Terry Paul Choyce
August 13th, 2006 Brunswick Street United Church
Since earliest times people have reached out to a god to help them make sense of life and death. From the rotund goddesses that date back as far as 30,000 BC, to the mythological gods and goddesses of the Greeks and Romans, to the sun gods of the Egyptians and Aztecs, to the hierarchy of gods of the Hindus, to the Great Spirit of the North American natives, to Allah, to Jehovah, to the Supreme Soul, to the universal source of energy, to the Christian God we worship here.
I would say that it is human nature to believe in something divine that is greater than us, or that is a part of us.
Today there are many concepts of God throughout the world, even throughout Halifax. One of the things I most admire about the United Church of Canada is that it does not maintain a fixed definition of God. Ours is a religion that encourages questioning and the seeking of individual answers to theological questions. Within the guidelines of our religion, we are allowed to explore different beliefs and ways of thinking and believing. Ours is a religion that emphasizes spirit instead of dogma. We want people to live lovingly because they want to emulate the way of Christ, not because they fear punishment from a vengeful God. We have a creed which changes, articles of faith which at present are being rewritten, order of services that differ from church to church, and sometimes from one service to another. But regardless of the format of the church, or the individual concepts of God, we all believe in loving each other and everything on our planet, and taking care of things the best we can. Our God wants us to do that.
Last week I read the book Who Needs God by Rabbi Harold Kushner. I was fascinated at how his concept of God matched my own, even though we have very different religions. His is a compassionate God as well. And I also admired his take on religion. He said (p. 198) "One of the primary goals of religion is to teach people to like themselves and feel good about themselves. All my experience has taught me that people who feel good about themselves will be more generous, more forgiving of others, less defensive about their mistakes, more accessible to change, and better able to cope with misfortune and adversity." He says (p. 102) "True religion offers to redeem us from loneliness, not by answering our prayers and sending us the partner of our dreams, but by teaching us to see our neighbours as ourselves, to be aware of their humanity, their fears and feelings, instead of being only aware of our own. True religion teaches us not how to win friends, but how to be a friend, to be concerned with alleviating the loneliness of others, learning to hear their cry instead of wondering why no one hears ours."
Rabbi Kushner also says that one of the gifts of religion is community. He says "Our place of worship represents one place where the barriers fall and we all stand equal before God." (P.102) Regardless of our education, the size of our bank accounts, the race or culture we were born into, the lifestyle we have chosen, the job we have or donŐt have - in church we are all important and all loved equally by God. According to Kushner, and according to me, and according to the United Church, God wants us to look beyond our differences and to accept and care for each other. This was the way Jesus lived and what he taught. Jesus reached out to everyone with love in his heart.
Rabbi Kushner wrote " the purpose of religion is not to explain God or to please God, but to help us meet some of our most basic human needs." (P.99)
This is why people have had some form of religion since the beginning of recorded time. A belief in God eases our loneliness, it gives meaning and purpose to our lives, it guides us in how we should treat each other, and it gives us reassurance that there is life after death. These are basic human needs. These are basic human questions as well. So we turn to a religion to find the answers. Most of us adopt the religion we were born into. Others find a new religion that suits their thoughts, beliefs, and needs. I think every person who has ever lived past the age of 5 has grappled with the questions "what is God and what do I believe." It is from those questions that religions were originally formed.
Harold Kushner wrote (p. 27) that "Religion is not primarily a set of beliefs, a collection of prayers, or a series of rituals. Religion is first and foremost a way of seeing. It canŐt change the facts about the world we live in, but it can change the way we see those facts." He says that there is something in each of us that knows we are innately sacred, and that our lives are divine gifts. All life is precious. It is our challenge as religious people to acknowledge that your life is as precious as mine, so I need to treat you as I want to be treated. And this planet is our sacred home, and it needs to be loved and cared for as well.
Religion at its best and purest form is all about love. This is true for all religions. We all need to believe in goodness, in compassion, in equality, in respect, and in a God that loves us, no matter which century, which country, or which city we live in. To believe is to be human. Religion guides us in our beliefs. God guides us all in how to live with love.
