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You know how a song can take you back? Its tune or its lyrics – a memory or feeling is suddenly stirring (or marching) around inside you. The hymn we just sang, Lift High the Cross, is one of those for me.

Not only do I come from a Catholic background, I spent some time with the Lutherans. It is only fair to tell you, we did not part on friendly terms. It is a mixed bag story as most relationships usually are. I will forever cherish and be grateful for what I was given through Lutheran outdoor ministries. I was part of professional camp staff teams for 7 years, leading programs in northern Minnesota. I was even on national staff with the then American Lutheran Church (ALC) for a year. The not so pleasant part was coming to terms with Lutheran theology, and coming out as a lesbian Lutheran seminarian. Back to the hymn –

Lift High the Cross is a majestic tune, primed for processionals, pageantry, and praise. Christ triumphant, crucified for victory. Lutherans love to sing it. Christology, the study and focus on Christ is everywhere. Christ is central to the Christian faith. Christ is why we are not Jewish. Christ is why many people can heal and move on in life. Jesus saves.

There’s something in human nature that when we are not given a choice, we rebel. You are going to wear this outfit. Oh yeah? Try to put it on me. You are going to Covenant Class (confirmation) this year. Only because I have to, and I’m not about to like it. You are going to work today. Oh honey, do I have to? We all have our examples, on both sides of the power struggle.

The particular Lutheran seminary I attended had, what I consider, a strict patriarchal philosophy of education and theology. It was all about the destination. The journey was a means to an end. In contrast, my experience at my alma mater UCC seminary was almost the reverse. At Luther Seminary if your questions and potential answers led to something contrary to the catechism, beware. If you were wrestling with Jesus and finding yourself more theo-centric than Christocentric, the dominant culture was taken aback and you were blacklisted. O you of little faith. Or worse, you of wrong faith.

My friend Lynn was born and raised Lutheran. We attended Luther together. She is a Lutheran pastor in Minneapolis. Lynn wrestles with Jesus all the time. The conversation, debate, and sometime argument are made harder I think because in her church Jesus is Savior, case closed. When I transferred to United Seminary, Jesus was generally presented as one way to God rather than the way to God. It made the wrestling much less rebellious.

There is this quip that says UCC often stands for Unitarians Considering Christ.

This morning’s gospel contains a verse that has been, and is, instructive for me. It’s an invitation to pray, think, study and feel. “But, who do you say that I am?”  Sure, you can quote what or who the Bible says I am. You can search out the classic and contemporary research on the subject. But, who do YOU say that I am? Isn’t this a wonderful invitation to further a relationship, to get real with someone most of us would like to know better?

I would like to offer a few reflections with the hope you hear permission to be real with God and Jesus. The United Church of Christ is a non-creedal denomination. What that means is that in order to belong to this church, no one must rally ‘round a certain creed such as the Apostle’s Creed or Nicene Creed. We have statements of faith. They are intended to help us articulate belief, not define it. In the back of the hymnal you will find classic and relatively new faith statements. You will like some, gag at others. I happen to like the statement of faith from our siblings up north, the United Church of Canada.

The UCC is sometimes criticized for being so inclusive that we stand for nothing. We have no statements of faith. This is not true. The United Church of Christ is a Christian faith community which very much believes in God, Jesus the Christ, and in God’s spirit moving among and inside us. What those beliefs tell us and how we talk and sing about them varies throughout congregations and within the individuals that comprise them. So, you are free to challenge and embrace all or a few of Christianity’s tenets, and still be a member in good standing. What is okay but more troubling is to not care about your personal faith statements. Jesus just asked you and me, “Who do you say that I am?”

Many of you are familiar with Marcus Borg, a Christian scholar and founding participant of the Jesus Seminar. The Jesus Seminar began in 1985 with a group of scholars discussing and discerning from an academic point of view the historical accuracy of the sayings of Jesus. More conservative Christians find historical criticism, (seminary speak for studying scripture through the scientific lens of history), heresy. Historical criticism has been practiced within theological institutions for near one hundred years. It’s not new. Thinking and believing are not mutually exclusive.

Borg has written several books. I strongly recommend Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, published in 1994. It’s a personal and spiritual book in addition to an academic study. I commend it to you high school kids. He says better and in more detail what we try to say in Covenant Class.

Chapter 1. We have all met Jesus before. Most of us have childhood images. For some these are comforting, for others they are problematic. There are basically two images that give shape to Christian life – Divine Savior and Teacher. Jesus as savior answers three classic questions about Jesus. Who was he? The divinely begotten Son of God. What was his mission or purpose? To die for the sins of the world. What was his message? Most centrally, it was about himself, his own identity as the Messiah.

Jesus as teacher is less dogma oriented. It understands Jesus to be a profound and gifted teacher of spiritual truths. Borg contends that these two images, a savior demanding we believe or a teacher commanding us love fall short. Jesus is about transformation. Borg experiences Jesus foremost as one who has an incredible spiritual life grounded in and with God. Jesus’ relationship with the Spirit was the source of everything that he was.

As we wrestle or begin to realize that we may have questions about Jesus, it may be helpful to begin thinking in terms of pre-Easter Jesus and post-Easter Jesus. Pre-Easter concerns itself with the Jesus of history, the cultures and their intersections. Pre-Easter Jesus was theo-centric, pointing always to God. Post-Easter Jesus is the Jesus of Christian tradition and experience. Post-Easter is Christocentric. It is how the early Jewish-Christian church came to understand Jesus, the Christ.

Who do you say that I am?

Here are four images Borg offers concerning the Pre-Easter Jesus. 1. The historical Jesus was a spirit person, a figure in human history with an experiential awareness of the reality of God. 2. Jesus was a teacher of wisdom who regularly used the classic forms of wisdom speech to teach a subversive and alternative wisdom. 3. Jesus was a social prophet much like the classic prophets of ancient Israel. 4. Jesus was movement founder who brought into being a Jewish renewal or (my words) reformation.

Borg does not make a tidy list of Post-Easter Jesus images. There are themes. Jesus is linked with compassion. Jesus models a relationship of oneness between the sacred and the ordinary. Jesus was compassionate, understanding the ordinary to be sacred. Jesus was compassionate, so too should we. Jesus is divine wisdom. Developing alongside the early church movement’s father/son Christology was a wisdom Christology that ultimately saw Jesus as the embodiment of the wisdom of God.

I think these discussions taking scholarly, theological work together with our personal experiences of faith are exciting. This probably has much to do with my ending up in seminary. It may be why some of you belong to this church or come regularly. These are not simply exercises of the intellect. We are engaged in a journey of profound meaning and meaning seeking. The spirit flourishes on such sacred ground.

I encounter Jesus asking me his question when I am praying. When I am teaching. When I am listening to more conservative Christians testify. When I am listening to more liberal Christians pontificate. I encounter Jesus asking me his question almost everyday. It’s an occupational hazard. It’s good for me.

Because when Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” I know he is sincere. He wants me to be honest, not politically or religiously correct. Jesus wants a relationship founded on our both being real. I like those terms. Thank you, Jeeezus!

Amen

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