Ministry

 "Forget the former things;
       do not dwell on the past.

 See, I am doing a new thing!
       Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
       I am making a way in the desert
       and streams in the wasteland.

 The wild animals honor me,
       the jackals and the owls,
       because I provide water in the desert
       and streams in the wasteland,
       to give drink to my people, my chosen,

 the people I formed for myself
       that they may proclaim my praise."

 We have become a sanitized society. Everywhere we go we are at war with germs and bacteria. Every washroom has signs pleading for us to ‘Wash Your Hands’. There is anti-bacterial soap, deodorant, facial tissues, hand cleanser, toothbrushes, dish detergent, window cleaner, and even anti-bacterial chopsticks. The war against bacteria has expanded from twenty or so products in the mid 1990’s to over 700 household products today.

 

Now, one would think this was a good thing – fighting bacteria – preventing the spread of disease. One can only marvel at how past generations survived at all without the protective presence of anti-bacterial room deodorizer! And yet, many scientists state there is a serious downside. The result of living in a sanitized world is the creation of hardier, more drug-resistant strains of bacteria, and weaker immune systems in us. Our quest for purity may actually place us at greater risk – as is shown through the rise of the super bugs within hospital settings. 

 

But its not limited to bacteria and chopsticks. Over the last years, more and more people and groups within organized religion have been on an impassioned quest to sanitize and purify faith – a faith that is able to stand against the corruptive influences of culture, and hold fast to traditional beliefs and values. A faith that is unequivocal – beyond reproach - untainted by populist worldviews.

 

Certainly, we see glaring examples of this within radical Islam and fundamentalist Christianity, where strict adherence to the narrowly-defined tenets of the faith must be adhered to with almost blind allegiance. As a portion of humanity grows through innovation and discovery, the other half clings tenaciously to tradition and orthodoxy. Even the most reasoned claim that brings into question any doctrine of belief can seemingly be silenced by the simple phrase ‘The Bible says …’.

 

I will admit to finding it somewhat intriguing that when I investigated what it would take to become a minister within the Unitarian Universalist Church, I found my degrees were quite acceptable, my experience was of benefit, but that didn’t save me from having to read the required reading list for UU candidates for ministry – a reading list that was the length of my arm. Now, I may have a fairly uninformed view of the UU church, but isn’t Unitarianism and a lengthy required reading list a contradiction?

 

Just as there are downsides to all these anti-bacterial products, might a religious community – or individuals - that resist spiritual insight, that shun discovery of the human potential, actually end up dooming themselves - clinging to traditions, beliefs, insights that may be outdated, outmoded, and irrelevant within our contemporary society? What happens when a faith community is no longer able to communicate or connect with the very world they were sent to engage?

 

Last year, the congregation I minister with went through a visioning process whereby we looked at how the church had evolved through the decades. People gathered in groups for the decade they joined the church, from the 1930’s to the present, and talked about the society in which they lived and the church where they worshipped. The surprising insight for most was that although the society around them was experiencing amazing changes and transformations – economically, technologically, socially, culturally - the church stayed virtually the same. And so we saw, as we journeyed through the decades, a steady decline in the congregation’s significance and value to the community, not to mention in membership.

 

Now, we may believe staying the course is a good thing. After all, who wants to be part of a faith community that is tossed to and fro by every whim and inclination? One might argue that the phenomenal rise of conservative evangelical and fundamentalist churches within North America would seem to be proof that churches that faithfully adhere to a rigid code of belief will thrive. Conservative megachurches abound while mainline liberal denominations are dying quick deaths. But at what cost to our society and our humanity?

 

Perhaps this is nowhere more obvious than in the debate taking place in numerous US school boards over teaching intelligent design as a credible scientific principle alongside evolution. The lack of intelligent design within these debates is truly astounding. Although I know I am to seek to understand even those I disagree with, I can only shake my head at the blinkered dogmatism that must lead otherwise intelligent people to check their brains at the door. Unfortunately, as it would also appear with gay rights, women’s rights, even fundamental human rights, the desire for purity of religious belief has not led to a more just, enlightened, and godly society, but instead to one rife with division, discrimination, and marginalization.

 

 

That’s why we need heretics – the world needs people who are not afraid to upset the apple cart from time to time – unafraid to take on narrow-minded, life-stultifying ideologies. Heretics are essential to a meaningful and lively faith.

 

Heresy is defined as ‘an opinion or doctrine at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine of any institution – a controversial or unorthodox belief’. The word ‘heresy’ finds its root in the Greek word, haireomai, which means ‘choose’ … to make a choice. I cannot help but find it intriguing that this sense of choice – this opportunity to choose - is what is both feared and resisted by the conservative religious bodies.

 

Of course, there is the other side of things - James March of Stanford University says about heretics … ‘We sometimes find that heresies have been the foundation for bold and necessary change, but heresy is usually just crazy. Most daring new ideas are foolish or dangerous and appropriately rejected or ignored.’

