different from us racially economically politically
politically
religiously God loves
diversity God loves variety just look
around this big beautiful planet of ours
do we really think think God would make
all these beautiful people with all
their beautiful traditions for no reason at
all there are so many Pathways to the
sacred the Islamic Mystic roomie said
every religion has love but love has no
religion God is so much bigger than our
human categories God is not a
presbyterian God is not a
Christian God is not a noun at all God
Is A
Verb God is not a being God is being
itself God is love and that's why Jesus
is against anything that gets in the way
of that love between neighbors including
religion that's why he's always breaking
religious rules that's why he's always
getting in trouble with the religious
authorities that's why he says Sinners
will see the Kingdom of Heaven before
religious people do sorry to everyone here
here
I know you I know you came all this
way religious Supremacy is
antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ Jesus didn't come to establish a
Christian Nation he came to reveal
Ultimate Reality which he called the
kingdom of God but it's not like any
Kingdom we've ever known instead of a
throne Jesus sits at a table
instead of a
warhorse Jesus rides a
donkey instead of a
sword Jesus picks up a
cross the kingdom of God
inverts the power dynamics of all the
kingdoms in the
world true strength is
vulnerability true status is
equality true wealth is sharing
and we as Christians are called to
realize that Kingdom on Earth as it is
in heaven not by force but by
faith Jesus asked us to have the faith
of a mustard seed trusting that by
living and dying for love we give birth
to a better world that's not easy to
do in a world full of fear Jesus knew we
would put our trust in something other
than God something other than love as a
Jewish rabbi he called those things
Idols money
status and the most dangerous Idol of all
all
power when Jesus was tempted by the
devil in the wilderness one of the
things the devil offered was power all
the kingdoms of the world and Jesus rejected
rejected
it when his disciples asked who will be
the most powerful in the kingdom of God
Jesus said you know the Lords of the
earth push their people
around but among you it'll be different
whoever wants to be a leader among you
must be a
servant and when they still didn't get
it and they asked who will be the
greatest in the kingdom of God Jesus
said little
children the least powerful but most
trusting members of any human
Community that's the kingdom of God I
think Chance the Rapper said it
best don't believe in Kings believe in the
the
Kingdom Jesus knew in the words of
Dorothy Sola there is only one
legitimation of power and that is to
share it with
others power that is not shared power
that is not transformed into love is
pure domination and
oppression Christian nationalists are
more committed to the love of power than
to the power of
love and it exposes a lack of
faith because the opposite of faith is
not doubt doubt is a healthy part of any
faith the opposite of faith is
control when we stop trusting God when
we stop trusting love we start taking control
control
ourselves Christian nationalists want to
control what we read who we marry where
we travel when we have
children they want to control our minds
and our
bodies oh ye of little
faith Christian nationalists trust
domination because they think domination
is what
works but Jesus revealed that the true
power of the universe is not
domination but
love in Daoism they teach that over time
the soft overcomes the
hard the water wears down the
rock the wind takes out the
mountain the grass abends the
concrete the meek inherit the
earth violence may win in the short run
but in the end love always
wins Jesus said this kingdom of God is
in our midst it's hiding in plain sight
Heaven is already here inside of us
above us all around
us on my mom's side my granddad was a
Baptist preacher but on my dad's side my
grandpa talar Rico never went to
church but he was one of the most
generous compassionate moral people I've
ever met he was an immigrant from Italy
whose family saw firsthand the dangers
of mixing church and state he settled in
the Texas
country and on Sunday mornings he would
take these long walks through the wild
flowers and Live Oaks and he would take
me with him he said it was the best
chance to see
Outdoors biologists tell us that
everything in nature is connected and
evolving toward greater
Union anthropologists tell us that our
ability to share and cooperate is Humanity's
Humanity's
superpower and astrophysicists tell us
that the universe is just gentle enough
to make our existence
possible this universe of ours is
nothing but gratuitous
Grace wrote that the very physical
universe is
love we see it
in the harmonies of Music the principles
of mathematics the patterns of nature we
are all
expressions of that creative power we
are the universe becoming aware of
itself as children of God Children of
the cosmos we are loved
loved unconditionally
unconditionally indiscriminately
infinitely no achievement can add to it
no mistake can take from it no amount of
church going or church missing can
change it
that's that's truly deserving of the
title good
news we are
made by
love with love to
love I call that love God you may use a
different word and that's okay there are
a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the
ground we can
cure the disease of Christian
nationalism we can protect against the
virus of religious extremism with healthy
healthy
religion the great faith traditions of
the world have so much to offer Us in
this time of global crisis hinduism's
aema provides an alternative to the
logic of
violence Buddhist Meditation provides an
alternative to the abuse of our
attention Judaism Sabbath provides an
alternative to the demands of
capitalism and in a world where
everything can be bought and sold
including the Earth itself native
American traditions provide an
alternative to ecological
extraction it's hard it is so hard to
protect your spirit in a world trying to kill
kill
it that's why we need Faith communities
like this one that's why we need stories
and traditions and practices that heal
our soul and transform our
mind every time in this
Sanctuary that we say the
prayers sing the hymns sprinkle the
water eat the bread drink the wine we're
tuning Our
Hearts our Buddhist friends tell us that
compassion takes practice
neuroscientists tell us that we can
become Kinder more empathetic if we work
at it things like love peace and hope
they require strength training a gym for the
the
heart and so every week We Gather here
to sing our songs and tell our
stories just for the
opportunity to in the words of tikn Han
dwell in the
ultimate to
together just for a
moment and that's almost better than a
cold glass of
beer I invite you now to your own
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