Bad-Word God

A sermon preached with the people of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, California.

Good morning! As some of you who have been around for more than a year may remember (I wasn’t even here yet!) one of the auction items at our parish fundraiser was called “Stump the Associate,” wherein the winner got to choose a topic. This is the payoff for that generous bid. Thank you, Tim Hart.

And I actually loved what Tim chose the moment he pitched it to me. He showed me a classic comedy routine from Lewis Black that I will screen for you in just a moment, and he chose the title “Is God Love, or is God a [insert bad word here].”

Forgive the picture quality, I believe this is from 1998!

[SCREEN THIS CLIP EDITED FOR LANGUAGE IN THE ROOM]

So our friend Lewis Black has laid out what he sees a dichotomy between what he calls the “New Testament God” and the “Old Testament God.” The first he labels “really kind of a good guy,” and the second, a word I will not repeat here.

Now, I want to start out by acknowledging the important social location note that Lewis Black is Jewish. And I, as you may have noticed, am not. I am Christian. And so as a Christian, I do not use the term “Old Testament God,” not only because I believe such a thing doesn’t exist, but also because this term could easily be interpreted as antisemitic, coming from me; the notion that the God of the Hebrew Bible is less-than.

Because here’s the thing. The God of the Hebrew Bible is God. And the God of the New Testament is God. The God of the Gospels. Is God. One God. Same God.

Jesus knew, studied, quoted, read and honored what we refer to as the Old Testament. Its stories, its poetry, it commandments. He was a part of the Galilean Jewish community. These were his people, and this was his sacred text.

So to be clear, in wondering about the badword-nature of the quote “Old Testament” God, we are simply wondering about the badword-nature of “our God.”

And, at least here at St. John’s, in the Episcopal Church, once we have established that we are wondering about our God, the God we worship and follow; and not some other God belonging to some other group that we have entirely written off, it is safe and reasonable and good to ask the question: what is up with that???What is up with Abraham and Isaac? Moses not making it to the promised land? And I would add that deadly flood? Or in the new testament, what is up with calling a Samaritan woman a dog. And even what is up with the painful and bloody nature of the crucifixion.

We can wrestle with stories that might seem to involve a bad-word God because ours is a faith of asking questions and embracing mystery. Not of thoughtless, rote dogma.

It is undeniable that scripture is full of violence, misogyny, and even genocide. Sometimes in the name of God or out of the mouth of God or from God. How do we wrestle with that.

Well, the first thing that we are allowed to acknowledge is that scripture – all scripture – is a product of its time and its place. Different pieces written within different contexts across millennia. Divinely inspired, absolutely. And, the product of human hands working with that divine inspiration.  In this way, all scripture is true. And, all scripture is allowed to be put on the table, examined, and understood within and for our own context.

Once we lift up a piece of scripture, put it to the light and ask questions like, “where is God in this text?” “Where is the Good News in this text?” “Does this text cause harm or even death in the world right now?” “If it does, and we know that ours is a lifegiving God, how might we adjust or reinterpret?”

“Adjust scripture” I hear the voices of 10,000 conservative Christians say? Well, the thing is -- Jesus himself did so. And I don’t think it was just because he is God and could therefore do as he pleased. But because he is our Rabbi. And he is here to teach.

As the Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney tells us, Jesus taught us to read and interpret scripture this way, over and over.1

For example Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart…”

Another example -- he says, “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Holy One.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all…”

Jesus teaches us not to reject scripture as the product of a badword God, but to allow ourselves to wrestle with it, knowing that ours is one God of justice and love. Jesus is our Rabbi. And I believe he teaches us to approach the whole body of Scripture this way, right through the New Testament accounts of his own earthly ministry and what came after.

So while I don’t personally agree with Lewis Black’s notion that God fundamentally changed between the Hebrew Scripture and New Testament accounts. I do believe that we change. As humanity collectively over centuries. And as individuals over the years. Have you ever noticed how a single story or line of scripture can speak to you in entirely new ways as you experience more and more seasons throughout your life? That’s the Holy Spirit at work in you and in Scripture. Scripture lives and breathes as surely as you and I do. It is not closed. It is not finished. As the UCC Congregationalists say, “God is still speaking.”

In this morning’s Gospel reading, Jesus is in the synagogue teaching. He has taken the scriptural story of the Manna from Heaven of Moses’ day as his text. And he has reinterpreted and adjusted it to say that the bread of life is not like that manna. It does not just feed the stomach, it feeds the soul, forever. And, he has used some shockingly – I’ll say it -- cannibalistic imagery to illustrate his point. “Whoever eats me will live because of me” 

And he can tell the congregation is shocked and even offended by what they call his difficult teaching – perhaps evidence of a bad word God -- some of them are completely turned off. So much so, that they leave, forever. 

And in one of the more vulnerable, blink-and-you-miss it moments of Jesus’ ministry, he says to his closest disciples, his friends “Do you also wish to go away?” 

But the twelve stay. At least for now. And I imagine some of them were also surely troubled by what he said that day. Some were surely wrestling with the imagery of his difficult teaching, just as we still do all these years later. But they allowed themselves to stay. To wrestle. Because they knew this God was the same God. Their God. Of justice and love. And that they were allowed to wrestle. To mull it over. To reinterpret and even adjust. For themselves, and as a community that would become the church. This imperfect institution of believers that has wielded scripture in shameful death dealing ways that would testify to a non-existent badword God, and in wonderful life-giving ones that are the true testimony of a just and loving God.

And that, friends, is our challenge today. Let’s not be offended by the glorious and complicated and often bizarre collection of writings that is our heritage. Let us confront it. Let us talk about it. Let us wonder together how we can see God throughout it all. The one holy God of the Hebrew Bible and New Testmant. The Father Son and Holy Spirit. Or, as we might reinterpret and adjust, the Creator Redeemer Sustainer. Earth-Maker, Pain-Bearer and Life-Giver;

Author, Word and Translator;

1 “Jesus Rewrites Scripture and So Can We” — a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney