The
readings on
which this
sermon is
based can be
found at:
http://frsparky.net/a/r101.htm
s101g15
Fourth Sunday
in Lent
15/3/2015
‘God so loved
the world
..’ John
3:16
God didn’t
hate the world
so much that
he
orchestrated
the brutal
death of his
only son to
give the
divine the
justification
to condemn
everyone else,
those who
don’t believe
this, to
eternal
damnation!
I certainly
don’t believe
this - no
matter how
often
conservative
evangelicals
regurgitate:
‘No one comes
to the Father
but by
me’.
(1)
Psychopaths
and IS
jihadists
orchestrate
brutal deaths,
not any god
worth
worshipping.
Recently I was
reminded of
one of my pet
hates about
the Anglican
Church: ‘as it
was in the
beginning, is
now, and ever
shall be,
world without
end.
Amen’.
(2)
It is the
concept that
the Church
‘militant here
on earth’ will
eventually
prevail, and
some mythical
past
paradisiacal
state will be
restored and
we will be
seen to have
won; waited on
by God at the
heavenly
banqueting
table with all
the
unbelievers
forced to look
on in envy and
despair. (3)
If we have
this theology,
that we have
been, are and
always will be
right and
everyone else
is wrong, then
we have to
allow that
others, people
who worship
God by a
different name
or don’t
worship at
all, may
justifiably
believe that
they are right
and we are
wrong.
It’s called
doing unto
others as we
would have
others do unto
us.
(4)
There is no
caveat
restricting
this to apply
only to
straight
Anglicans of
my particular
variety!
And if
personal
infallibility
is the central
core of our
theology, as
well as
everyone
else’s, then
this is a
recipe for
continuing
divisions and
hatred, and
personal
infallibility
of every hue
deserves to be
consigned to
the dustbin of
history.
So much of
early church
history was
concerned with
the full
inclusion of
Gentiles into
the
Church.
St Paul’s
words about
adoption are
all about the
mechanism of
this
inclusion.
(5)
The whole of
his letter to
the Romans is
about this -
even those
couple of
verses in the
first chapter
said to be
about same
gender
intimacy.
(6)
And step by
painful step,
Peter is
brought to the
house of
Cornelius, to
bring him to
the same
realisation.
(7)
They were each
taught in no
uncertain
terms that God
so loved the
world ..
including
Gentiles.
Some time ago
I heard a
member of the
clergy speak
about the
politics of a
parish all
focussing on
the rectory /
vicarage /
parsonage /
presbytery,
and its effect
on clergy
families.
Who is right
and who is
wrong; who is
more important
in the parish
and who is
less; who is
indispensable
and therefore
has to get
their own
way?!
And somehow
the words:
‘God so loved
the world’
seem very
remote!
It doesn’t
matter how
‘welcoming’ a
parish is, if
our welcome is
only to make
others into
faithful
replicas of
ourselves or,
failing that,
devoted
supporters of
our own
personal
ministry - how
is this church
any different
from any other
organisation
in society;
sacred or
secular?
Again how does
this
demonstrate
that central
truth, that:
‘God so loved
the world’.
This is more
true on the
corporate
level, for our
own personal
efforts will
ever be for
naught while
the church
corporate is
seen as
self-serving.
I have
observed that
those who take
the bible so
literally,
often quoting
this passage
frequently,
seem to be
especially
condemnatory
of others who
don’t!
They have
turned this
into ‘God so
loved
straight,
bible-believing,
baptised,
confirmed,
communicant,
tithing
Anglicans’;
especially
those who like
choral /
modern music
(like me);
those who like
liturgy /
speaking in
tongues (like
me); those who
are regular
attendees of
my particular
fellowship /
prayer group /
bible study -
I mean the
list of
possible
qualifications
is
endless!
I am not
surprised if
the world
wonders if God
actually loves
the world -
when it only
hears
condemnation
and criticism
of anyone and
everyone who
doesn’t
measure up?
When does the
world hear
those words of
St Paul: ‘Who
are you to
pass judgement
on servants of
another?
It is before
their own lord
that they
stand or
fall.
And they will
be upheld, for
the Lord is
able to make
them stand.’
(8)
Well, perhaps
if they happen
to attend
worship on the
24th Ordinary
Sunday, the
one between 11
and 17
September in
year A, and
even then only
if the whole
reading is
used rather
than a
shortened
one.
I suspect that
the Church
needs to
reflect on
these words
rather more
frequently
than once
every three
years!
The world
might sit up
and take
notice if the
church was
heard to
proclaim this
more
insistently
than John
14:6.
Indeed of
course, no one
comes to the
Father
condemning
others to
eternal
damnation -
which is what
the opposite
of ‘by me’
means.
How can a
congregation
which is
essentially a
mono-culture
claim to be
christian?
Sometimes
liberals
despair that
the
conservative
evangelical
congregations
thrive because
they offer a
corporate
infallible
message and
so, by osmosis
a personal
infallibility,
yet diversity
is an
indisputable
characteristic
of the world -
the very world
which God so
loves!
So for me it
is the
conservative
evangelical
who doesn’t
actually
believe that
‘God .. loves
the world’
even though
they endlessly
proclaim
it. It
is the secular
humanist who
‘believes’
even though
they may not
believe in a
god but
includes and
affirm all
others by
their actions
because they
believe that
this is what
God would want
if he or she
existed.
1. John
14:6
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxology
3. Psalm
23:5
4.
Matthew 7:12
5.
Romans 8:15
Galatians 4:5
6.
Romans 1:26-27
7. Acts
9:32-11:5
8.
Romans 14.4