“Does God Have a Future?”

Matthew 2:1-16

Epiphany Sunday + January 3, 2010

Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ

400 Glenwood Drive

Chattanooga, Tennessee 37404

The beginning of a new year is a natural time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the year that lies ahead. This is especially true when a new year is the end of one decade and the beginning of another. Most commentators seem to feel – and I agree with them – that the first decade of the twenty-first century was a minor disaster. If we do not correct the mistakes we made over the past ten years, that minor disaster could become a major catastrophe. Like the sands in an hourglass, we are running out of time in so many areas. I think that is why I am hearing fewer expressions of optimism and more questions of concern as we enter this new decade.

Does America have a future? If the twentieth century was the American century, is the twenty-first century going to be the Chinese century? As I look back on the half of the twentieth century in which I lived, it seems to me that as Americans we have squandered so many opportunities. We have engaged in endless wars. We have lost sight of our core commitment as Americans to foster liberty and justice for all, not just for the favored few. In the telling words of Harry Emerson Fosdick’s great hymn, we have become “rich in things and poor in soul.” (“God of Grace and God of Glory”) Is it too late for us as Americans? Will we become yet one more of the militaristic empires of the past that vanished to the regret of none? I hope not, but if that is not to be our fate we must return to the basic values that are the source of any nation’s greatness: a concern for the welfare of not only our own people but also of all the people of the world.

Another question I am hearing is this: Does the world have a future? Do you think I am exaggerating when I say I believe the world has become a very  dangerous place over the past ten years? Dangerous not only in terms of the increase in violence and terrorism (to which we as Americans have added our contribution) but also dangerous in terms of the threat to life itself. It seems clear to me that unless we are far more serious than we have been in addressing the issues of global warming and environmental destruction, the only life that will continue on earth is insect life. The recent Copenhagen conference demonstrated that the nations of the world – developed, developing, and undeveloped – simply do not grasp the magnitude of the disaster we are facing. Yes, doing what we can as individuals to be more responsible environmentally is important, but unless we work together as citizens of the world our own individual efforts will be too little, too late. We as Americans will have to learn how to consume less and share more or we will be like those first class passengers on the Titanic, celebrating our good fortune while the ship of the world sinks beneath our feet.

Since I have given my life to organized religion, here is another question I am hearing in some places: Does the Church have a future? By Church, I mean Church with a capital “C,” the Christian Church itself. While many people would say this is a foolish question – “Just look at the numbers of people around the world attending churches.” – I think we have to look deeper. Secularism is rising all over the world. More and more people in our country and abroad now consider themselves “None of the above” when it comes to organized religion. Those churches that are thriving seem to me to be going down one of two dead end alleys. They are either trying to retreat into the past or foray into creating churches as entertainment centers. Just watch some Sunday morning religious programs and tell me I am wrong. If the Church in general and this church in particular, Pilgrim Church, are to have a future, it has to be in finding new and better ways to love God and our fellow human beings in this new century. Christian integrity must be more important than institutional survival.

There is a final question I am struggling with these days that may not have occurred to many of you: Does God have a future? What a strange question to ask in church some of you may be thinking, but an increasing number of thoughtful people are asking it. The so-called “New Atheism” is on the rise. As I have read some of those new atheists I am struck by their similarity to a story I heard about Harry Emerson Fosdick years ago. A young man came to see him and said he didn’t believe in God anymore. Dr. Fosdick responded: “Tell me what kind of god you don’t believe in. Maybe I don’t believe in him either!”

There are many so-called “gods” some believe in or don’t believe in today that are doomed to the same death as gods such as Marduk or Isis or Jupiter that ancient people used to worship. Let me list some of those contemporary false gods for you in our world today.

The Godfather “god.” This is the god who pulls strings and capriciously manipulates human life. This so-called god is one people bring out at tragedies, i.e. the death of a child, when they say “God must have needed another angel.” Such a “god” is a moral monster and I want nothing to do with it.

The Clockmaker “god.” This god created the universe and then left it to run down on its own. This god is closely related to what has been called the great “Unmoved Mover.” This “god” gets things going and then has nothing more to do with it.

The Resident Policeman “god.” This god is simply what we call conscience. The problem with this god is that not everyone’s conscience is the same. When was the last time anyone worshiped Hitler’s conscience?

The “god” of Narrow Nationalism. Recently I watched a program about the last World War I veteran. He was an American who had a souvenir belt buckle from a German soldier with these words on it: “Gott Mit Uns” or “God Is With Us.” This is the god who is trotted out by every nation at the beginning of every war but it is a terribly false god. In the midst of the Civil War Lincoln was urged by some to proclaim this god but instead he said: “I am not sure whether God is on our side but I hope I am on God’s side.”

Another false god is the “god” of Personal Prejudice. In other words we create and worship a god whose personal prejudices and passions mirror our own. This is the god of Fred Phelps who proudly proclaims: “God hates fags.” Then he, like others of his stripe, uses the Bible to prove his perverted faith.

This god is closely related to the false god at the other end of the spectrum, what one religious sociologist called “Sheilaism.” Sheila was a young California woman (Where else?) who confidently declared she was her own god. She believed in herself. Lest you think this is good sturdy self-regard, try to image the kind of world it would be if everyone was his or her own god?!

One of the most popular false gods today is the “god” who plays favorites. When Tommy Smothers used to say to his brother: “Mom liked you best,” we all laughed but the god who (supposedly) loves one religious group over all the rest and condemns his unloved children to a mythical hell is not funny, but a sick joke.

And what about the false god of the Gospel of Greed we hear about all the time on religious television? “Send in your seed money,” proclaims the religious charlatan, “and god will make you rich.” Sure!

But enough of these false gods. They are no more real than the gods denounced by the Old Testament prophets. Isaiah in the forty-fourth chapter of his book has a particularly scathing description of the man who goes out and gathers wood. Some of it he uses to build a house, some of it to cook his food. Then he carves an idol out of the rest and bows down and worships it. The gods we make for ourselves have no more reality than an idol made from metal or stone or wood. Even the intellectual idols we create in our own minds are false. None of these false gods I have named or that you might suggest have any future. Even though they continue to be worshipped in many places today, they will surely be discarded in the future.

But what God has a future? That is far too complex a question to answer this morning but I do want to make a beginning. Strange as it may seem, the only true God is the God some scientists are beginning to tell us about. A scientist such as British physicist John Polkinghorne speaks of a God who is as mysterious as the sub-atomic particles he has spent his life studying. These particles called “quarks” are not able to be seen or measured by any scientific technique, yet we believe they are the building blocks of the neutrons and protons that make up our world. Polkinghorne describes these and other scientific discoveries as beautiful, elegant and compelling. I believe he is right. The only God worth believing in is a God beyond all our human power to control or predict, and yet whose presence is very real.  Such a God is at the very core of our existence. This is the God beyond all our human passions and prejudices, beyond all simplistic faith. This is the God infinite as the expanding universe itself and as involved in human life as the particles that make up your body and mine. This is the God who speaks to us out of mystery and calls us to discover our true meaning and purpose as human beings.  This God – the only true God – has a future and I want to be part of that future. I hope you do, too.