"No God, Eh?"
Building on a solid foundation
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Text: 1 Corinthians 3:10-23
This is surely a fascinating age in which to be a believer. In fact, I think it is fair enough to say that there is so much talk of God these days - or no God - that at least God is not being ignored. People of faith have much for which to give thanks and in which to be interested and engaged. You can be standing at a bus shelter and find there is an ad saying there is probably no God, so just relax and take it easy - we all know about that debate! Even in the beloved Wheels section of the Toronto Star last week there was an advertisement from a local dealer - I won't say who - that said: “What is all this talk about no God? He was last seen driving a Mazda with some old friends.” Then, there was a picture of Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, the Divine Comedy of Dante and Mother Theresa. The ad concluded, “Mazda - you could be driving on a higher plane!” Well, seeing as my wife drives one, I now know why I am inferior to her; she is driving on a higher plane!
Isn't it interesting that everyone seems to have picked up on this? Our own denomination placed a full-page ad in the paper not long ago that said there probably is a God, so relax and don't worry. Then it asked people to vote whether or not they believe in God on a website - and the vote didn't go in God's favour. I thought, “Isn't this a bit silly! ” The last time that I remember a vote in the Bible, people seemed to be on the side of Barabbas, not Jesus. Methinks it was probably a strategic error on the part of our denomination. Why not just say there is a God and leave it at that?
Even in a doctor's office, one encounters debate about God's existence. A medical technician recently had a very long syringe and needle placed very close to me, about to enter my arm. She said at that very moment, “Reverend Stirling, do you believe in God?”
I was calculating, now does this woman believe in God or does she not, because with that needle about to enter my body, I'd better have the right answer! So, I said, “I will tell you after you have given me the injection - then I will know whether there is a God or not.”
I turned on the television on a Monday night and on The Agenda, there was a discussion about whether there should be ads about God or no God. Lining up on one side were a number of people who say there is no God, including a United Church minister. On the other side, a philosopher said he absolutely believes there is a God. My goodness! Isn't it amazing how God is getting such great publicity?
A lot of it is silly, as I said last week. It is silly because, at the heart of it, a human being simply wants to find a reason for wanting to be happy. That is what is motivating this. It is not a sincere question as to whether or not there is a God, but whether or not one should be happy and at peace. The second part of the ad really is the dominant one. In many ways, it is modelled by the Epicureans, people who want to have pleasure and joy in life and are looking to find a reason for it, either with God or without God. It is like an ersatz religion - something new that is being made up, in which people try to find happiness and go running to find the God that will be able to fulfill their deep down desires.
All of this is frivolous. It is okay if you are standing on some solid ground. It is okay if you are comfortable, if things in life are going well, if you are finding peace, tranquillity and joy. You can debate whether there is a God or no God when you are in a position of comfort and ease. It becomes a matter of intellectual curiosity rather than existential necessity. But if you are feeling the shifting sands of life, if you are feeling uncertain about what to believe in, if life is not just full of joy, peace and prosperity, then this is no longer a frivolous question. It is the question of immense importance.
I don't think that people who are sitting in the slums in Latin America or those who have to deal with internecine wars and conflicts in West Africa are actually sitting down questioning whether there is a God or whether their happiness is founded in a God. They are living with the realities and turmoil of every day. It becomes a very bourgeois enterprise to just sit back and say, “Is there a God?” or “Is there not a God?” and play intellectual games.
Be clear on this, this isn't new. People have pontificated about the existence or non-existence of God for centuries. For example, in the 19th century, Nietzsche wrote the following words: “God, an idea no longer of any use, not even a duty any longer, an idea grown useless, superfluous, and consequently a refuted idea. Let us abolish it!”
It is true, there are those who have questioned whether or not we need a God, and whether God is necessary for human rights. Mircea Eliade, a Romanian philosopher, who for years has taught at the University of Chicago and has done great work on myth and religion, made this point: “Humans forget the Gods as soon as they have no need for them.” In other words, we can play the intellectual game about God or no God, we can make arguments for or against - and many good arguments have been given for the existence of God - but essentially these are questions that go much deeper. They go much deeper when we see that the times around us are changing, and when we wonder whether we can stand on a firm foundation. Eliade is absolutely correct. People will wonder whether or not there is any need for God when they find no need in life, but when they find need in life, the question becomes much more important.
