Sermon for Sunday, February 22, 2009

Mark 9: 2-9

"Abba"

Rev. Christopher Fazel

As we’ve said frequently here in this sanctuary, ideals are the standards that we hold that shape our values and determine our actions.  Our faith and scripture hold up such ideals as mercy, forgiveness, kindness, courage and self-control.  When I was growing up, one of the ideals that caught me very early was expressed – in those days – as, “The brotherhood of man.”  The Edgar Cayce readings make frequent reference to it.  Peter, Paul and Mary sang a song called, “Because all men are brothers.”  The values that spring from this ideal are fair and equal treatment, genuine concern and compassionate care for everyone – because we are all brothers. 

              Now, I still hold to this ideal and consider it vital to the health and future of the human race.  I still try to live according to the standard it sets even as I now recognize that the language that first carried this ideal into my consciousness is no longer adequate.   The phrase, “Brotherhood of man” leaves out half of humankind.  Now, the old argument that “man” means both men and women doesn’t stand up for two reasons.  First, the word man is gender specific.  The gender-neutral term in English is human.  Second, to argue for the old language is in fact to argue for the perpetuation of an imbalance of privilege.  Language always reflects the social organization of its day.   Why is it that to this day we raise cows and eat beef?  It is because in 1066 the French speaking Normans invaded Anglo/Saxon England and conquered it.  Since then, the French ruling class who were doing the eating, called the meat “buef”; the Anglo-Saxon peasants who were raising the meat called it “cow.”  Language always reflects the society that speaks it.  

              So, today, I express this ideal in different ways, “The brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity,” or “We are all family.”  Now, these expressions don’t carry -- for me -- the same poetic power as “The brotherhood of man,” but that’s the price we pay for our growth in consciousness.  As Joni Mitchell said, “Something’s lost and something’s gained in living everyday.”

              Now, all of this is just a way of introducing a similar conundrum, which is, “What language do we use to express something very important about our relationship to God?”   This issue came up and looked me in the eye during our monthly meetings at the Islamic Center in Fridley called the Muslim/Christian Dialogue.  It became clear to me that the dominant Muslim view of God is that of glorious, transcendent, omnipotent Creator, and we the human race are among God’s creations.  And therefore, we owe God reverence and duty. 

              Now, none of this is foreign to our Judeo/Christian view of God, but I am convinced that our Christian view – anchored in the preaching of Jesus – includes a far more intimate understanding of our relationship to God.  The Christian view evidenced in the words of Jesus and all the New Testament writers understands humans to be not just creations of God, but in fact children of God.  We find the phrase “children of God” as early as the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy.  In the New Testament, both Paul and John stress the point, but in my observation, it is in the preaching of Jesus that the point is most emphatically made.  Almost exclusively, Jesus refers to God as Father.  And we must ask, “What does Jesus mean by that?”  Just last week at the most recent Muslim/Christian dialogue, Terry Nichols, theology professor at St. Thomas University, helped us explore the most sensitive subject in all of Christian/Muslim relations – the concept of the Trinity.  In other words, “Is Jesus the Son of God?”  For the Muslim, such a declaration is nothing less than idolatry – worshipping other God’s beside the one true God. 

The atmosphere in the circle was careful, respectful and compassionate.  And I was very grateful to our Muslim brothers and sisters for that spirit.  Nevertheless, by the end, it was clear that the subject was in no way resolved.  However, I offered what I thought was a very helpful insight in this business, although it didn’t find quite the fertile ground I had hoped for, from either side of this discussion.  I read the story recorded in John 10, where Jesus says, “I and the Father are one,” whereupon, his audience drags him to a cliff to throw him to his death.  He asks, “How come,” and they say, “Blasphemy, you’re making yourself God.”  Then Jesus says, “Yeah, but…your own scripture – Psalm 82 says, “Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.  But ye shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.”  “So,” Jesus says, “what’s the big deal, since we’re all children of God?”

              Well, when that observation didn’t ring the bell, quite like I thought it should, and when even Terry Nichols wasn’t entirely comfortable thinking of us as children rather than creatures of God, I went home and did some research.  Here’s what I found.  In the sayings of Jesus, I found 46 verses where Jesus refers to God as “my Father.”  I found twenty-two verses where Jesus -- addressing others – describes God as “your Father,” and I found 56 verses where Jesus simply refers to God as “the Father.”   In fact, from the evidence of occasional Aramaic words percolating up into the Greek texts, it’s clear that the word Jesus actually used for God was “Abba,” an Aramaic word that is even more intimate than Father, and is best translated as something like Dad.

              Now, why is this important?  It’s important because it addresses some of the existential questions, “Who am I, where do I come from, why am I here, where am I going, and how do I get there?”  Are we born merely of the earth, or are we born from the heart and mind of God?  Are we essentially different from God, or do we share an essential nature?  Will we be forever separate from God, or will we enter into the promise as exampled in Jesus – to become one with – our Divine Source – our Heavenly Parent – the Wellspring of our Being – eternal communion with the Light of the World.  Amen.  May it be so.  Let us pray.

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