“Why Truth Is Always Changing”

Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – November 6, 2016

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 139:1-12; Luke 20:27-38

 

    As most of you know, this year Lois and I celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary.  People who have stayed married that long have realized that truth is never stationary. Truth changes for all active participants in life because people have their own distinctive points of view.

    This past Tuesday, Lois said to me, "Did you use garlic with your breakfast?"  I said, "Yes, every morning I use garlic."  She said, "Today is Bible Study and I can't have my house smelling like garlic."  I said, "What is the matter with the smell of garlic?"  She grew silent, walked into the kitchen and flipped the switch on the exhaust fan.      

    As you were listening to the unfolding of this mini-drama, with whom did you sympathize?  With Lois, of course. This kind of exchange takes place in all marriages because each partner has his or her own values that quite often are not the same.  Hearing this story from the pulpit can create a visceral response that might have caused you to think, "You are going to get it, Stetler, when you get home."

    Most of the time, particularly with issues within the home, husbands do not stand a chance of being right unless the exhaust fan in the kitchen stops working or the ironing board fails to open when the release lever is depressed.  Both of these incidents recently occurred at the parsonage and hubby was summoned.    

     In my message last week, I reminded you that King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 mistresses.  Soon after sharing this rather grim statistic, it was mentioned that Solomon spent his days as King agonizing over his inability to figure out the purpose of living.  He wrote, "Life is a useless exercise.  God is the only one who knows what he is doing and he does not share that information with anyone." (Ecclesiastes 3:11f)  There is no evidence in the Scriptures supporting whether or not the number of women in his life contributed to his depression. 

    With change the only consistent quality in human experience, we know that new versions of truth are always making their way into our lives.  Being able to perceive greater levels of truth is like peeling an onion with its many layers.  There are numerous examples of this everywhere in human history.

    In the field of scientific research, we have learned that truth is never a stable reality.  After the discovery of the atom, it did not take very long for scientific inquiry to find and label the subatomic particles as electrons, neutrons and protons.  

    Around 3,000 B.C., various cultures in the world, from the Aztecs of Mexico to their counterparts in India and China, observed that there were five heavenly bodies moving with mathematical precision in elliptical orbits through the field of fixed stars. Truth further expanded with the discovery of four other planets in our solar system along with a collection of 181 moons.

     Truth is always moving and resistance to its countless changes is a futile exercise even though countless people insist that in some areas of life, truth is a fixed conclusion.

    Throughout Europe between 1150-1250 CE, a new truth was dawning.  Each individual had become accustomed to choosing how to relate to God in his or her personal way.  The College of Cardinals would not permit this to continue.  This group asserted their power by telling people what to think, how God thinks and how people must respond to God with obedience. 

    The result of this exercise of vast power brought a halt to scientific research. The Holy Inquisition was established.  At issue was not that the Bible had become the Word of God by divine decree; but rather how people were choosing to interpret what was written.  Some chose to understand the Scripture as descriptions of historic events.  Others chose to read the Bible metaphorically, i.e., symbolic references to the divine mystery of who we are and how we got here.

    If Christians were found to be engaging in sharing their thoughts and beliefs that were contrary to the divine interpretation of Biblical Truth as defined by the College of Cardinals, they were arrested and tried.  Those that were convicted were often sentenced to death.

    Once I was among a group of Christians that was engaging in a fierce debate between Creationists who insisted that the story of Adam and Eve was an historical event.  The Evolutionists were equally insistent that our species evolved over millions of years.  The two sides had reached a fever pitch where they were talking over each other while using hostile, abusive and judgmental language.

    What silenced the debate was a question that was asked:  "Has your particular belief about the origins of man helped you to live a more loving and peaceful life?"  That question caused them to focus on listening to the spirit behind the words they were expressing to each other.  Those holding both points of view were adamant that each had the final word on the subject and that the others were wrong. Each group went home holding tightly to their own truth.

