For the Love of God
Rev. Holly Baylies
UU Church of Wakefield MA
March 5, 2006

What if things had been different and the story of Adam and Eve had begun in joy instead of shame, and the value of their companionship was loving, equal and mutual? What if the teachings of many Christians began without the curse of  “original sin?”  ..without the lesser status of women for that “sin“?

What if the story of the Tower of Babel had been told differently? As it reads, ‘the forbidden tower reached into heaven, the Lord scattered all people abroad, and confounded their language, so they could not understand one another…’ Instead what if we grew up with a different translation; “ let us widen the horizons of all people who are beautifully different, whose languages and customs are a measure of their divine uniqueness, which pleases God..”

What if we were taught compassion for the plight of Jonathan and David, whose love was recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel. These two men became the very closest of partners, and remained so, even when Jonathan’s father , King Saul drove David from his court. When Jonathan and his father Saul were slain, David mourned for Jonathan saying;

O Jonathan, in your death I am stricken
I an desolated for you Jonathan, my brother.
Very dear to me you were.
Your love to me more wonderful
Than the love of a woman.”

Such an intense love make many uncomfortable, but for those of us who struggle to express their love and to remain within their Judeo Christian tradition, we find great strength and solace in this deliberately overlooked biblical passage.  

From the time of the death of Jesus, scholars have fought strenuously over the contents of the Bible. The New Testament Canon as we know it today came from hundreds of versions, stories and myths, rejected, added to and fought over by scholars and theologians for hundreds of years. Many versions were tossed out; the Gospel according to Thomas found in the dead sea scrolls was dismissed as heresy, and there is much argument as to who ultimately chose them. It is believed that St. Augustine was responsible and chose the texts in the middle of the 4th century. However the final choices, among hundreds, were translated first from Aramaic, then to Greek, Hebrew and to English. It is a long and convoluted story, with each faction adding their own social customs to the interpretation of the Bible until the first printed Gutenberg Bible presented ‘God’s word as Law.

Today we are in the midst of a Biblical revolution, a re-definition of our own customs and social structure as it applies to “God’s Laws;” Just exactly in the same way it was done hundreds of years ago, through those in power, those with money and those with the largest following.

In light of how the radical right views “God’s Words”, there is no better time to take a look at our own Canon, at the sacred truths that we hold dear and why. Obviously the old biblical texts have been altered again and again, mostly to suit the authority of the church in power at the time when church and state were one. And from those alterations we need to decide for ourselves where the stories of God’s words ring true in our lives today and for those around us. Particularly in how we decide to expose our children to what was taught and how we as a liberal faith chose to respond.

Let me start simply, with greeting cards;  those intimate expressions of celebration and love for one another, we search for, to give and to receive on any formal day of recognition. 

Most recently I went hunting for Valentine’s Day cards, that do represent  the here and now, that honor all forms of love for one another. Naturally there was a large religious section, from the, “God loves you and so do I” genre, but I was unable to find a single card that pictured a couple of mixed race. There were none that recognized alternative families, same- sex couples, step parents of a second marriage, large or elderly folks except in jest, or even adopted children. 

How nice it would be for such a child to receive a printed card that read, “I love you because I chose you above all others to be my son or daughter.” Even the Valentines day stuffed animals; those little magnetic kissy bears are dressed as boy and girl. As an experiment, I pulled the bears apart and tried to sick two girl bears together. The magnets were both negative and they repelled one another!  The card racks in the stores, on every occasion for celebration or mourning, tell us a great deal about what we as a religious culture believe and who we can openly and safely love.

But today we have entered a new arena, by defining the kinds of love that are not only appropriate and acceptable to the church but also to the nation. The most basic of universal truths, to “love they neighbor as thyself“, and to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” which are found in print as part of the basic teachings every major religious sect in the world. I see no other translation or interpretation than what it says. However in this country, to love thy neighbor seems to have some very stringent and selective conditions that do not include the likes of such Biblical characters as Jonathan and David.

There is nothing easy for us Unitarian Universalists in this day and age about loving the idea of a God that is presented to us in a flawed and very human form.  We have right here in Wakefield churches at odds with what God’s love means and how it should be expressed. Strangely enough if one were to really look at the life of Jesus, one would see plainly, that he was accepting of all people, unconditionally, and honored their worth and dignity as human beings first, before he introduced them to the parables of his theology. It was, even with him, a choice to follow his teachings. 

Sometimes I think the church is far more interested in the end product of his life that has evolved into human made rituals, great displays of wealth, and the self-appointed infallibility of human authority; rather than the value found in the he way he lived his life. We tend to forget that he was a poor, olive skinned, long hair, itinerant preacher, who never had a home, a wife or a family and was surrounded by 12 hand picked men with whom he traveled with and returned to each day.  

It never hurts to remember either, that the only ones Jesus openly chastised and condemned, were the money changers in the temple, who traded old money for new script at less than half their value.

As I said I spent a lot of time looking for Valentines Day cards; looking for one element of  the kind of love Jesus would have expressed, one that  recognized the scope of the many, many ways in which love can be expressed between all kind of combinations of people. I was disappointed but not surprised. However that experience actually strengthened my belief in the power of the authority of the teachings of our Judeo-Christian roots in determining what love is in modern times. How intriguing and complex that love can be- and how simple, if one were to only apply thelife and love of Jesus, unscarred by the politics and ego and the fighting over the leadership of a church he never intended to build.

For the Love of God, what have we done to Christianity?

For if we as a Nation of genuinely faithful people, were to truly take the lead, from the example of the life of Jesus (and Allah and Buddha and Yahweh, to name just a few) to “Do unto others as we would have them do unto you,” as we are taught; there would never be a single law that would forbid expressions of affection between people that were kind, caring, respectful, un self-serving, supportive and loyal, from ever knowing or experiencing the pain of hatred and intolerance. 
Should the Love of God to be understood in that way, we would never wield the religious freedoms of Democracy as something to fear, or dictate to others what they must believe to live in peace; rather present it as a choice to be cherished. 

In many of our churches the inscription of our faith, written on pulpits and entryways reads., "GOD IS LOVE." Little did we know the how convoluted that simple three-word phrase would become. It means just love, nothing less than love.  How has it come to so much hatred and anger?

Maybe the late John Lennon was right. I would like to close with the words from his song “Imagine,” written before he was shot and killed…

For the Love of God:

-Imagine there's no Heaven --¬It's easy if you try 
No- Hell below us 
Above us only sky 
Imagine all the people 
Living for today 
Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do 
Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace 
You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one 
I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one Imagine no possessions 
I wonder if you can 
No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world 
You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one 
I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one .

So be it
Amen