In these shifting sands of time, many people wonder whether there is anything solid and secure on which they can base their lives. For those who find themselves in such a position, the question of whether there is a God or no God is a profoundly existential one. Think about it. Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, and had it published on February 22, 1848. Ever since then, it has been tried and tested, applied somewhat dubiously through various forms of revolution to various methods of governance. An idea that once dominated an Empire is now debunked.
In the shifting sands of Christendom, there is no longer a Christian consensus that lets us assume everyone believes in God. That consensus no longer exists in our western society or in the world. People of faith wonder how to deal with the end of an era in which there was a consensus that what they believed was true.
In the United States, George Washington's optimism of the New World that was being created has swept along for hundreds of years, but now people are starting to question whether this great experiment was really as magnificent as they once thought. Its financial underpinnings are starting to crumble, or at least show cracks and breaks. We are living in shifting times. The sands seem to be moving and it is no longer a frivolous debate to ask whether or not there is a God. For many people, the question becomes profoundly important.
I do not want to address arguments about the existence of God - we will do that in another venue. What interests me is the role of the Church. What word does the Church give in these uncertain times when people are asking whether or not there is a God? In 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle Paul says that he has established the Church in Corinth and built it wisely - he uses the phrase sophos architekton, which means a “wise builder” or “wise creator,” bringing together philosophy and architecture. He is not talking about human wisdom or the wisdom of the age here; he is simply saying that the Church was built wisely, carefully and thoughtfully, and that he has established this church in Corinth on something solid and strong. What we know from this text is that the church in Corinth was divided, with people following different leaders and teachings. We are not absolutely sure what some of these teachings were - perhaps they were a sort of macabre mysticism or Gnosticism. But different philosophies and theosophies were being brought to bear within the Church and the Corinthians were starting to crumble in their faith; they were starting to lose what Paul had created so wisely and carefully. In the midst of all this, Paul makes two great affirmations. It seems to me that these are the affirmations on which we stand as Christians today.
I
The first is very simple: Christ is the foundation on which Paul and the Corinthians built the Church. Paul says, “There can be no foundation other than the one which has already been laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Paul understood that this foundation might seem like foolishness to the world. To those who believe in the wisdom of the age, this is a foundation that is questionable. I love something that I read not long ago about the very first church, and when you think about its make-up, you can understand why people thought it was foolishness. It goes as follows:
Well, when you really think about it, the first pastor was executed as a criminal. The first chair of the board went around saying he had never belonged to the church in the first place and had no idea who the pastor was. The treasurer went out and committed suicide. The members of the board scattered and went to various places wondering whether or not what they had believed in was true. The only people who seemed to hang around for any length of time were the women's auxiliary, who could be trusted.
This seems to pretty well summarize most churches, actually, doesn't it? Although, our treasurer is still here, I am pleased to say! When you look at the Church from the viewpoint of worldly wisdom, it might appear that it is foolishness, just as the cross appears to be foolishness. God's way of dealing with us is not the way that the world would deal with it, but Paul says that we have the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is that God reveals himself in such a way that the foundation is secure and strong. Even though Christ was crucified, he was raised from the dead. Even though it seemed that the Church was defeated, the Church was victorious. Even though it seemed to be predicated on a wisdom that was erroneous in the world's eyes, it was still wisdom.
Fred Craddock uses the analogy that Jesus Christ is the Church's substructure, and the people who build the Church on that foundation are the superstructure. If the foundation isn't strong, then no matter how you build, you build erroneously and on weakness. But if the foundation is strong, then the superstructure can be strong as well. Paul was concerned that the Church in Corinth had forgotten its substructure, that it had forgotten its cornerstone - its foundation. He says that you cannot build on any foundation other than that which is in Jesus Christ.
So it is when we discuss God. So much of it is esoteric and ethereal. So much of it is not rooted and grounded in revelation, in substance, in history. But when we ground our conversation about God in and through the revealed person of Jesus Christ, we have something solid. No matter who comes along and questions it, we know where we stand. I think there are men, women and young people who need to know that foundation is strong in their lives, and that this isn't a matter of intellectual curiosity as to whether or not there is a God. It actually becomes for them life and death.
