead me to my spiritual home.<= ![if !supportFootnotes]>[3]

= ;

Here end t= he readings for today. May God o= pen our hearts and add new understanding to our hearing of these words.<= /i>