This past summer I was having lunch in downtown Holland with a friend of mine. We were eating outside, it was a gorgeous day, a ton of people were walking by. I jokingly said to my friend, “You know, I’m not going to live forever. I was kind of hoping God would make an exception in my case, but I don’t think she will. So I look around and I ask myself, ‘How will these people carry on? How will they get along without me?’” My friend chuckled and said, “Don’t worry. They won’t even notice you’re gone. They won’t miss a beat.” Gee thanks. Of course I know that was true.
Even though many of us will probably only be remembered by those who love us (hopefully), there are people who are remembered sometimes for millennia. I’m thinking of spiritual people, prophets, teachers, whose words and wisdom are remembered for many, many years by millions and millions of people.
Henry Adams was a descendent of the famous political Adams family. His great-grandfather was John Adams, his grandfather was John Quincy Adams. He lived around the turn of the last century. To paraphrase Henry Adams, “A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops.” I can imagine, or at least I hope, all of us have had that kind of teacher, who influenced us, who influences us still. I know I had a couple of them. Probably the most influential teacher I ever had was my preaching prof in seminary.
Now you have to understand, before I went to seminary I was a TV news reporter, many, many years ago, and TV news reporters do what’s called a standup. They hold a microphone and stand up in front of a building like city hall, saying 20 seconds worth of memorized words. Well, whenever I did a standup, it would take me like 20 takes, because I couldn’t memorize even 20 seconds. Then I went to seminary and our preaching prof said that what he was going to teach us to do was to speak for 20 minutes from memory. Without notes. Without a manuscript. I thought: Good luck. But I took a preaching class every semester, and eventually somehow it happened. He taught us not to just speak from our head, but to speak from our heart. When you speak from your heart, you can memorize twenty minutes worth of words. Hopefully.
Teachers can affect us forever. As my preaching prof did. Now you also have to understand the fact that he’s not exactly bragging that he taught me because we’re from opposite ends of the spiritual spectrum. He is a conservative Trinitarian and I am a progressive Unitarian, but he taught me nonetheless.
I want to talk to you about three teachers, three prophets, who many of us still remember years, even millennia, after their deaths.
The first prophet I want to talk about said, “I have a dream that one day little black boys and little black girls will be able to hold hands with little white boys and little white girls as brothers and sisters.” Of course I’m talking about Dr. King, who said that in his famous 1963 “I have a dream” speech. Dr. King was an amazing man, as you know. He started college at the age of fifteen. He went on to get a bachelor’s degree and a divinity degree and a PhD by the age of twenty-six. Just recently I read his PhD dissertation and I was surprised by its content. He compared the theology of Henry Nelson Wieman, a Unitarian Universalist, a long time professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and Paul Tillich, who I don’t believe was a Unitarian, but many Unitarians look to his theology for insight and inspiration. I was surprised by that, I guess, because I figured that Dr. King was a traditional Baptist minister. But obviously he had very liberal leanings, not just politically, but theologically as well.
As you know, Dr. King began his ministry leading the Montgomery bus boycott after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man and sit in the back of the bus. He went on to march for peace and justice and equality. He led peaceful, non-violent protests. Because of him, the voting rights and civil rights laws took effect in the 1960’s. Then on April 4, 1968, he was killed, murdered, assassinated. Why would anyone want to kill Dr. King? He was a man of peace! I think it gets back to the quote I mentioned at the beginning of this section of the sermon. “I have a dream that one day little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Not everyone today wants that to happen. Can you imagine what it was like 50 or 60 years ago? “But Bill, we have a black President!” Yes, we do. And according to the Southern Poverty Law Center the number of death threats against Barack Obama since he took office compared to when George W. Bush left office, the number of death threats have increased 400%. So we have a ways to go to achieve Dr. King’s dream. Although they could kill his body, they could not snuff out his spirit, they could not erase his words, they could not wipe out his wisdom. His spirit, his words, his wisdom live on in many of us years later and I think will continue to live on for millennia.
