I came into this world with an innate sense of God’s presence in my life. I never experienced a burning bush like Moses, confrontations with personal demons and evil ways like some Bible characters, or a Damascus road conversion like Paul. God was always simply there, the presence in countless epiphanies.

In my high school youth group and in Young Life the focus shifted from experience and knowing –to- beliefs and propositions. The latter set the boundaries of Christian faith against other religions and in opposition to the secular world. As a college sophomore I struggled with hardening statements of belief best typified by one of my roommates who wore his faith like a coat of armor. He believed everyone who did not publicly state that Jesus Christ was their Lord and Savior was going to a place that was eternally toasty with no air conditioning and no asbestos BVDs!

Looking back at that time, I realized that the certainty associated with statements of belief overshadowed the presence of God, indeed, supplanted God in devotion and awareness of presence. Curiously, the epiphanies were fewer and farther between, and my sense of God’s presence diminished.

Propositional beliefs faced hard tests in the real world. My roommate was quite certain, for example, that Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems, and Roman Catholics and quite possibly Methodists – savor that irony – were damned and doomed. These judgments failed the test of relationships and our paths diverged as I became friends with an Asian-American Buddhist, attended church with a Roman Catholic buddy, and expressed interest in the practices of a devout Moslem in our complex.

A real test came in my first upper-division course in my major. The professor in the philosophy of language class was an atheist who challenged everyone in the class to understand what we meant when we used any words, and particularly theological language. He and I had a feisty but respectful debate going when he assigned me a paper to be written in response to Bertrand Russell’s essay, Why I am Not a Christian. Much to our mutual surprise, I loved Russell’s brilliant thinking, and entitled my paper, "With Heart and Mind."

From that paper –to- this teaching I have struggled to honor the innate, intuitive faith with which I was hardwired at birth without sacrificing my personal experience of God, and without getting locked into propositional beliefs. From the dorms –to- this pulpit I’ve been cautious about how we bind ourselves to beliefs and dogma that are, at best, tenth generation reassertions meant to quell ancient heresies; to establish rather than eliminate human spiritual boundaries.

It is important that we know what we believe and to ground beliefs in personal experience and knowing that are dynamic rather than stagnant. Do you feel as I often do that your heart is opened and your mind quickened by the deeper, inner experiences of God and Christ rather than by creedal statements and theological dogma? Aren’t these experiences portals to an ever-deeper knowing of God, and to insights about the self and our union with God?

Today, ever so many people are not satisfied with hand-me-down beliefs and dogma, 16th century creeds, and ageless quests to judge or isolate others on the basis of congruity to our own or to institutionalized propositions. There is a greater longing in us to be in a community of inquirers who experience the dynamic presence of God and who embrace practices that simultaneously enable us to look within and to engage a way of life that binds us all other human beings and to creation.

Today we celebrate and thank God for twelve members of our youth group who soon head off for colleges, universities, work, and adventures in the world. Here is an inquiry for each of the twelve and for any who may care to eavesdrop. As a university chaplain I always wanted to know three things of new students:
 

1. What experiences of God do you carry with you (i.e., youth mission to Mexico or Arizona, an experience of God in the quiet stillness of nature, a deep insight during a class, or in a special relationship)?

2. How do you carry your beliefs and tell the stories of your experiences of God (i.e., are you protective or free, are you defensive or at peace)?

3. Will you wear your beliefs and experiences comfortably enough that they are your own, but hold them in such a way that you can hear and appreciate how others have followed different paths and had different experiences?

On the bulletin cover I have quoted a reflection on creeds, beliefs, and propositional faith from Marcus Borg’s new book. He writes, "Prior to the 17th century, the word ‘believe’ did not mean believing in the truth of statements or propositions…. Grammatically, the object of believing was not statements, but a person. Moreover, the contexts in which it is used in pre-modern English make it clear that it meant: to hold dear, to prize, to give one’s loyalty to, to commit oneself…. Most simply, ‘to believe’ meant ‘to love’…. What we believe is what we belove. Faith is about beloving God."

As you go off to colleges, universities, or adventures, as we each go back to our work and return to our daily routines, and as some of you travel to Arizona on mission, our calling and our challenge is to belove: to belove God, to belove yourself, to belove others, and to belove creation. Beloving opens our hearts and minds to the wild and beautiful diversities of existence. Beloving frees us from fearful judgments, moves us toward - never away from or against - but always toward others and toward life.

Love is who we are and beloving is how we live day-by-day. Let us hold dear and commit ourselves to this path!