Harvey Martz-Pastor of my Methodist church in Highlands Ranch Colorado and a confessed "Flaming Centrist", his new sermon series is "WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CHRISTIAN TODAY?" -an intelligent view of religion that we can all appreciate. Sermons are at
http://www.st-andrew-umc.com/ -use sermon library link. Titles:
-WHAT DO WE MEAN BY FAITH?
-TAKING THE BIBLE SERIOUSLY BUT NOT LITERALLY.
-WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BORN AGAIN?
-THE END OF LIFE~WHO DECIDES?
Questions discussed include:
What does it mean to be a Christian today??
-Does being Christian mean dividing the world between "us and them" and feeling self righteous because we are surely not like "them", or does it mean learning from Jesus the virtue of humility and refusing to talk about the splinter in someone else's eye before we deal with the log in our own eye?
-Does being Christian mean treating women as inferior and not capable of true leadership particularly in faith communities or does it mean seeing all of us as partners and equals as Jesus and Paul did in the Bible?
More discussion after the fold
Does it mean being obsessed with gay persons as inherently evil or becoming as welcoming and compassionate as Jesus was with all people?
Does it mean seeing the earth and the environment as dispensable and things to be exploited because Jesus is coming back soon, or beginning to care for the environment and the earth because God in Genesis 1 has instructed us to do that?
Does being Christian mean I can't believe in science, that I have to think the earth was created 6000 years ago in six 24-hour periods, or can I believe that God is the creator and that God took a long time to create-three and a half billion years long-and that still is an awesome and miraculous thing to get my mind around. Do I have to throw out my reason and turn off my brain to be Christian or can I see science as another valid way to learn the truth?
Does being Christian mean thinking that people cannot know God unless they know Jesus, or can I see Jesus as the best revelation but not the only revelation of God?
Do Christians see God as an angry finger-shaking judge or cosmic policeman waiting to catch you, or do we see God as Jesus saw God-a patient, compassionate reaching out parent who accepts us where we are and helps us move beyond where we are?
Does it mean Jesus is coming back soon and he will destroy all the Jews and heathens and will take all Christians up into heaven-abandoning their cars in the rapture of course- where, in heaven, they can see the bloody destruction of this evil planet? Or does being saved mean that God has some good things in store for us right now and that God wants to use us to make this world a more caring and just and compassionate place?
WE NEED PEOPLE OF FAITH LIKE HARVEY TO SPEAK OUT ON HTE HIJACKING OF RELIGION - Please let him know if you admire his works...
My favorite quote from the series:
And this chapter in the book helps us see that the Bible is true but it is a more than literal truth. Jesus says he is the bread of life. We know that does not refer to a process of baking with some wheat. It means that our relationship to Christ can be the basic and best nourishment we can find. The Christmas story we just celebrated is full of deeper meanings and metaphors as well. When we learn that the first people to hear about Jesus birth were skuzzy, mangy shepherds we are to see that God's good news is especially for the least and last and left out of our world. The angels' song says that Jesus is to be the Lord and Savior-and that is more disturbing than we see today because back then those terms were only used for the emperor.
And the story of astrologers coming from Arabia to see the newborn child means that this messiah is to be the light not only for Israel, but for all the nations and all the people.
The difference between how mainstream Christians see the Bible and how literalists see the Bible is that literalists say that the Bible is the word of God-inerrant and infallible. Mainstream Christians would say that Jesus is the word of God and that when the teachings of Jesus disagree with parts of the Bible, it is Jesus' words and examples that are most important. If you do not believe that slavery is acceptable you are an example of what I just have said because there are parts of the Bible, even in the New Testament, that approve of slavery.
UPDATE - THe church is St. Andrews United Methodist Church and is the fastest growing church in the Rocky Mountain Region!