Readings: Acts 10:44-48; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17
Last weekend we were lucky to have Lorraine Parkinson and John Bodycomb, retired Uniting Church ministers, authors and, in Lorraine`s case, a NT scholar, spend time with us, engaging and hopefully inspiring us to look beyond some of our set ideas about God and Jesus.

It was Jesus` teachings that took centre stage on Saturday, particularly the Sermon on the Mount. Lorraine felt these teachings have been neglected in the church, which over the centuries has become fixated with beliefs and dogmas, and how to get to heaven. We therefore refocussed on the Beatitudes as a way for us to achieve the best possible world here and now, recovering them for our own time and place.

But Lorraine did not neglect the source of Jesus` strength and love in her presentation. Jesus was also a mystic, as well as an activist and teacher. Lorraine described Jesus as `a God soaked individual`, for God was at the heart of his life. It was God who was the source of all that Jesus did and said, it was God who was leading the way.

Somehow a lot of this has been lost in our current understanding of Christianity. It has been transformed into a message about Jesus rather than a reflection of the creative presence of God in all of life. This can be seen in the ancient creeds that many people still recite, which say absolutely nothing about Jesus` teachings or about the kingdom of God, but rather concentrate on his birth, death and resurrection.

Today for many Christians the only way to God and new life is through a belief in Jesus as lord and saviour and as a sacrifice demanded by God for our sins. Faith in this case is about rules and regulations rather than actions or even love. Where is the God found in all of life or the inclusive message of Jesus that opened people up to each other? More importantly where is the God of the Hebrews, the God of Islam, the God of the Hindus and even the spirit found in the Buddhists in this exclusive understanding?

We live in a multicultural, multifaith world. How do we reconcile our differences and work together for the best possible world?

I was inspired to look at this question by my favourite column in the weekend Australian. It`s called `this …. Life` and this week it was `this scarfed life. In it the writer relates the story of going out one day with a pashmina wrapped around her neck, but covering her head as it was quite cold. Suddenly people around her acted differently, looking at her with equal measure of disdain and fear, moving away in case she hid a bomb or wanted to kneel and pray. Suddenly, by mistake, she had become a Muslim, an outsider, experiencing the unsaid discrimination that comes with that label. The scary thing is to acknowledge that Christians can generate this discrimination as much as any other group.

So it`s rather opportune that today we are celebrating pluralism Sunday, well it was last week, but it`s close enough. What is pluralism, you may ask? Pluralism is the idea that my religion is good for me and your religion may turn out to be as good for you as mine is for me. As Jim Burklo suggests, it is the concept that there are multiple sources of truth and salvation among the religions. It does not imply that all religions are the same or that all religions are equal, but it does recognise the possibility that my way is not the only way and that my religion in not necessarily superior to yours. It connects with the idea of spiritual humility, that the God we encounter, worship and follow, is really beyond our human comprehension, and all attempts to explain God fully are incomplete. But that we can help each other on the road.

But to acknowledge and embrace this wider more inclusive picture of our faith which is open to others some things need to change within Christianity – changes that are pretty profound but I believe actually reflect the real message of Jesus rather than some neat theological package. As Desmond Tutu frankly says in his book, God is not a Christian, God is much, much bigger than that.

So what are the changes?

Number one, the idea that the bible is a rule book, which states everything clearly in black and white, needs to go. As we have said often enough here, we need to take the bible seriously but not literally. We can be inspired and directed by many words and verses in it, as Lorraine suggested, but it is still a very human and fallible creation. Many people are grasping this truth and exploring more seriously what the words mean for us today.

More importantly, understanding God as only being mediated through one person needs to go. As Paul Tillich puts it, `the particularity of Jesus life and message points to the universality of God`s love and presence. We Christians believe that God is defined by Jesus, but it does not mean, it cannot mean that God is confined by Jesus. If we stress the particularity of Jesus and forget the universality of God, we make Jesus into an idol.`

We see this so clearly in John`s Gospel. which while having many of the passages used to support the notion that the only way to God is through Jesus we are introduced to the most mystical and least factual of all the gospels. Understanding it on a purely factual level misses the point. John is a bigger picture gospel. When Jesus is referred to as the way, the truth, the life, this is the bigger picture. These sayings embody the universality of life found in the father. When he says `love one another as I have loved you`, he is not saying there are some who are worthy and some who aren`t. All are included in God`s circle of love that redeems and brings new life here and now. All are welcome to the table.

When Jesus says `No one comes to the father except through me`, the `me` is not an individual, but the larger truth, way and life that are represented in him. The truth, like the father is embedded in Jesus but it is greater than Jesus. The father is greater than I, Jesus reminds us. In the reading today we hear `As the father has loved me, so I have loved you, abide in my love. You are my friends, I tell you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, love that will last`.

When both John and Lorraine emphasised that Jesus was more than just a teacher, they were right. His teachings reflected something much greater for all of us. What underpins them all is the divine and connecting presence of God, in whom we live and move and have our being.

So there is no dishonour to God, as Desmond Tutu writes, for us to claim that all truth, all sense of beauty, all awareness of and desire after goodness has one source, and that source is God, who is not confined to one place, time and people. We do not somehow disown Jesus or undermine his message by embracing those of other faiths.

For it is this presence, that Michael Morwood says, moves human cultures to a deeper spiritual awareness, moves individual men and women to greater depths of cooperation and care and generosity, assures men and women of hope and healing in the face of inevitable pain and tragedy in this fragile world, and moves all of us to live human life as best we can, in ways that ennoble and dignify ourselves and our neighbours.

Desmond Tutu has had intimate experience with all of this. He has been able to walk arm in arm with adherents of other faiths in the cause of justice and freedom, even as fellow Christians have vilified and opposed his witness.

So embracing pluralism does not mean just tolerating other religions at some smug level, as though we really know deep down that we are right and they are misguided, but as Jim Burklo says, taking a step further and actually embracing them and honouring them at a deeper level. But neither is pluralism a religious soup, which says all religions are the same. He suggests there is a way to be authentically and particularly religious, involved in a religious culture and practise a specific religion and faith, but if you go all the way with that, you will discover that we all end up on the top of the same mountain with adherents of other religions because those who have gone all the way in their traditions meet God in the same place.

If we embrace this understanding our actions toward each other will be different, will be transforming. If we make welcome and embrace the other of different faiths we will encounter the divine presence in them which is at the heart of all life. Every person is a god carrier, who can act for God in the world. The God in me greets the God in you, a Hindu greeting which reflects more closely this reality. When we acknowledge this then interfaith action and dialogue will progress and we can make the best possible world for our children and our children`s children.

Amen

Jim Burklo, Notes from Pluralism Sunday, Centre for Progressive Christianity
Desmond Tutu, God is not a Christian
Michael Morewood, Is Jesus God