    In our Scripture lesson today, Jesus was confronted by a group of Sadducees who came to him with a very complicated question that had been designed to trap him.  This group consisted of the movers and shakers of society.  Typically they were business and political leaders that literally were the aristocrats within the Jewish culture.  One of their beliefs was that life does not continue following death.

    They asked Jesus an absurd question about a woman who had been married to seven brothers following the death of each. She was left without children after each of her marriages. The Sadducees wanted to know whose wife she would be in afterlife.  Jesus' response should have moved the needle on a number of issues among his people, but it did not. 

Men and women marry and bear children during their lives.  In the next phase of life, people do not marry.  They become infinite spirit-beings, like angels, that are not subject to the functions of their physical bodies. Everyone remains God's creations in spirit form.  (Luke 20:34f)

    Teachers of the Law were also among the crowd that was listening to Jesus.  Collectively, they responded to the Master's answer by saying, "Teacher, you have spoken wisely.  Your answer was good." (Luke 20:39)

    We often talk about our identities as spirit-beings or angels-in-the-flesh while living in male and female bodies.  Is the truth about our identities one that is absolute and encased in stone?  What was Jesus referencing about who we become after we leave our bodies?  Is a new truth dawning in our generation?

    Some years ago, a group in my former church visited an art gallery in Baltimore, Maryland that was sponsoring a traveling collection of sculptures, paintings and renderings of angels, some of which were thousands of years old.  What some of us found interesting is that we could not tell from looking at these images which ones were created to be men and which were women.

    Today is All Saints Sunday when we bring to our minds church members, family members and friends who have graduated from this life.  Do we ever think of our loved ones as spirit-beings that no longer have the form of their bodies?  Do we lose our identity as men and women like the images that we found in the art gallery?  

    Throughout my ministry a number of people have confided various episodes that they have experienced with a deceased member of their family.  Only one story shed light on what spirit-beings are able to do with their forms.  

    Lillian was extremely close to her mother.  The two had become like sisters who took trips together following the death of her dad.  Her mother experienced a severe cerebral hemorrhage and never regained consciousness.  Her sudden death was devastating to Lillian who spiraled into despair. She walked around aimlessly and would not eat.  She withdrew from all social events including her attendance at church.

    Several weeks later, Lillian awakened at around 3:00 in the morning to find her mother sitting at the foot of her bed.  She sat up immediately.  Thoughts entered her mind that were coming from her mother whose lips were not moving, "Honey, you need to stop behaving like this.  Other people are counting on you.  I came to tell you to get it together (an expression she used all the time).  I am fine."

    Lillian responded tearfully, "Mom, I miss you so much."  Her mother responded:

I know you do.   Once I cross over, I will no longer be able to visit you in this form.  I have appeared to you this way so that you would recognize me.  Please promise me that you will live as the brave woman that I know you are. I love you, Lillian.  Always remember that. 

    Lillian said, "I will Mom, I promise, I will."  She reached out with both arms to hug her mother and the apparition disappeared.  She called me before breakfast to schedule an appointment for later that morning.  Her highly energized voice told me that something BIG must have happened.   Indeed, it had.

    There is no way that anyone could have suggested to her that she was delusional.  Her enthusiasm for life was totally restored and her depression was gone almost overnight.  Everyone who knew her noticed her remarkable recovery.  

    It is intriguing to speculate that when we leave our physical forms, we also leave behind our masculinity or our femininity as artists through the centuries must have understood. Do we remember the hymn:

We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord, and we pray that all unity may one day be restored.  And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love.

    This is one truth that will also change as it grows larger and becomes more encompassing as a universal energy among all of humanity. As we continue to energize the loving spirit by which we live, we will rise above all differences represented by our gender, beliefs, judgments, values and boundaries that now separate us.  Everyone will eventually reach our universal inheritance as spirit-beings.  At that time, we will realize that quite literally, we are the same.