The second prophet I want to tell you about said once, “I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew, and so are all of you.” Of course I am talking about Gandhi. Gandhi was an amazing man. He was born in 1869 in India. He was a Hindu, in spite of what he said. He became a lawyer and traveled to South Africa, where he began his foray into civil disobedience, peaceful protests. Dr. King said his civil disobedience, his peaceful protests, were influenced by Gandhi. Gandhi returned to India, where eventually he convinced the British government, through peaceful protest and non-violent resistance, to end their Imperial rule of India. Gandhi was the main force for India gaining their independence. On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, he was called Mahatma or “great soul”, Mahatma Gandhi went for a walk and as usually happened there was a throng of people around him. One man bowed before him, then pulled out a gun and shot and killed Gandhi. Gandhi’s last words were, “Oh, God!” Why would anyone want to kill Gandhi? He was a man of peace! Again, it gets back to the quote I mentioned at the beginning of this section of the sermon. “I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew, and so are all of you.” Some people today would hate that phrase, would hate that idea, would reject being interfaith. Can you imagine what it was like eighty years ago? Although they killed his body, they could not snuff out his spirit, they could not erase his words, they could not wipe out his wisdom. His spirit, his words, his wisdom live on in many of us all these years later and I think they will continue to live on for millennia.
The third prophet I want to talk about has said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, ‘Love your enemies!’” Of course I am talking about Jesus. Jesus was an amazing man. He was a Jew. At the age of thirty he became a rabbi, a teacher. His ministry lasted one to three years, depending on which gospel you read. I think it would have lasted three years because if it had been just a year he would have been just another flash in the pan. He was followed by at least a dozen disciples they say, but I’ve got to believe dozens and dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, followed Jesus because of his words. Not because he walked on water, not because he changed water into wine; I’m a “Jefferson’s Bible” kind of guy, I don’t believe those things actually happened. But he spoke truth to power, he spoke peace to those who wanted war, I do believe he showed us how to live – that you don’t stone to death an adulterous woman even though the Scriptures say to.
At the age of thirty-three they say, a couple thousand years ago, commemorated this past Friday, Jesus was killed, crucified. Why would anyone want to kill Jesus? He was a man of peace! Again, it gets back to the quote I mentioned earlier. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, ‘Love your enemies.’” What he was doing there was wrong on so many levels to the religious extremists of his day. It is written in the Hebrew scriptures, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemies.” But I say to love your enemies. Who does this Jesus think that he is, changing the scriptures, saying to ignore what the scriptures say and instead follow what he says. The religious leaders of his day, I think their heads were ready to explode. It would be as if today someone said, “It is written in the Christian New Testament, that homosexuals are an abomination, but I say to you, they deserve dignity, and worth, and respect and love.” There would be religious extremists of today who would say, “Who do you think you are saying that? Saying that what you believe is better, is more important, is more right than what is written in the Christian scriptures.” That’s why they killed him. They didn’t kill Jesus for anyone’s sin. They killed Jesus because of their own sin, because they wanted to cling to the sin of hate instead of love, they wanted to cling to the sin of war rather than follow peace, they wanted to cling to the sin of revenge rather than follow Jesus’ words of forgiveness. So they killed him. But even though they snuffed out his body, they could not kill his spirit. They could not erase his words, they could not wipe out his wisdom. So Jesus’ spirit and words and wisdom live on in many of us. And will for millenia. You can’t keep a good prophet down.
Matthew Fox, not the actor from “Lost,” but Matthew Fox the theologian who was kicked out of the Catholic Church for his beliefs, wrote a book several years ago called “Original Blessing.” It was a counterpoint to those who believe in Original Sin. The first chapter of Genesis says that God created humankind and God blessed them. Original Blessing. Not Original Sin. I think we are all born into Original Innocence, not Original Sin, and I think that even evangelical Christians go along with that because they speak about innocent human life in the womb. It seems to me that human life can’t be innocent in the womb one moment and the next moment be born into sin. It doesn’t make any sense. It seems to me that we each are born with original innocence, that every baby born is not a tangle of sin but a bundle of joy and we each keep that original innocence, that spark, that sacred spirit within us for all time. It can never be diminished, it can never be decimated, it can never be dispirited. No matter what anybody does to us, no matter what any of us does, by mistake, we always have within us original innocence, that spark, that sacred spirit always within us.
The other day I turned on the radio and the song came on that I thought was perfect for this sermon. It was either coincidence or providence that that happened. I’ll let you decide. The song is called “Perfect” by Pink. At least that’s what I thought it was called until I looked up the lyrics and found out the song I heard was the G-rated version. There is a PG-13 version that may be more popular with young people. I’m not going to quote that one. I’m going to quote the G-rated one. Pink sings, “Pretty, pretty please, don’t you ever, ever feel like you’re less than, less than perfect. Pretty, pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you’re nothing, you are perfect to me.” You are, we all are perfect. Born perfect in original innocence, born with a spark of life, born with a sacred spirit that lives on until the end of our days.
