            
| Sermon Preached at Northbrae Community Church, January 8, 2006 – Epiphany 1, By Ron Sebring Enthusiasm vs. Complacency When I step into this pulpit, I generally want to avoid politics and make value assessments about national figures. I believe the separation of church and state is not only a legal issue, but also a moral one. To talk about people without the benefit of their response is gossip. It is not the task of the pulpit to tell people how to think, either about religion or politics, but rather to explore the principles by which we all make decisions. So here, I want to address the principle and not the personalities. A television evangelist representing Christianity said of a head of state that his stroke is God’s punishment because of his political decisions. Again, not to talk about personalities, but principles, for each person certainly has the right to say what he or she wishes within the law. The problem with such pronouncements is that citizens not familiar with Christianity may tend to think that this represents Christianity. It paints Christianity into a corner, making it an insensitive and exclusive club with a specific brand of theology and favoring certain "chosen" people. Rhetoric isolates an enemy. Crusades, inquisitions, terrorism, and religiously justified economic oppression, throughout history, follow in the wake of such pronouncements. To push beyond "we-them" thinking invites an empathetic exploration of the one world religion that seems to make western cultures most nervous. This Tuesday, Muslims, a significant portion of the religious population in the world, celebrate their most important feast. Eid al Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, is a three-day celebration that concludes the Pilgrimage to Mecca. It is the "Feast of Sacrifice" because it remembers Abraham’s willingness to obey God. "Islam" means, "surrender." According to the Koran, it was Ishmael and not Isaac that Abraham was about to surrender on the altar, and according to their story, it was Ishmael that went on to become the father of the Arabian people. This is how they rehearse the story of their founding. At this feast, they eat about 1/3 of a huge meal. Then they give the rest to the poor. This concern for the poor is one of the cardinal tenants of Islam and is not done out of a cold, moral duty. Concern for the poor and the outcast is rooted in the very founding of Islam in Mecca. It is symbolized by the outcast status of Ishmael. I had an interesting discussion with a gentleman at the Berkeley Breakfast Club last Friday while sitting at the table sharing breakfast. He spoke of a professor, if I recall, with a particular specialty. This professor had spent his academic career studying Islamic law during the Middle Ages along the East coast of Africa. Talk about something that can make your eyes cross! Why would anyone want to spend his or her life doing that? The reasons tweaked my interest. During the Middle Ages, with the spread of Islam, there were many Islamic settlements and much trading along the East Coast of Africa. This professor translated early manuscripts from this region. Anthropologists use these translations to study these forgotten cultures. I asked him, what is so compelling about Islamic law along the Eastern coast of Africa during the Middle Ages. He said it was one of the fairest systems of law the world has known. The rich did not dominate the poor … everyone had an equal chance for justice under the law. Connie and I saw the movie, "Syriana," this last week. It is a complex movie with several story lines, all woven together … a deep "think-piece." A challenging movie about the world’s need for oil and how governments oppress the poor with their greed for wealth. [TO P]Interesting, this movie, how it depicted the internal struggle within Islam itself! Oil-rich Arabian rulers taking advantage of the poor against a radical Islam that supports equal opportunity and justifies terrorism as a means of defense. It is something our Western styled ideal of "democracy" knows little about. Our word "freedom" translates in many people’s lives as "oppression." The truth that this movie shares with me is that: not radical, fundamentalist religions give rise to terrorism and corrupt government. Economic terrorism and corrupt government give rise to radical, fundamentalist religions. Perhaps this is true in both Islam and Christianity. I believe that any world religion that sees itself as all-important and exclusive is not only blind to the rest of the world; it can become the terrorism for the rest of the world. The terrorism within fundamentalist Islam is obvious. While this is blatant, it does not reflect the main body of Islam. Let us not forget the Crusades and the Inquisitions of Christianity. As with Islam, this does not represent the central motif of Christianity. Like Islam, Christianity also has concern for justice against oppression. Many passages in scripture witness to this concern. This is my plea: that a final peace in our world depends upon a peace among world religions. A peace born of mutual understanding and a deep resonance with the ONEness of Divine Truth. Islam comes down to five things. Muslims all over the world, Arabian or otherwise, believe in these five things, the "Five pillars" of Islam. Someone considered "Muslim" concurs with these five things. 1. ONEness of Deity, and that Muhammad bears witness to this ONEness. It is interesting that there is no likeness of Muhammad in our stained glass widows … we depict for Islam, the Koran. This is appropriate. Islam is suspicious of making any likeness. Islamic art consists of beautiful and intricate abstract designs … a single line extending and weaving many intricate shapes … an ONEness spawning rich diversity … quite reflective of Islamic belief. The ONEness of God is also the central affirmation of Judaism. In the Shema, Jesus, in Matthew 22, epitomizes it when he quotes the Shema as central to faith. 2. Daily prayer. Five times a day. Jews formally pray three times a day. Of all the spiritual disciplines in Christianity, prayer is primary. 3. Give alms to the Needy. [TOP] Jewish law also calls for fairness to the foreigner and the outcast. Consider the many prophetic utterances of Jesus on behalf of the poor. 4. Self purification through fasting. Muslims meet this requirement with Ramadan. Judaism and Christianity have their own prayers and rituals for reflection and forgiveness, which is central to the practice of faith. 5. Make a pilgrimage to Mecca if you are able. Jews have their holy city of great respect … Jerusalem. Christianity’s central place is within the heart. It is no less a call to find sacred space as symbolic of our centeredness. The energy of faith and enthusiasm comes from a grasp of this center, this ONEness. When a people or religious group isolates themselves with exclusive thinking, their consciousness suffers from a kind of spiritual separation-anxiety. If "enthusiasm" is "en-theos," or being "in-God," since God is ONE, the invitation of religion (re-joining with God) is to an ever-broadening embrace. The Shakers seem to have grasped this enthusiasm. If we feel their music, "Lord of the Dance" and "Simple Gifts," hymns we sang this morning, the Shaker’s give us not a theology, but a deep sense of something. Wherein lays their secret? The Christian Science Monitor ran an article, recently, on the Shakers. [Tue, Dec 20, 2005] The Shakers were a religious group in England in 1747, and because of persecution, migrated to America in 1772. Ann Lee, who recognized a profound feminine aspect of God, founded this group. They are a millennial group, believing in the immanent second coming of Christ. They are a communal group committed to simple living until Christ comes. They share their life together … working and cooking and eating meals over a thick wooden table. They are famous for crafts, simple and solid wooden furniture, and practical inventions – the wooden clothespin, the flat bottom broom. In addition, they are famous for their music - "A gift to be simple; a gift to be free," and "Dance, dance, where ever you may be, for I am the Lord of the dance, said He." Aaron Copland took their music and created a well-known orchestration entitled "Appalachian Spring." Their problem is that they believe in absolute celibacy, and hence, there are only four of them left, living in a small village in Southern Main, Sabbath Day Lake, taking care of 30 sheep, 9 cattle and 3 pigs on 1800 idyllic acres that they are successfully defending against developers. What I find intriguing is how they changed their language. They replaced the personal pronouns "I," "me," "my," with "us," "we," "our." This change of language fosters a change in perception, a change in worldview, a change in consciousness. It is a consciousness extending beyond self and embracing community -- communion … as "common-union." What a model for religious growth! Like ripples on a pond, ever expanding from a center, embracing ever-larger reaches of the pond. [TOP] To move beyond complacency to enthusiasm means expanding our sense of "we." The more isolated unto themselves people become, the more lonely they become. The more that consciousness embraces beyond itself the more it infuses itself with spiritual energy.
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