by Doug Hammack
There is an old-time hymn titled, “This World is Not My Home.” The sentiment behind the hymn, and behind a common Christian view of humanity, is that we (ie the followers of Jesus) are resident aliens on this earth. We’re just waiting to get snatched away to our true home in heaven.
In this message we examine the problems with this view of things. If we’re resident aliens on the earth, it’s proving pretty difficult for us to be very good citizens here.
Today, we begin looking at two views of people, two views of ourselves, two views of being human
• Part of a larger series of lessons called simply.. “Two Views”
• Began w/ Two Views of God, now people, then Jesus, then Bible
This was a very difficult lesson to break into a 35 minute talk
• I feel bad that all we’ll do today is talk about one view, we won’t get to the good stuff
• I hope you hear next week, either be here, or listen online
• I thought this week’s foundation was critical to our understanding
• Critical for us to begin shifting our view of ourselves so that we live a different kind of Christian life
To begin our discussion of the two views of people, I want to look at a word: “alienation”
That word is an interpretive centerpiece in the fields of historical analysis, philosophy, and social criticism
• Central in thinking about art, literature, film, and music
• The theme of alienation has been the lens through scholars have analyzed the 20th Century
• Anyone looking at Western society, seemed to bring up this word
• alienation
Analysts see the struggle of 20th Century in the West like this…
People asking the fundamental questions…
• what’s wrong w/ us?
We feel so separate, apart, isolated from others
• What’s wrong w/ us?
We feel estranged from our world, from our work, our people
• What’s wrong w/ us?
We feel powerless over our own destinies
We feel some impersonal institution, or government, or bureaucracy determines our lives, not we ourselves
• What’s wrong w/ us?
We don’t feel any unifying social norms in our society
No shared social behaviors
As individualism, capitalism, and the urban/rural dislocation of the Industrial Revolution happened…
• We became competitors w/ one another
• Life became the marketplace, and we were the competitors
• The village disappeared, the clan, the tribe
• And as competitors, we are separated from one another
• It’s a dog eat dog world; people are out for themselves
• We’re not in this together
• Alienation
Before the 20th Century, there had been established norms and values in society, but they began to crumble over the decades
• Students rose up against the values of their elders: alienated
• Individuals began to rise up against the values of institutions: alienated
• There began to be wholesale rejection of shared religious values
• Conventions, norms, began to dissolve
• A sense that our “we” was disappearing and in its place, there was more “me” or more “me-against-you”
• Again, Alienation
And the 20th Century saw a huge leap in social isolation
• a deepened sense of loneliness, aloneness
• more and more were unable to find a place to belong
• more single people, more alone people, more isolated people more lonely people
• Alienation
But one of the biggest ways we saw alienation in 20th Century…
• Modern people’s estrangement from their very selves…
• Individuals who could not understand themselves
• Could not appreciate themselves
• Did not like themselves
• People w/ deepening sense of shame: something is wrong w/ me
• Deep sense of guilt: I’ve done something very wrong
• People out of touch w/ themselves
• Alienation
If your major in college had been one of the liberal arts…
• History, literature, art, psychology…
• This alienation idea would be 2nd nature to you
• It’s the one of major themes of social analysis in the 20th Century
But why?
How did we get so alienated?
How did we start to feel so isolated from one another?
How did estrangement begin?
I’m going to suggest to you that one of the primary sources of this alienation, was the dominant “Christian” view of our humanity
• For years leading up to the 20th Century…
• and in the early decades of that century…
• the Church was the dominant voice in society
• the dominant shaper of worldview
And what the Western church had to say about people, I believe…
led our society into this deep sense of social and personal alienation
So…
Two Views of our humanity
(Today, only the first one)
In the past, you’ve heard me use the phrase, “becoming more human”
• I often use this phrase when I begin us in prayer
• I will use it in our lessons quite often
• And this phrase shows up so frequently, because I believe that in its most basic form, this is the spiritual path we walk…
• Becoming more fully human
As followers of Jesus, our spirituality is not about ascribing to some religious form or set of rituals. It never was.
• It’s not hoop jumping to get ourselves reconciled to God
• It’s not about earning the acceptance/love of God
• So what is it?
