Three Cheers for the Baptists

Preached by the Right Reverend Grant Lynn Ford at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 3, 2006.

The Proclaimed Word

A Methodist minister meets three Baptist deacons on the golf course and invites them to come to his church some Sunday. Not too many weeks thereafter and just as services are starting, they show up.

Attendance was good in the small Methodist church and there wasn’t a pew available. Several church members were already seated on folding chairs. When the minister, just starting the service, saw the three Baptist deacons enter, he leaned down from the pulpit and whispered to the nearest usher, “Please get three chairs for my Baptist friends in the back.”

The usher, hard of hearing, leaned closer and said, “I beg your pardon?”

“Get three chairs for my Baptist friends,” repeated the minister. The usher strained closer with a puzzled look still on his face.

Once more the minister tried, speaking slowly and distinctly. “Three chairs. For the Baptists,” he enunciated.

The usher’s face lit up in comprehension, and he turned to face the congregation. “All right, everybody,” he called out to the assembled worshipers. “Three cheers for the Baptists!”

Now that must have been an amazing day, when Methodists cheer for the Baptists. It would be just as unusual for Baptists to cheer for Methodists, or people of any religious persuasion to cheer for those of another faith expression.

Today we not only don’t cheer for Muslims; we often harbor ill feelings toward them, while not realizing that we often read from the Sufi Masters, who are a branch of the Muslims. Of course, they are not loved greatly by the Sunnis or the Shia, who are killing one another in Iraq even as we speak.

What’s the matter with people of one religious tradition killing people of another tradition…in the name of their religion? We should be cheering people of other faith expressions as they seek God in their lives, even as we ‘walk faithfully in the path of Jesus,” as it states in the First of the Phoenix Affirmations.

We’ll be looking at each of these affirmations in the next weeks. This first one challenges us to walk faithfully with Jesus “without denying the legitimacy of other paths God may provide humanity.”

Why must we be right? Doesn’t insisting that we are right make everyone else wrong? How can we do that in the name of God who is love?

We should rather be reminding ourselves and others that God’s grace, which reaches out to all humanity, is a gift. It’s nothing we can earn. In Ephesians 2:8 we read: “For by grace are you saved through faith; not by something you’ve done…it’s the gift of God.”

So who’s right? God is! And who’s following in the right path? Who is included in God’s grace and love?

If you believe God’s grace is somehow limited, then only the chosen few make it in. But if you believe God’s grace has no limits, and God who is Ultimate Love ultimately loves all, then the question is: “Who does God not love?”

And the answer, according to Jesus, is “God so loved the world…”

In the book we are studying, available on our website or in our bookstore—the Phoenix Affirmations: a New Vision for the Future of Christianity— the Eric Elnes tells of a visit to a Christian ashram in India where Father Martin is spiritual director.

Let me read a small portion from the book: “Father Martin asserts that the major world religious can be likened to hikers climbing up different sides of a mountain. Each tradition has discovered a unique route for reaching the top. While they are climbing the mountain, the traditions cannot necessarily see one another. Individuals within the climbing parties may not even be aware that others are ascending the mountain. They think they alone are making the ascent. Yet when they reach the top, the climbers are surprised to find one another. Each party has reached the same goal by a different route.”

Elnes further states: “A Hindu may find a way to the top through withdrawal from the world, while a Christian may find it through immersion in the world on behalf of justice.”

I’m hoping to visit India soon. I know I’ll find it as fascinating as China, where I’ve gone twice. One of our parishioners, who lived for a time in India, brought me a book by Huzur Maharaj Sawan Singh. The Maharaj states: “There are hundreds of faiths but the object of all of them is to realize the Lord. The same teaching relating to Word or Logos or Sound is at the bottom of all.”

While he is a Sikh Guru, he honors Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others who are faithful to their tradition and who seek God’s Good for themselves and others.

What did Jesus say about people who were not Christian? Well, first of all, we have to remember that Jesus wasn’t a Christian. He was a Hebrew, observing traditions that are no longer found even in present-day Judaism.

It should be noted that he was not much loved by his fellow religionists because he interpreted their traditions in a metaphysical rather than literal sense. So it’s not surprising to hear his students (or disciples, if you wish) tell him, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of people. But he wasn’t one of us, and we told him to stop.”

They were upset. They’d heard what others said about their Master, and they were filled with righteous indignation. Of course, one could also ask, “When is indignation ever righteous? Especially in the name of the Prince of Peace?”

Sure enough, Jesus turns around and tells them: “Don’t stop him! No one who works miracles in my name will soon turn and say something bad about me. Anyone who isn’t against us is for us.”

I don’t know how many people I’ve heard jump up about now and say, “Oh yeah? Then why did Jesus say: ‘No one comes to God except through me.’ So what did he mean, huh?”

Well, I’m glad you asked!

Let’s look at that scripture again, found in John 14:6. “I am Way…” Jesus is describing a journey with the Greek word hodos. It’s a manner of thinking and feeling, not a creed, that guides the journey.

“I am Truth…” The Greek again gives us a clue; Jesus is talking about Ultimate Reality.

“I am Life…” The Greek word zoe means vitality, that which pulses in our veins and makes us who we are.

“No one comes to God but by me.” It could just as easily be translated, “No one comes to God any other way than my way, the way I come to God.”

And how do we come to God? By faith. By trusting in God’s grace!!

As the Maharaj states in his book: “Spiritual life is the name given to a life of communion with God and not merely to thinking about [God].”

When Jesus was speaking to his students, he told them, “When you welcome even a child because of me, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me.”

Notice that hospitality is the basis for the teachings of Jesus. He welcomes people on God’s behalf. He doesn’t build barriers, and neither should we.

When we open ourselves in welcome to others, inviting them to share in this spiritual journey, in their own way, we welcome love into our lives. That’s the message of Jesus.

Jesus saw himself as a bridge, as ‘the Way’. Instead of building walls, let’s build bridges. Who knows what blessings will find their way over those bridges?

And that’s the truth!

Three Cheers for the Baptists

The Written Word

The Light of Affirmation

The Light of a Teacher of Truth

The Light of the Master Teacher

The Proclaimed Word

The Affirming Word