 

That is certainly the common reaction through history; heresy has sent churches and faiths and cultures into upheaval. Wars have been fought over heresy. People have been excommunicated, banished, imprisoned, burned at the stake for heresy. Anyone familiar with the massacres of the Cathars or Huguenots understands how far people will go to ensure the sanctity and purity of their faith against heresy.

 

Of course, its all context, isn’t it? Radical new beliefs may be seen as heretical by some cultures and perfectly acceptable by others. At one point in history, a belief may be utterly rejected, and in another time, enthusiastically embraced. Even my being here today talking on this topic – for most of you, I suspect, what I am sharing may be regarded as rather pedestrian, mundane – and yet, within my denominational setting it would more than likely be considered edgy even threatening. At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself. Context is everything.

 

In the first half of the 20^th century, there were claims within the Presbyterian Church in Canada that to ordain women to the ministry was heresy – an affront to the rule of scripture and the will of God. Today, we see women in ministry as a perfect expression of God’s will …. and to think otherwise, would be, well, heresy!

 

Now, the big debate in my faith tradition is that some believe it is a heresy to ordain or marry gay people because it contravenes the law of God’s word … while others believe it is a heresy to exclude gays from full participation because it contravenes the spirit of God’s grace. As one of my younger colleagues in ministry shared with me one day with regards to the debate – ‘We’ll just wait it out – eventually enough of the old farts will die and then change will come’. To which I replied, ‘Assuming you don’t become old farts in the process.’

 

Heresy isn’t a struggle between right or wrong, truth or lie, black or white, it is simply a place of departure, an attitude of permission, a choice to ponder and examine commonly-held beliefs to see if their veracity, their relevance to the faith and to the culture is able to hold up under scrutiny. If what we believe stands up to question and examination, then embrace it, celebrate it. But if it falls short, fails to promote the very hope and life it claims to, then it must be rejected and replaced.

 

That’s easy to say, of course, but what happens when heresies arise within your own faith community? Consider some of the covenants that are affirmed within the Unitarian fellowship – it says the Unitarian church affirms a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, but what if one person’s truth directly conflicts with your own? What if it conflicts with the attitudes and beliefs of the church community? Are we embracing enough to listen to the lone voice? And for how long? What criteria do we use to determine whether a viewpoint is righteous or not?

 

Another affirmation - the inherent worth and dignity of every human being – perhaps of any religious principle, this is the one I find the most challenging. I want to embrace it – want to believe it, incorporate it into all my thinking, my actions, but then I encounter people.

 

What happens when the people we meet make it a challenge to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person? Or is it heretical to even ask the question?

 

To be fair, the more I study and reflect, I suspect that the Unitarian Church is a closer expression to what Jesus really intended, then what we in the Christian Church have made him out to be. There is a much stronger emphasis on community responsibility, a defined focus on justice, an appreciation of the worth of every person, indeed of all creation – a desire for personal fulfillment that the individual takes responsibility for. Although there still is that reading list the length of my arm.

 

Some within the Christian tradition get what Jesus intended … even preach it, teach it, but then they are called radicals, or postmodernist liberals … or Heretics. John Shelby Spong challenged the church to let go of narrow interpretations of the bible and instead to find new ways of speaking about God and spirit and hope that supersede the bible – to find new ways to speak to a culture which has been unable to find meaning within the church. Is that heresy?

Tom Harpur, a Canadian theologian, challenges the centuries of theological debris that has been heaped upon Jesus, and suggests seeing him as prophet and teacher and letting go of the Son of God burden, which only serves to distort and corrupt his message. Is that heresy?

The Jesus Seminar with Marcus Borg, Karen Armstrong and others, strives to dig through centuries of complicated theological accumulation to find the essential nature of Jesus’ teaching, rejecting much of the Gospel as mere historical politicking and theological manipulation. Is that heresy?

 

But the truth is, both in the past and present, heretics force religious bodies – all religious bodies - to wrestle with what they proclaim – what they stand for – the values they profess – the justice they live out – the grace they share – the forgiveness they offer. Heretics challenge faith communities to let go of the self-motivated, self-preserving orthodoxy of the institution and move with greater deliberation toward a connective and intimate understanding, not of religion, but of faith, of belief, of principle that speaks with fresh relevance to a society that has all but stopped listening.

 

Are the heretics always right? Of course not. But I find, for the most part, heretics speak out of great love for their faith communities, not disdain - great passion for their faith, not rejection – and great hope for the world. They pray for their spiritual community to become what they believe it is inspired to be. Heretics often remind us of our own best selves. But they can also annoy the hell out of us.

We have been blessed with insightful, inquisitive minds that enable us to reach beyond orthodoxy and unthinking tradition, and to see new possibilities and discover sacred mysteries; to express from our hearts, our love for this human journey, this life journey, and for its promise. And I daresay, much of the time, it is the heretic who walks ahead of us along this path to discovery and sometimes is the one who opens up surprising truth.