Pentecost, Proper 6 (Year C)
Luke 7:36-8:3
June 13, 2010
In college, my good friend Glenn could concoct a Top 10 List for just about any occasion. The Top 10 Reasons Why Wake Forest Should Make It to the NCAA Tournament. The Top 10 Excuses for Not Turning in a Paper. The Top 10 Comments Overheard at Biscuitville. There was no subject too serious or too small to merit its own List and they were always smart and laugh-out-loud funny.
You spend enough time with someone like that and eventually you can’t resist trying your own hand at it. And so I wrote a few of my own Top 10 Lists. When Glenn got married I wrote The Top 10 Reasons for Glenn and Deb to Get Married. When they had their first child, I wrote The Top 10 Reasons Why Glenn and Deb Will Be Great Parents. The interesting thing about creating those lists was that even though the point was mostly to be funny, you really did end up getting to the heart of the matter. As I wrote my lists, they made me think about how funny Glenn was, about his enthusiasm for life. About Deb’s gentle strength and incredible kindness. About how the two of them balanced each other out. About how helpful their gifts would be in raising children.
I was reminded of those lists lately while reading a book called 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. It’s a novel about Cass Seltzer, an atheist college professor who teaches in the field of psychology of religion. He studies and writes about how the feelings of religious experience are also found in life at large, even the lives of the non-religious. He is therefore known as “the atheist with a soul.”
Cass has just published a book that has become an instant best seller about “religious illusion”. The book within the book really becomes famous for its Appendix (which is also included in the book itself) which lists (and refutes) 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. These 36 arguments are the classical religious arguments from people like Aquinas and Anselm. Things like The Cosmological Argument, The Argument from Answered Prayers, The Argument from Altruism. But the meat of the book is its 36 chapters that are pieces of Cass’s life, each of which is titled with an argument for the existence of God that comes from his own experience. Things like The Argument from Lucinda (his girlfriend), The Argument from Strange Laughter, The Argument from the New York Times.
What interests me most about the book is the dichotomy between the Appendix’s academic and philosophical arguments for God’s existence and the life-based experiences that argue for God’s existence. We find a similar dichotomy in our Gospel reading this morning.
Simon the Pharisee is like the Appendix. He knows his Torah and can explain what it means using the appropriate scholarly references. He knows the history of the people of God. He knows every rule about eating and cleanliness. He is well known at the Temple, and can recite every prayer. He can argue for God from his head. He reminds me of the Nicene Creed that we recite each Sunday.
The sinful woman is like those chapter titles. She can’t quote from the books of the Hebrew Bible. She is an outcast from the Temple, considered unclean by the proper religious folks. But she has experienced the forgiveness and love of God and knows Jesus is somehow wrapped up in that. Her argument for God comes from her heart. She reminds me of the Affirmation of Faith from the New Zealand prayer book that we’ll use today.
And just like the 36 chapter titles of experiential arguments for God’s existence were, for me, far more convincing than the 36 academic reasons included in the Appendix, so also is the sinful woman’s heart-based faith in God much more persuasive and appealing than Simon’s head-based approach.
And so, as I read the book, I found myself thinking about what the 36 chapters of my life’s experiences of God might be. But since that would require way too much patience on your part, I’ve condensed it to ten.
So here goes – My Top 10 Arguments for the Existence of God From My Own Life.
10. The argument from the underside of ferns.
I was picking flowers the other day and cut a frond from a fern to add to the arrangement. I looked at its underside, maybe for the first time, and saw that it was covered with these tiny, delicate little red seeds. Such a beautiful sight existing out of view, rarely seen or noticed because most of life happens above it.
9. The argument from a hug at a funeral.
At my mom’s funeral, my dad and sister and I were standing in the back of the church, welcoming people as they came in. I had cried a lot before mom died, but then afterwards I just felt numb and shocked. And then my friend Liz walked in with her husband. And she looked at me with such kindness and sorrow and put her arms around me, and finally I was able to cry again for all that I’d lost.
8. The argument from reconciliation.
I know it’s hard to believe, but when I was a teenager I got in trouble a lot. I was often grounded. And considering that I did well in school and didn’t do drugs or cause much trouble, to me it often felt pretty unjust. About a year ago my father and I were talking about those days. And he apologized and said that maybe he and mom were a little too hard on me. And even though as a parent myself I have experienced how hard it is to know how to discipline my kids, I realized how much I’d needed to hear that from my dad.
7. The argument from a vivid dream.
I was visiting my sister in Moscow after college and one night I had a dream that I was an artist creating an sculpture – it was intricate and brilliant and filled with light. It was incredibly beautiful, and somehow I knew it symbolized God. When I woke up I was so full of joy I almost couldn’t stand it. That feeling stuck with me for days, and even now I can feel a little piece of it when I look back.
