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“We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and blown about by every wind of doctrine,
by people’s trickery, by their craftiness and deceitful schemes.” (Eph 4:14). I’m quoting the Bible. Who says the Bible doesn’t speak into the reality of the world as it is today?
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, invites us to push through the limitations of doctrine, to see past people’s self-interest (if not our own), and to reveal the tripwires of trickery so we can discern the truth.
Today’s sermon is all about the truth. In our time together this morning, it is my hope that we uncover the truth. It is my hope that by the end of this sermon we know the truth, and the truth has set us free.
What do you think of that? Free from what you’re wondering. The winds of doctrine. People’s trickery. The stumbling blocks of deceitful schemes. It is a high bar. But is it impossible? Can we know the truth? Is there truth?
“What is truth?” That is a Biblical question. Pontius Pilate posed it. My working premise upon which to reveal a common truth is not built upon your Biblical literacy, but upon our inherent nature. For I believe that below the waves of this superficial world a truth exists, truth as binding agent, truth with a name and it is a name that we already know.
Now here is the problem: In a world where people do not know the name of truth, there is no common path where we can meet one another.
I’ll give you an example of the problem. Some in this nation believe that the attack on the US Capital on January 6 was a peaceful protest. Even though we saw it with our own eyes. Even though we know the names and stories of people killed, there are some who claim it was a hoax, and I think they are wrong.
I’ll give you another example. Some in this nation believe that Donald Trump was not shot in an assassination attempt. They believe there was a little package of fake blood he popped behind his ear like an Agatha Christie character (Caroline Sheppard in “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”). Even though we saw it with our own eyes. Even though we know the names and stories of people killed, there are some that claim it was a hoax, and I think they are wrong.
In saying both these things I probably have offended some people, maybe even some in this room. Some may think I have been brainwashed by the fake news that seek to perpetuate deceitful schemes. Some may think I have been influenced by people’s trickery, and that I have been blown about by every false doctrine designed for the simple-minded.
But I believe it was a violent attack, and I believe it was a real attempt, and here’s the thing it is unlikely anyone can change my mind. It is hard to imagine a piece of information could surface that would shift my opinion on these matters.
But, in equal measure, it is unlikely that I can produce information that will change the mind of someone who holds the opposite point of view. Information, it seems, is no longer ground upon which we can find common truth in politics.
But I submit this informational disintegration runs deeper than politics. Let’s bring it a little closer to home.
I’ll give you an example. Amanda, our Community Life Pastor, insists that to get an optimal work out one must eat a high protein meal an hour before going to the gym. I, on the other hand, am convinced 4 or 5 cups of coffee is all you need. Despite her best efforts, I am not sure Amanda can convince me otherwise.
Is there anyone in your life who holds an opinion that you just cannot convince them of otherwise? Is there anyone who you’re close to who does a particular thing, or believes a particular thing, or says a particular thing about a particular thing and you know it is flat out wrong, and you can’t change their mind…even when you fact check them with ChatGBT? Information, it seems, is no longer the tiebreaker that allows us to arrive at a common truth.
But I submit this disintegration runs even deeper. What about God? What about church? What about the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Is there anybody in your life with whom you are not quite on the same page about these things?
I’m guessing a few of you can answer “yes,” which gets us to the complicated nature of truth, that it is not about information. It wasn’t about information 2000 years ago and it is not about information today.
So, what is truth? How do we get there if it is not informational? Well, let’s return to Paul who is holding the thesaurus that helps us find the common language for a lived truth.
The words we flip to are humility and gentleness, for these are the attributes that nurture the patience needed to bear with one another, irrespective of their point of view. And what happens, when humility and gentleness are the guardrails we set for ourselves is that truth is revealed as the path upon which we walk. And as we walk upon this path the signs along the way all read the same.
The name of this path, the name of truth, is love. Love is the gravel under our feet. Loves the dirt under the gravel under our feet. Love is the gravity that holds that dirt and that gravel and our feet to this spending earth.
Love is a force. Love is a presence. It is like the water in which a fish swims. It is like the air that allows a falcon to soar. Love is the thing behind the thing. Love is the binding agent. “Love is the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Love is the name we know for truth. Humility and gentleness reveal it, and give it the power to transcend the limitations of information.
So, let’s take a minute to look at humility and gentleness. First humility. It is the power to hear someone say somethings we know to be false, and instead of wondering, “How can somebody as smart as this person believe something so completely insane?”
Instead of thinking that, make for humility to bubble up. To be reminded that we too believe something, we too hold something as a truth which is actually not true. We don’t know what that is because we believe it to be true, but it is actually completely wrong.
So, to recognize the love all around us, the water, the air, the path upon which we walk, to recognize the power and the presence of love requires humility about our own truths and that some may indeed be wrong.
Acknowledging with humility that we too are blown about as children to and fro by every wind of doctrine; that we too are susceptible to people’s trickery; that we too are subject to evil schemes. Remember humility when confronted with another’s irrationality. Let their intransigence be your invitation to push through with the prybar of humility, to reveal, then encounter, the thing behind the thing which is love. And then employ gentleness.
Gentleness is taking your time. It’s moving slowly. It is pausing for a second. Gentleness is your posture when your spirit is engaging the thing behind the thing. Gentleness is your bodily bearing when experiencing truth, when experiencing love, when experiencing the thing behind the thing.
I remember holding Margaret, my daughter, when she was a newborn. She would awake in the middle of the night, and it was with gentleness that I would attend to her. Whether she was crying or not made no difference, because it was so easy to access the thing behind the thing when holding a baby. It is so easy to let your body settle into the truth of love. And when we do so, what is revealed in a helpless child is no different than any child of God…that we are all immersed in the truth of love.
And here is the truth about this love; while we may never change somebody’s mind with information, I am completely convinced that we can change somebody’s heart through the practices of humility and gentleness.
And so, if you want to change the world don’t develop a better Chatbot; practice humility and gentleness…because it is love, only love, that is going to save the world.
That’s a message I hope Epiphany is willing to share. As we arc toward November 5 and the Presidential election, the propagation of love through the practices of humility and gentleness is going to be more and more important.
And one way we, at Epiphany, are seeking to practice this love is through the exercise of RELATA. RELATA is our attempt to invite people to join us to encounter the thing behind the thing; by sharing a meal and by sharing our stories.
And the beauty of stories is that they are not informational, they are reflections of the heart and right now reflections of the heart are the most wonderful way in which we can connect to one another passing through the limitations of information to encounter the deeper reality of love.
So, I’ll finish by asking you to help me create a very successful RELATA experience. If you’ve already experienced RELATA, come again. If you haven’t, come for the first time. And to all of you, I encourage you to bring a friend; to tell a neighbor, to hand out a brochure — and ensure them that it is safe, that we’re not about doctrine, or trickery, or deceitful scheme.
We are simply a spiritual center of gravity where souls gather who believe that it is love, only love, that’s going to save the world.