Growing up as a boy in England, we used to go on holiday to the south of England to a place called Bournemouth. It is a beautiful place. Unfortunately, we always went on holiday with friends of my parents, friends who had known my parents even before they were married. It was a tradition to spend part of our holiday with this couple who, frankly, were boring. We would have to go on holiday with these boring people, and walk down a “zigzag,” as it is called, from the cliffs to a beautiful beach. There you find shelters or shacks in which to change into your bathing suit and make a cup of tea - very English, very Edwardian. Then you can play on the beach and, if you are brave enough, swim in the water. These boring friends had a son who was a little older than me, but thank goodness, he was anything but boring! He was delightful! He used to build the most incredible sandcastles. He came with his buckets that were actually moulded so that when you put sand in them they looked like turrets on a castle. It was awesome! No one built sandcastles like he did. So my friend-of-the-boring-couple and I would go down to the beach, I as his co-worker and advisor, and build these magnificent sandcastles. The only problem was that a little further along the beach was a group of yobos from London - it's always London - who came running along the beach. They would kick over the sandcastle just as we finished building it. Well, it broke my heart! Here was this gorgeous thing that my friend-with-the-boring-parents had built, and now it had been knocked down.
The next day he built it again, and this time he kept telling me not to worry, that it would be fine. He had started before I arrived, then I added to it. It was a wonderful castle - the best we had ever built! Lo and behold, the yobos from London came along and started to kick it over, but this time they ended up screaming and jumping up and down. My friend said, “Don't worry about it. I built this castle around a brick.” So the castle survived but the yobos from London went away crying. It was wonderful!
What an image for the Church - not a nasty one, but a good one. You build a firm foundation, you build on something solid, and no matter what comes along, it is strong; it has substance; it withstands time. It is a wonderful thing! There is no question for Paul that the cornerstone, the foundation - everything - is Christ. Build on Christ, and you build on something solid.
II
There is also a sense in which Paul says that it is not just Christ that is the foundation, it is the Church that is the temple. The Church builds on this foundation. The more I look at the image Paul portrays here in Corinthians, the more I realize this is the message for us. Paul says that you mustn't build with glass or stone or gold, but build spiritually on what Christ has already formed on this foundation.
Recently, I went to the Auto Show with a ministerial colleague and long-time friend who is just completing his doctorate at Drew University. His dissertation is on sacred spaces. He talked to me about the importance of what he calls the “third place” in a person's life. He said that the first place in a person's life is their home. That is the foundation on which they build their lives. The second place is their work, and sometimes the home is the place of work, but it then becomes the second place, the place where you generate wealth or make a contribution, earn your living. But he said the third place in a person's life is the most important in many ways. People have different third places. Some have a club, some have a casino, some have a bar and someone like me has a coffee shop. But the most important third place should be the Church, the place where dreams are realized; the place where the Word is heard; the place where the sacraments are given; the place where fellowship is found; the place where there is the opportunity to serve your fellow human beings; the place to be loved and to love. The third place is the pinnacle, the holy place.
Isn't that what the Church is supposed to be in our lives? In the shifting sands and the uncertainties, is not the Church supposed to be where this happens? I couldn't help but think of that this morning, at 9:15 a.m., when we had so many young children here and young people singing. I looked at them and thought, “What a great opportunity this is for them to build their lives around the third place - to grow in their lives and grow in the Spirit and have a place to come and hear and enact the Word of God. What a great privilege! ”
I was reading just recently the life of the great, 20th-century Methodist preacher, W. E. Sangster, who was at Westminster Central Hall in London, the great Methodist Church. He took over there just before the Second World War began. He was a great preacher, and the place was often filled to hear what he had to say. But then came the Blitz, and the Church turned the basement into a shelter. It became a home and a place of protection for more than 450,000 people over the course of the war. During the Blitz, W. E. Sangster kept preaching. There was a little button on the pulpit that was a reminder that there was an air raid shelter, and it would flash red if there was a warning, but no matter what, he kept preaching. He did say, “Those who have weak constitutions may want to go downstairs right now.” So people got up and left during the sermon. I am not advocating that here!
But even when the little red light intimated that there was an air raid warning, he kept preaching the Word of God. He and his wife would go downstairs and be with people in the basement afterwards; they would be there night after night, and during it all, he wrote his PhD thesis at London University. Remarkable! He graduated in 1943. But he kept preaching. Why? Because he said people need to hear the Word of God, and the Church needs to be the Church when people are uncertain.
For Sangster, the Church was the third place. It was the place to renew the foundation in the life of Christ. It existed as a place to build together. It was a place of protection, of safety against the bombs of the world. The Church was the temple, a solid place on a solid foundation. My friends, in this time and in this era, believe-you-me, the world may not always know what it needs, but it needs the Church.