Pastor's Letter

Dear Friends in Christ,

I came across this quote in an article and I noted it for future reference because it seemed to me to say something important for our faith project as 21st century Christians. The writer is Stuart Smithers.

...the "liberation" enjoyed by arhats and even by the Buddha is not the

true or most complete liberation possible unless he is engaged in the

attempt to liberate other beings, and unless his liberation is experienced

as a way of being and acting in the world and not as an object dualistically

separate from the world.

When St. John says that "God is love," he is saying something very similar. This is the Truth that sets us free. But love requires a beloved, and the beloved is not God. It is nonsensical to love Love. God is the instrument, not the object. God is never an object. Christianity teaches that I cannot become a healthy human except in human community. This is why when people tell me that they do not need to go to church because they worship God in nature—awed by sunsets or the Grand Tetons, I respond that that is wonderful, but it is not what Christians do. It is nature religion, i.e. paganism. Christians find God in the human community and especially in our most radical idea, what I call the Samaritan Hypothesis. The Christian love ethic strives to include everyone. (This got perverted in the missionary movement which wrongly assumed that including everyone required us to turn everyone into a Christian. Jesus calls us to love and be loved by all the world's various Samaritans.)

Even though my daughters are now 19 year old adults, on Thanksgiving morning they will join Pat and me on our bed to watch the Macy's Parade. I love that parade as an example of America as a community of diverse people from all over the country. In a time of division and hatred, it symbolizes our dream of a community of people of every race, religion, and ethnic identity, liberals and conservatives, young and old, gay and straight--all coming together for a national moment of thanksgiving and celebration. E pluribus Unum.

This is not just the dream of Christ. Buddha's compassion, Moses' Torah, Mohammad's merciful Allah, Lao Tzu teaching that we are all one family--all of the world's great religions, at their best (sadly, they also have a worse side) dream the dream. They all understand that the only way to "my" liberation is via "our" liberation. That what we do for the "least of these," we do for God. Complete liberation, even for the Buddha, is IMPOSSIBLE unless he is engaged in the attempt to liberate others.

We live in a time of resurgent nativism and tribalism. Religious hatred of the stranger has made a big comeback. This is very sad and very dangerous. So if you watch the parade and notice the variety of peoples marching by, let it be a moment for you as Christian folk to recommit yourself to our mission of proclaiming God's radical and unconditional love for every human. The Samaritan Hypothesis.

Yours in Christ,

--Pastor Bastien