6. The argument from a child’s observation.
Some of the greatest gifts I receive are pictures and cards from children. My children and yours. Recently I received a picture a young girl from St. Aidan’s had drawn while she was in the park of a beautiful tree. On the picture is written simply “God’s Peace.”
5. The argument from a walk not quite by myself.
In seminary I took a class on Imaginative Prayer where the professor would lead us into prayer through creative exercises. One day she slowly read us the story of Jesus meeting his friends on the road to Emmaus and then had us go out on our own walk around campus to meet Jesus. And in my prayerful walk I did meet Jesus. We walked side by side.
4. The Argument from a Growling Stomach.
A while back I was waiting – not terribly patiently – in a long line at Target. The kids were all with me and losing interest quickly. Dylan had discovered the candy aisle, Maya was hungry and the cashier was SO slow. Finally it was my turn. And then I heard the cashier’s tummy growl. It made both of us laugh, and I realized that this person in front of me, this person that I’d been inwardly frowning at, was a human being. A hungry human being who had been on her feet for hours dealing with people like me looking at her as an object there only to serve us.
3. The Argument From Baked Ziti.
Shortly after having Maya, the dinners started coming from you all. One night I was at my wit’s end – totally exhausted and dealing with a tantrum from one kid and crying from another – and one of you showed up at my door with a delicious dinner. And suddenly everything was okay. I hadn’t accomplished anything that day, but someone had stopped and taken care of me.
2. The Argument from Sophie, Dylan and Maya.
One day when Sophie was about six months old, I went in to pick her up after a nap and she gave me this beautiful smile and my heart just hurt. And it suddenly occurred to me that my own mother must have loved me just like this, and that all the things I hadn’t said to her and all the things I’d done and not apologized for didn’t matter one bit. And then, maybe for the first time, I understood the idea of God as parent, loving us in that same way.
And my number 1 Argument for the Existence of God from my own life…
[Drum roll, please!]
1. The Argument From My Incomplete List
The truth is, my Top 10 List barely touches the surface of my experiences of God in my life. When I stop to really think about it, there have been so many experiences of being grateful, surprised, challenged, forgiven or understood by God. Some are big, some are small. Most of them probably wouldn’t be seen by anyone other than me as having anything to do with God. But, as the sinful woman showed us this morning as she kissed and caressed Jesus’ feet, what anyone else thinks about our experience of God doesn’t matter.
We each have our own arguments from our lives, although you may not realize it until you start thinking about it for yourself. They aren’t arguments from the Creed, they probably don’t match up with particular Church doctrine. But they are ours, and that’s exactly what makes them so compelling. Amen.
Luke 7:36-8:3
June 13, 2010
In college, my good friend Glenn could concoct a Top 10 List for just about any occasion. The Top 10 Reasons Why Wake Forest Should Make It to the NCAA Tournament. The Top 10 Excuses for Not Turning in a Paper. The Top 10 Comments Overheard at Biscuitville. There was no subject too serious or too small to merit its own List and they were always smart and laugh-out-loud funny.
You spend enough time with someone like that and eventually you can’t resist trying your own hand at it. And so I wrote a few of my own Top 10 Lists. When Glenn got married I wrote The Top 10 Reasons for Glenn and Deb to Get Married. When they had their first child, I wrote The Top 10 Reasons Why Glenn and Deb Will Be Great Parents. The interesting thing about creating those lists was that even though the point was mostly to be funny, you really did end up getting to the heart of the matter. As I wrote my lists, they made me think about how funny Glenn was, about his enthusiasm for life. About Deb’s gentle strength and incredible kindness. About how the two of them balanced each other out. About how helpful their gifts would be in raising children.
I was reminded of those lists lately while reading a book called 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. It’s a novel about Cass Seltzer, an atheist college professor who teaches in the field of psychology of religion. He studies and writes about how the feelings of religious experience are also found in life at large, even the lives of the non-religious. He is therefore known as “the atheist with a soul.”
Cass has just published a book that has become an instant best seller about “religious illusion”. The book within the book really becomes famous for its Appendix (which is also included in the book itself) which lists (and refutes) 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. These 36 arguments are the classical religious arguments from people like Aquinas and Anselm. Things like The Cosmological Argument, The Argument from Answered Prayers, The Argument from Altruism. But the meat of the book is its 36 chapters that are pieces of Cass’s life, each of which is titled with an argument for the existence of God that comes from his own experience. Things like The Argument from Lucinda (his girlfriend), The Argument from Strange Laughter, The Argument from the New York Times.
What interests me most about the book is the dichotomy between the Appendix’s academic and philosophical arguments for God’s existence and the life-based experiences that argue for God’s existence. We find a similar dichotomy in our Gospel reading this morning.
Simon the Pharisee is like the Appendix. He knows his Torah and can explain what it means using the appropriate scholarly references. He knows the history of the people of God. He knows every rule about eating and cleanliness. He is well known at the Temple, and can recite every prayer. He can argue for God from his head. He reminds me of the Nicene Creed that we recite each Sunday.
The sinful woman is like those chapter titles. She can’t quote from the books of the Hebrew Bible. She is an outcast from the Temple, considered unclean by the proper religious folks. But she has experienced the forgiveness and love of God and knows Jesus is somehow wrapped up in that. Her argument for God comes from her heart. She reminds me of the Affirmation of Faith from the New Zealand prayer book that we’ll use today.
And just like the 36 chapter titles of experiential arguments for God’s existence were, for me, far more convincing than the 36 academic reasons included in the Appendix, so also is the sinful woman’s heart-based faith in God much more persuasive and appealing than Simon’s head-based approach.
And so, as I read the book, I found myself thinking about what the 36 chapters of my life’s experiences of God might be. But since that would require way too much patience on your part, I’ve condensed it to ten.
So here goes – My Top 10 Arguments for the Existence of God From My Own Life.
10. The argument from the underside of ferns.
I was picking flowers the other day and cut a frond from a fern to add to the arrangement. I looked at its underside, maybe for the first time, and saw that it was covered with these tiny, delicate little red seeds. Such a beautiful sight existing out of view, rarely seen or noticed because most of life happens above it.
9. The argument from a hug at a funeral.
At my mom’s funeral, my dad and sister and I were standing in the back of the church, welcoming people as they came in. I had cried a lot before mom died, but then afterwards I just felt numb and shocked. And then my friend Liz walked in with her husband. And she looked at me with such kindness and sorrow and put her arms around me, and finally I was able to cry again for all that I’d lost.
8. The argument from reconciliation.
I know it’s hard to believe, but when I was a teenager I got in trouble a lot. I was often grounded. And considering that I did well in school and didn’t do drugs or cause much trouble, to me it often felt pretty unjust. About a year ago my father and I were talking about those days. And he apologized and said that maybe he and mom were a little too hard on me. And even though as a parent myself I have experienced how hard it is to know how to discipline my kids, I realized how much I’d needed to hear that from my dad.
7. The argument from a vivid dream.
I was visiting my sister in Moscow after college and one night I had a dream that I was an artist creating an sculpture – it was intricate and brilliant and filled with light. It was incredibly beautiful, and somehow I knew it symbolized God. When I woke up I was so full of joy I almost couldn’t stand it. That feeling stuck with me for days, and even now I can feel a little piece of it when I look back.
6. The argument from a child’s observation.
Some of the greatest gifts I receive are pictures and cards from children. My children and yours. Recently I received a picture a young girl from St. Aidan’s had drawn while she was in the park of a beautiful tree. On the picture is written simply “God’s Peace.”
5. The argument from a walk not quite by myself.
In seminary I took a class on Imaginative Prayer where the professor would lead us into prayer through creative exercises. One day she slowly read us the story of Jesus meeting his friends on the road to Emmaus and then had us go out on our own walk around campus to meet Jesus. And in my prayerful walk I did meet Jesus. We walked side by side.
4. The Argument from a Growling Stomach.
A while back I was waiting – not terribly patiently – in a long line at Target. The kids were all with me and losing interest quickly. Dylan had discovered the candy aisle, Maya was hungry and the cashier was SO slow. Finally it was my turn. And then I heard the cashier’s tummy growl. It made both of us laugh, and I realized that this person in front of me, this person that I’d been inwardly frowning at, was a human being. A hungry human being who had been on her feet for hours dealing with people like me looking at her as an object there only to serve us.
3. The Argument From Baked Ziti.
Shortly after having Maya, the dinners started coming from you all. One night I was at my wit’s end – totally exhausted and dealing with a tantrum from one kid and crying from another – and one of you showed up at my door with a delicious dinner. And suddenly everything was okay. I hadn’t accomplished anything that day, but someone had stopped and taken care of me.
2. The Argument from Sophie, Dylan and Maya.
One day when Sophie was about six months old, I went in to pick her up after a nap and she gave me this beautiful smile and my heart just hurt. And it suddenly occurred to me that my own mother must have loved me just like this, and that all the things I hadn’t said to her and all the things I’d done and not apologized for didn’t matter one bit. And then, maybe for the first time, I understood the idea of God as parent, loving us in that same way.
And my number 1 Argument for the Existence of God from my own life…
[Drum roll, please!]
1. The Argument From My Incomplete List
The truth is, my Top 10 List barely touches the surface of my experiences of God in my life. When I stop to really think about it, there have been so many experiences of being grateful, surprised, challenged, forgiven or understood by God. Some are big, some are small. Most of them probably wouldn’t be seen by anyone other than me as having anything to do with God. But, as the sinful woman showed us this morning as she kissed and caressed Jesus’ feet, what anyone else thinks about our experience of God doesn’t matter.
We each have our own arguments from our lives, although you may not realize it until you start thinking about it for yourself. They aren’t arguments from the Creed, they probably don’t match up with particular Church doctrine. But they are ours, and that’s exactly what makes them so compelling. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment