SUNDAY, MAY 26 2024 - OMG THEOLOGY
Sunday, May 26 2024
OMG Theology
Carolyn Smith
I’d like everyone to get ready to think of an answer... clear your mind
for a moment, don’t worry too much about right answers, and think of what feels
good about church and faith and all that is sacred, ok?
Now, If you prayed right now. What way would you begin your
prayer?
It’s been said: In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a
heart. So please be brave.
Maybe you felt a bit nervous speaking it out loud? Are you worried your word
isn’t as good as someone else’s perhaps? Do some of you have more than one
answer?You might even think that praying isn’t worth anything.
What about our team of Prayer Sharers? Deborah uses O Holy One....”
Our long tradition of writing things down as a bible or creeds, or expressing hope
in psalms and songs, sort of ebbs and flows, and shuffles around what we belief.
What stands the test of time and universal wisdom, what is forgettable or worse?
And in sorting through these things, we evolve in our understanding of what is
Sacred to us, what is deeper, stronger, what is more loving, more powerful and
what feels HOLY to us. Paying attention to that shuffle, and daring to write down
or speak out what we gradually believe is called ‘doing Theology.’ Theos is the
Greek word for God and Ology is study of...
And by daring to pray and naming God ourselves with expressions that rise from
our experiences and our learnings, you, me, us collectively - we’re doing Theology
and naming what we believe. If we ask God for help, we believe that something
about God helps us. If we ask for forgiveness, we believe there is something good
about second chances. We might not be 100% sure or on target, but please don’t
hold yourself to such high standards!
Was it hard to say out loud what you’d begin your prayer with? No word of a lie,
I feel anxious myself writing these things and daring to stand up here and say out
loud, “here is something I believe to be true.”
Because I know that sometimes it really matters. Underneath our cheery
exteriors, we all have stories of pain and fear. We look to each other for hope or
ideas. We band together to build and nurture a good idea. When we gather on a
Sunday, & hang out an audacious rainbow flag, & invite people into our lighthearted
circle, we are offering our belief about faithful community as lifeline to others.
When someone comes in need of community, solace or hope, it really matters to
their heart and spirit.
Teenagers are one of the toughest crowds - they smell BS 1 part per 10 million, I
think. So when they come to church at all, they’re looking for something real.
When they gather for Audacious Hope in July - the Rendezvous United Church
Youth Conference, what a chance they’re taking on an old church, on old
traditions... Something HOLY must be at work if they trust us. At the previous
Rendezvous conference, 600 UCC youth gathered in Montreal and Roger
Nishioka spoke to the crowd: he’s a pastor, teacher, Seminary/University Prof and
Professional Theologian - usually we expect some turtleneck wearing bearded old
guy and our eyes glazing over at terms like hermeneutics and substitutionary
atonement... Except - exuberant and bold as he is, he looked those kids in the
eyes (I think all 600 felt he looked THEM right in the eye) and he said every day
YOU do theology. If you have ever thought about God, or made any claim about God, if
you texted at any point “OMG” at any point in your life - that is a theological
claim... It’s not a very deep theological claim, but it IS a theological claim. Lots of
laughter!
And he goes on to say that he worries Professional christians who get paid to be
Christian have given you the wrong message and that is only those of us who have been
to a place called Seminary can talk about God. Huge applause!
So, a little slip like Oh my God - Geez (oh there’s another one) - it’s not very deep
but think of the last time you said that... now I expect every time you say it, you
will roll your eyes at me but forever notice, when you say it, an opportunity for a
Spirit connection. It turns into a tiny moment of wondering about a God who
hears our awe and groans or worry and amusement. What if that tiny moment
lets you say “YUP - I said it, and I meant it - My God, here you are.. I pray for joy,
hope, help, with gratitude,”?
The Lord’s Prayer is as embedded in your hearts and minds as a clumsy Oh
my God slips off your tongue. If I begin saying “Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed...” - see -you’re saying it with me from deep memory.
And our collective St. Paul’s is getting pretty comfortable now saying: Eternal
Spirit, earth maker, pain bearer, life bringer, Source of all that is
and that shall be, Mother and Father of us all.” Which one of those
expresses your name for the God that calls you “beloved” today?
When in your life has Pain-Bearer mattered? When has Life Bringer or Earth
Maker mattered? I like SOURCE...
Are you a bit surprised to know that prayer so well, and then hear Christene read
just a couple simple verses today: The Disciples - no strangers to theology in their
Hebrew traditions, and no strangers to prayer... asked Jesus “how shall WE pray?”
To them, and to outsiders (because this is the Gospel of Luke written to invite
new people , outsiders into the kingdom of God) Jesus’ answer wasn’t a finger
wagging that we had to be sincere enough or good enough or wise enough... No
hierarchy or sense of being set apart here...
The simple answer came: he said begin with Father... not OUR father, but Father/
My Father -it was intimate/you in your experience. Feel welcome to claim this
family intimacy with God. Just like all throughout the gospel of Luke with Jesus-
stories about parent father-figures who are forgiving, embracing, celebrating, and
loving, like the Father welcoming back the prodigal son and drawing us towards
Love and Truth. Stories of people trying, failing, trying again, and rediscovering their
way. We don’t have to be right, we only have to continue trying.
Now if we were to hear Jesus say these words in his mother tongue- Aramaic - it
came out like:
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos/ you create all that moves in light.
Wow eh? Source of all that is... creating me in the vastness of the cosmos, the
universe!
And then there are the images we can’t quite put into words - I haven’t digested
yesterday’s experience of Ordination with words quite yet. On one hand, it
changes nothing about my spirit or my role or my ability, and on the other hand,
the expression that is laying on of hands surrounded by “The Church” is a heavy
expectation AND beloved and an honour. Some old memories have been swirling
around - when I was new at this leadership role, 20 years ago, and clumsy and
young, I participated in a course a little bit like the one Sue Empringham has been
leading, and I found myself invited to say OUT LOUD how I experienced God.
Other people had used words like Heavenly Father, or Mothering Hen, or
Challenger, even... and instead I asked everyone to close their eyes for a moment,
- go ahead and try with me - feel yourself in your chair, grounded in yourself and
your back against the chair... and now imagine a warm cloak being draped around
your shoulders, ...and a warm strong arm pulling you in for a hug, ...maybe this
loving friend could tuck their head over for this embrace - safety, groundedness,
assurance...always always present, in this and any moment. You are not alone, thanks
be to God.
You can when you’re ready... open your eyes again, though I wouldn’t blame you
for hanging out in that embrace for a moment.
Each of you has a story of your life, times that brought you to your knees.
Moments when your spirit soared!! You have learned something - even the
tiniest thing, about what is Sacred for you - even if it’s been when you’ve missed it
most. Your expression of it might just be what someone else desperately needs to
hear, or what challenges them to discover something new and fresh. Each of you
in the collective of this circle, or in the world around you, or in your family helps
to reflect the Spirit that is here rising amongst us - wow - you! Me! Us! Because
one thing I know: in all our individuality, in all our colourful diversity, in our failings
and our striving and our trying again- you - each of you is beloved! We are
beloved. So maybe your word for that becomes Loving Father. Maybe ‘Source of
all that is’, or simply, ‘Love.’ Maybe just an image of warm light or or cool breeze.
You have been blessed, and invited to express your sense of the sacred. Hallowed
Be Thy Name!