Last week my friend Tammerie declared it "Take Your Koran to Church Day". She wrote this in her blog post:
Terry Jones was apparently not satisfied with the firestorm of controversy he ignited last fall, when he threatened to hold an "International Burn a Quran Day" on the anniversary of 9/11. On April 1, 2011, with reportedly 30 congregants in attendance, Jones staged a mock trial of the Koran, found it guilty, doused it in kerosene and burned it.
Protests in Afghanistan have turned violent and are leading to a rising death toll. Rather than take responsibility for what his actions have triggered, Jones explicitly denied culpability and called for retribution.
We didn't meet last Sunday and I don't have a Koran but I was offered one by two friends. It came as kind of a shock to me when I realized that I don't have a Koran. I have several Bibles, a translation of the Tao te Ching, Buddhist books, Goddess books, but no Koran.
And then I thought, but we are in the midst of Lent and moving toward Easter. Now isn't the time really to pull out non-Christian sacred writings, is it? This is one of the high Christian holidays where we celebrate Christ's last teachings, mourn his death, and celebrate his resurrection. Now is the time to pull out all the stops of Christianity.
My fervor for Christianity paused as I reflected on Jesus, a Jew. Jesus, a person not trying to start a new religion but instead so devoted to his religion, Judaism, that he stopped at nothing to go right to the heart of his devotion – relationship with God both for himself and for his people. Jesus, as I understand him, looked at the inside of the laws, the inside of the purpose for doing things, the inside of family, and the inside of politics and religion. The gifts he shared and his leadership were to bring wholeness to his people. He did not stop folks who wanted to follow him that were not Jews, but his message and his actions were meant to rebuild his community, starting from the inside… starting from the heart.
When rules and laws were flung at him like arrows to prove that he was a bad Jew, with wisdom he caught those arrows in the air and turned them back on his enemies. "You who are without sin cast the first stone." "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" "I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?" Jesus taught the heart of the law not the letter of the law.
Today we follow the teachings of this Jew not as Jews, but as Christians. I wonder what he would feel about that. And I wonder if he would be as upset as I am when people like Terry Jones accost another religion in his name. I wonder if his heart would break reading bumper stickers like the one I read the other day – Work as hard as you can so the president can take your money and give it to people who don’t work. I wonder what Jesus' Facebook status would be after reading the flagrant political lies told for the purpose of the rich getting tax breaks and funding for education and health providers being cut.
This is Lent. We are celebrating what it is to be Christian – followers of Christ. At least part of that calling, if we take Jesus the Christ as our role model, is to challenge and criticize our own religion, Christianity. We are to take our own people to task for what they say and what they do. We are to take our own church to task for what we say and what we do. We need to get to the heart of our own message – the good news of abundant life.
The scarcity model that many Christian leaders teach is an abomination to the abundance model that Jesus taught and lived. Some want us to believe that resources are scarce and that we need to horde them for ourselves. Some want us to believe that there is only one way to worship and one expression of the Divine. This scarcity model serves only to create hostility against those who do not worship as we Christians do. Not that there is one Christian form of worship! We can't forget the battles done in the name of right worship. This too is a scarcity model, seeking to convince people that there are a limited number of ways to worship.
Jesus says he came so that we would have abundant life. The thief, he says, climbs over the fence in secret to kill, destroy, and steal. The wolf terrorizes the sheep and causes them to scatter while Jesus speaks to the sheep and they follow.
The scarcity model is a model of terror used to scatter the flock. It denies the abundance that Jesus proclaims. While Jesus says, "I have other sheep that belong to other flocks," the wolf cries out that the other flocks are evil and need to be punished. The wolf burns the sacred books of the other flocks, seeks to steal preventive healthcare, and creates an atmosphere of hysteria so that the sheep scatter.
But we, the sheep, need to hear our shepherd's voice. We need to not become wrapped up in the letter of the law but listen for the heart beating within. When the wolf tries to twist words of abundance to seem like words of scarcity we must listen for the beating of the shepherds heart. When the thief tries to climb over the fence to terrorize us we must keep our eyes on the gate.
In the midst of his own terror, before the soldiers came to arrest him, Jesus begged God to be spared his fate. His prayer, however, ended with, "Yet not what I want, but what you want." Did Jesus hear the voice of his shepherd? Did he remember his own words, "I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."
What is the heart of Lent and Easter? I believe it is knowing that the shepherd leads us and loves us. I believe it is remembering that Jesus came offering us abundant life. Yes there are wolves. Yes there are thieves. Yes, they can make life difficult and dangerous.
Later in the Gospel of John, at the end of the 16th chapter Jesus says, "The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!"
In the name of the one who conquered the powers of the world I say to you, "Take courage!" Don't be thrown by the thieves and wolves. Remember that we are offered abundant life. That is the heart of the matter.
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