" A Teaching on Values and Faith "

Amos 5:21-27, Micah 6:6-8, and Romans 12:1-5

November 14, 2004

Douglas K. Huneke

I love political sermons because all of life is political and much of faith is political – ask Deborah the judge, King David, or the prophets Isaiah or Jeremiah or Amos and Micah. In the months before a national election I avoid sermons on most political issues because they are inevitably interpreted as partisan even when they are not so intended! This might be the teaching I would have offered 6 weeks ago, but given the current discourse on values, faith, and politics it is just right for today!

I have permission to share two stories without attribution. I listened as an active church member expressed his feelings about the post-election punditry on that easily massaged exit poll question about ‘moral values.’ “I don’t want people to know I am a Christian anymore! I’m not that kind of person.”

Another active member said, “At election time things were so polarized that none of my friends talked about ethics and values, just their partisan views. I kept quiet. Now I see that my values do count; after this I am going to talk about them.”

Our values count – as much as our votes -- but hardly so if we do not dialogue about them. Here we are: the election outcome is decisive, the country is still figuring out how divided it really is and how to prevent Islamic terrorists from raining weapons of mass destruction on our cities. Here we are: fighting a war that divides the county, and its cold reality came home in a front-page picture from the Falluja assault of a corpsman doing CPR on a dying Marine whose dangling arm revealed a gold wedding band (Marin IJ, 11/9). Here in the states, where life goes on and the war that most Americans do not “own” is crushingly personalized by that Marine’s gold band and our willingness or unwillingness to imagine a grieving wife and probably a child who will soon cradle a carefully folded flag, graveside.

We live in a global culture of communications, economics, politics, and technology. The world is small and intimately interconnected. When things happen we know about it almost instantly. Events in Falluja affect Tiburon. Genocide and rape in the Sudan touch Southern Marin. Meanwhile, economists and futurists want us to believe that globalization trade policies and agreements will unite the world in ways that politicians and diplomats cannot. Globalization and technology should make global peace possible, but in our guts we know otherwise given the tyranny of ‘Jihad’ and the disparity of materialism and poverty.

Our religion, Christianity, is a global religion. What we believe and the moral values we espouse and attempt to practice impact the entire world. Many segments of Christianity engage in both geographic and spiritual colonialism. Other Christians, however, prefer to teach, heal, build, empower, and share.

Too much of world Christendom triumphantly proclaims to the world, “My ancestors and my beliefs are better than yours.” Some Christians get it and know that God did not create religions and denominations -- God created the universe and put human beings in the middle of it. And we believe that every human being is created in God’s image and loved by God and filled with the Divine spark – everyone, presidents and paupers, the wise and the willful, the mighty and the meek. As global Christians we believe that there is one God, one humanity, one world, and one obligation: to be just stewards of all of God’s creation.

Global Christians are concerned with the well being of the whole world. We think and act both globally and locally, and we serve God who was and is and ever shall be global. In faith we strive to make the world and our community more just, fair, and hospitable. As we strive to increase our own capacities to be loving, compassionate, and morally engaged we actively encourage those qualities in other peoples and religions.

Christian morality transcends mere politics. We are the spiritual sisters and brothers of fiery prophets and the compassionate messiah of God. Therefore, when a neighbor is in need, we are present. As creation is threatened we act with ecological sensitivity. Why? Because we are descendants of the Good Samaritan. When we learn from the news that one-sixth of the world’s 6 billion souls live in poverty, or 841 million people are severely malnourished, or 150 million people go to bed without food, or 30,000 children die daily from lack of health care, shelter, and nutrition, we don’t channel surf from the news to a mind-numbing sitcom. And, we don’t look just to government to respond – it is never enough and it is always conditional. Why do we care? Because we believe in the only kind of God there is, the global God. Why care? Because Christ said, “you are my friends…therefore I command you: love one another!” (John 15:14-16)

Moral values? Yes! As God’s partners, allies, and friends we see the world though the eyes of God who chose all human beings as the objects of Divine love –soldiers and peacemakers, rich and poor, straight and gay, Democrats-Republicans-Independents, men and women, infants and children, friends and enemies – every human being.

Our house of prayer has three important elements: first, mirrors that you might see yourself as the image of the Divine, increasingly know yourself, and discover God within; second, windows so that can we look at the world through spiritual eyes with the clarity of Christ’s love and grace, justice and peace; and third, doors that we might enter to be strengthened and sanctified and through which we exit to live a spirituality of compassion and responsibility.

Moral values? Yes! With Amos we believe that God wants justice and righteousness to flow like a river of living water through us. With Micah our faith is complete when we act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with God. Inspired by St. Paul, we do not conform to the present schemes and values of the world. We are transformed by a complete remaking of our minds into the mind of Christ.

Moral values? Yes! We live in the grinding tension of secular morality and spiritual values that call us to sanctify life in the womb and yet to respect another’s right to make the hardest choice; that call us to turn aside the vengeance of the death penalty and believe in the redemption of life – even life without parole; and that calls us to be peacemakers but never, never, never, the victims of aggression or acts of terror or acquiescence to political fascism or religious fanaticism. We actively seek to understand and respect religious beliefs that differ from our own, but not all religions act for peace and the common good; those shall not enjoy the trust of the global family. We humbly repent when our religion, in the name of God, causes harm to others and the earth.

Moral values? Yes! We affirm the moral value that there is enough of everything in the world for everyone in the world. Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fishes is our model and it was not about mathematics, it was about inspiring people to share and in sharing to be fully satisfied. We value shelter, nutritious food, basic health care, freedom, and human, civil, and religious rights for each soul on earth.

Moral values? Absolutely! Every day, not just Election Day: for the sake of our commitment to Jesus Christ and for the sake of our souls, of our wholeness and integrity. So back to where we began: you must never hide your Christianity nor should you ever be timid about speaking out, acting on, and voting your spiritual values. In the face of a dangerous, indifferent, and callous world we will raise our voices, set our hands to work, and pen our opinions to those who make decisions. We are global Christians of the global God and we know that silence is immoral, indifference is deadly, and timidity is not acceptable.