"Called to Respond"

As I indicated when this service began, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year begins tomorrow at Sundown. Rosh Hashanah, is the first two days of the Days of Awe, or High Holy Days. The tenth day is Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and prayer. The High Holy Days are, for our Jewish friends, days of reflection; thinking about the year that has passed , and the year to come; more particularly consideration of the meaning of the "Shema Israel," the call to Love God and Love Neighbors.

By serendipity, the Jewish High Holy days comes when we are considering the fourth "Source" of our UU "living tradition," which states:

"Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's
love by loving our neighbors as ourselves."

If you are visiting with us today, you will want to know that this is the fourth sermon in a series dealing with our UU "sources." The Sources help us know more about our Unitarian Universalist heritage. These sources, which include one's individual experience, words and deeds of prophetic women and men, world religions, humanist teachings, and earth-centered tradition, may also be useful as we seek our own spiritual truth and meaning.

People sometimes ask why Jewish and Christian teachings are separated from world religions. The primary reason is that our Unitarian Universalist understandings are a by-product of the Judeo- Christian tradition. We came out of the Protestant Reformation. That is our heritage.

However there has been at least some inclination to disregard our Jewish and Christian heritage. One reason for that disregard may be that both Jewish and Christian teachings are identified with the Bible. For some people the Bible is not a friendly book. I once knew a family which practiced family prayers. When one of the children refused to bow for prayer, her Mother hit her over the head with a Bible! The Bible has been used, misused and abused so much that for many people there has been a pendulum swing reaction with refusal even to acknowledge Jewish and Christian scriptures. More about the Bible in a few moments.

Another reason for the neglect of, if not studied indifference to, Jewish and Christian teachings is the word "teachings." I believe the word "experience" would be better than "teachings." Experience is primary, teaching is a distant second or third. Here is what I mean.

Religious faith is the outgrowth of experience; the experience of an event, usually interpersonal, but sometimes a natural event or historical event. The event is then described, followed by reflection about the meaning of the experience. So the proper progression is "What?" followed by "What happened?" followed by "So What?" and then "Now What?"

For the Jews the "event" or "experience" is the sense of being led by God out of slavery in Egypt. Known as the "Exodus," this event ratified their ancient understanding of their relationship with the Divine. The event was later - much later - described in Hebrew Scriptures. That description is the "what happened" stage. Much, much later the Rabbis and others reflected about the event and in a sense created Rabbinic Judaism which is the "So what?" and "Now what?"

This progression from the event to the meaning of the event serves as an outline of the Jewish observance of Passover, celebrating not only the Exodus but the contemporary meaning of the Exodus to "do justice and love mercy" for people who are victims of humanity's inhumanity.

The same progression is true for the Christian religion. The event was the experience of Jesus of Nazareth. That experience was later described in the Christian Scriptures, and then even later, the meaning of the event was interpreted, indeed is still being interpreted as people reflect on the life and teachings of Jesus.

To use an oversimplification, there is a big difference between the man, Jesus who lived and taught, namely the "Jesus of history," and the later doctrinal understandings of Jesus, simplified in the phrase "the Christ of theology." Anyone who reads the Christian scriptures needs to be very, very aware that the words attributed to Jesus may or may not be his. At least some of those words are reflections of people trying to make sense of the meaning of Jesus.

I believe this progression from experience or event to doctrinal understanding is true for all religions. The event is primary, the description or teaching is secondary, and the doctrine or theology resulting from reflection is a distant third.

I am emphasizing this distinction between experience and theology because too often both Judaism and Christianity have been reduced to a kind of "belief system" or doctrinal creed with the result that people are told all they have to do is accept the creed without regard to personal experience. By contrast I note the words of William Ellery Channing, early Unitarian minister who challenged people to begin with "religion from our own souls." Channing's understanding is that religion begins with personal experience, not doctrine.

The Bible, which contains Jewish and Christian teachings, is a record of how real people, living in real-life situations experienced their faith. If we are going to take seriously Jewish and Christian teachings as one of the sources of our living tradition we need to give attention to the Bible.

The Bible is a collection of many books. The word "bible" comes from the Greek, "byblos," meaning books. These books were written in various literary genre from poetry to narrative history; biography to autobiography. The Bible is an attempt by real people to describe in finite language their experience of the Infinite "Transcending Mystery."

I do not believe the Bible was meant to be taken literally; but neither is it to be ignored. I do not believe the Bible is the unique "word of God" as many Christian fundamentalists say, but neither is it merely illusion as many "fundamentalists of the left" say.

The book of Exodus in Jewish Scripture is an attempt, probably written and edited over a long period of time, to describe the experience of the Jewish people in their escape from slavery. They believe this experience is ratification of their understanding of God.

The Gospel of Luke, along with its second volume, "Acts" in Christian scripture is the attempt mostly by one person, but almost certainly with later editing, to describe the event of Jesus of Nazareth and how people who had followed the teachings of Jesus formed a religious community.

If we are to take seriously this part of our Unitarian Universalist heritage we must not stop with doctrine which is the third step in the progression I mentioned earlier. We must give attention to Jewish and Christian teachings found in the Bible, but not stop there; that's the second step, or description of the event. Rather we must try to move to the first step, the religious experience which gave birth to both Jewish and Christian teachings.

What follows is my attempt to do just that. I've been accused of being one of those people who "rush in where angels fear to tread" so here is my attempt to share my understandings of the religious experiences which gave birth to Jewish and Christian teachings.

Jewish religious beliefs begin with the acknowledgement of God or Divine power which cares about people, particularly people who are victims. God's loving care was ratified by the escape of the Israelite slaves from Egypt. If there should be one thing as a single text of Judaism it would be this:

"A wandering aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt
and sojourned there, few in number; and there became a nation, great,
mighty and populous. . . . And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and
afflicted us. . . . Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our Fathers
[and Mothers] and the Lord heard our voice . . . and brought us out of
Egypt with a mighty hand." (Deuteronomy 26)

My understanding is Judaism was born out of the sense of being loved and cared for by Yahweh. However their understanding of being Loved did not stop there. There is another, similarly important text, which is taken seriously by Jews: "You shall be a kingdom of priests." In other words, just as you have been loved and cared for, so you are to love and care for others. That is the meaning of the Shema Israel: Love God and Love your neighbors.

In Jewish scripture the word most often used to describe God is the Hebrew word "chesed" which can only be translated by three English words, mercy/love/grace. God's mercy/love/grace is experienced in the Exodus and the giving of the Torah. The Torah or laws are not a way to earn God's mercy/love/grace, but a response to chesed already received. Something like this: "Because we have experienced the mercy/love/grace of God, we will live lives of mercy/ love/grace to others."

Christian teaching is a very real continuation of Judaism. Jesus of Nazareth lived at a time when the primary experience of chesed had been superseded by emphasis on doctrine or the Law. The law was not seen as response to mercy but a way to earn mercy.

People who experienced Jesus of Nazareth said that in his life and teachings he embodied mercy/love/grace. He was not so concerned about law as about loving grace. The familiar stories of Jesus such as "The Prodigal Son" are stories about loving grace. The story called "The Good Samaritan" which Betty re-told in a modern setting, is a story about loving and caring for victims.

I believe the key word in both Jewish and Christian teaching is chesed mercy/love/grace which is received and which is to be given. Both Jewish and Christian teachings are response to being loved.

Two years ago, on the eve of High Holy Days, "The San Diego Union Tribune" carried the story of Linda and Michael Bennet, whose daughter, Marla had been killed a few months early in the bomb attack at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. [Jeff McDonald, "Staying True to Marla's Faith," "The San Diego Union Tribune," September 13, 2002, pp..E1+]

The article entitled, "Staying True to Marla's Faith" deals with how Marla's parents reflect during High Holy Days about the meaning of Marla's tragic death. Marla was in Jerusalem as a graduate student in Judaic studies. She is described as "dedicated to Judaism."

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet indicate that part of their reflection during the High Holy Days will be how to be faithful to their Jewish teaching about loving and forgiving people who have caused great harm. They admit it will not be easy. Then their Rabbi, Martin Lawson is quoted:

". . . Balancing the rules of religion with the realities of human emotion
can be difficult for anyone, let alone a family that has lost a child to
terrorism.
". . . [Marla] was an advocate for peace and for justice. If anything
good can come from her death in the new year, it's for people to
work for those two forces - peace and love."

The article concludes with these words from Mr. Bennett, Marla's Father:

"[I] will not dwell on the unthinkable loss endured [with Marla's
death], but on the hope and promise Marla seemed to instill in so
many of the people she met. . . . Marla inspired [people] to work
harder, to help others and to always practice peace and under-
standing. . . ."

The Great Commandment, "love God and love your neighbor," describes the continuing swing between being loved and loving. That does not mean that there is a "company way" to exercise responsibility. The Bennetts had to consider how to love and forgive even though their Daughter had been killed.

Not everyone will face that kind of tragic loss. However each person will have to determine how best to both accept Love and to love; how to accept Grace and also to accept responsibly. This source about Jewish and Christian teachings is not mean to imply conformity. We are each searching for the personal experience of truth and meaning.

The "Shcma Israel" is the direct link between Jewish and Christian teachings. When Jesus was asked the "greatest commandment" he quoted the "Shema." The "Shema" is focused on the experience of being loved or chesed and responding by loving God and others.

This is the golden thread running through the tapestry of Jewish and Christian teachings: being loved and loving; being cared for and caring; being brought out of whatever Egypt enslaves us, and helping to bring others out of slavery. This is the tap root of Social Action - being loved and loving.

Because each of us is unique, each of us will find various settings which help us turn inward to personal reflection, making connections with life at its finest, and thereby to commit ourselves with renewed vigor to making life better for others. Amen.

Readings for October 2, 2005

"A rabbi spoke with God about heaven and hell. 'I will show you hell,' God said, and they went into a room which had a large pot of stew in the middle. The smell was delicious, but around the pot sat people who were famished and desperate. All were holding spoons with very long
handles which reached to the pot, but because the handles of the spoons were longer than their arms, it was impossible to get the stew back into their mouths. 'Now I will show you heaven,' God said, and they went into an identical room. There was a similar pot of stew, and the
people had identical spoons, but they were well nourished and happy. 'It's simple,' God said. 'You see, they have learned to feed one another'" (Medieval Jewish Story)

"Jesus is a multidimensional figure. He stands in the prophet line of Judaism, and for those who would be his followers, he opens up the rich tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures. . . . The words and deeds of Jesus recorded in the [Christian Scriptures] provide the blueprint for human fulfillment. Jesus calls us to comfort and sustain one another, to lift the burdens of the oppressed, and to serve God and humanity with joy." (Judith L. Hoehler, Unitarian Universalist Minister) [Both of these quotations are from "A Chosen Faith," pp. 119-120.]