I believe our spirituality followers of Jesus is a spirituality of becoming who we most truly are
• I believe it is a spirituality of fully realizing that which is already, and has always been within us
• Ours is a spiritual journey of awareness and realization…
• Of the wonderful, majestic, and Divine essence in which we are made
Becoming more fully human…
• becoming more aware of the glorious essence of who we are
• Realizing the Divine attributes vested in us at our creation
• awakening to the Truth, the Way, the Life that is in all of us
• And this, I call, “becoming more fully human”
• Becoming more fully our created selves
And part of this becoming ourselves, is recognizing and fulfilling the Divine yearning in each of us to truly belong
• To not be alienated and estranged…
• But to belong…
• To belong in the dance with God
• To belong to the human community
• To belong in the creation
• To belong in our own souls
• And to belong in our own bodies
And if we, the church think about ourselves as alienated…
• With the influence we’ve had in shaping the Western world’s way of seeing themselves…
• It is no wonder, the 20th century was characterized by alienation
Maybe you, like me, were reared on some primal images about ourselves…
• The images of being foreigners on this earth…
• Strangers, aliens, outsiders
• We are separated from our homeland
Our one and true home up in heaven
And as in, the Two Views of God lesson, if we start w/ this image of ourselves, it profoundly affects the Christianity we live
• And as in, the Two Views of God lesson, you can find scriptures that will support this starting image of ourselves
Some might be old enough to remember the old timey hymn (1965)
This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
This starting image goes something like this…
We live in a place that was once a beautiful garden
But now, Evil has come into garden; has corrupted and polluted it
• Whereas once it was beautiful, tranquil, pleasing, exquisite…
• Now it has been so polluted, has become so filthy that nothing other than corruption can be expected here
• The very DNA of the planet is corrupted
• Nothing other than corruption can be expected here
Again, think of passages in Romans where the word “corrupt” is used
Many scriptures feed this visceral image about the earth
And because the garden has been so polluted, its future is to burn
• It will be totally wiped out
• It will be totally destroyed
• Different groups differ on how and when that will happen
• But inevitably, the only future of the planet is destruction
And when it is destroyed, then we, the faithful, will depart for our mansion in the sky…
So, our posture on this earth is to be one of waiting
• waiting patiently until we go to heaven where we’ll find our heart’s true home
• We are not to get too connected to the polluted garden, these are just temporary digs for us
• We are not to unpack our bags
get too comfortable
• Because ours is the role of an alien outsider
• And we have a job to do while we’re here
• Our job is to get as many people as we can to know this message…
the garden is going to burn, only true followers of God will be taken away
Join us today in committing your hearts to God
Join us today and begin waiting for the garden to burn
Join us today in awaiting our hasty get-away
Otherwise you’ll perish along with the garden when it burns
As I said about our view of God…
Our view of our humanity profoundly affects the kind of Christianity we live
If our starting image of ourselves is one of foreigners in a strange land…
If our starting image of ourselves is that we’re just passing through…
If our starting image of ourselves is one of awaiting a quick get-away from a doomed planet…
…then the Christianity we live will have little concern for the planet
…will have little concern for redeeming the world we live in
…will have very little incentive to repair the earth
Why would we make things on earth as they are in heaven, if the earth is a sinking ship?
• I mentioned a phrase I heard as young person in the church…
• Why rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s sinking
• In a competition between evangelizing people and meeting their practical needs, evangelism always wins
• It’s simple triage. Do what is most important first
• We only have so much energy, so many hours in a day…
• Shall we spend them on helping people on this earth, or make sure they make it into the next?
Now of course this kind of Christianity is quite off-putting to people
• It makes us bad citizens of the world
• It makes us less concerned about polluting the environment
• It makes us less concerned w/ feeding the hungry
• It makes us less concerned w/ medical care for the sick
• Less concerned with rehabilitation for prisoners
• And sure enough…
• The surveys show that the more conservatively churched people are, the less concerned they are about these themes
Again, why would they rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic?
But, as we said last week, we check our geometric proof…
Line 1. We’re aliens on this planet… check (Bible verses to say so)
Line 2. This planet is going to burn, and the faithful will be taken away
Line 3. Don’t waste energy on a doomed planet, but get ready for next
Line 4. In a competition for our energies, evangelism wins over social concerns every time
However, the outcome is that we are alienated from the planet
And the Christianity we live doesn’t have space to really hear the words of Jesus
Now…
this is certainly not the only way Christian people have imagined their humanity
• and it is certainly not the only form of Christianity out there
• many, if not most, of the great social movements in history began w/ a very different Christian view of being human
However, this view has hung on and hung on in certain sectors of the church for generations…
• It is a recurring theme in history
• And right now, in the conservative, American church
• This is a common, if not a majority view
And it has problems…
The Christianity that develops from this view of the human condition is a Christianity that millions of people are turning their backs on
• It makes for a religion of alienation
• It makes us alienated from the earth
• It makes us alienated from our environment
• It makes us alienated from our society
• It makes us alienated from our very bodies
Our earth, our society, our very bodies are all part of the cosmos
And the cosmos and all its worldliness is going to burn
• It is only the true essence of our beings that matters
• Only the spiritual essence of our beings is going to survive
• Only the spirit of the human being will go to heaven
• Everything else is going to burn
• So best not to get too attached to it
• Best not to work too hard fixing things up around here
• We’re just guests of sorts, not owners
The problem with this…
• It’s not a Jesus-way of seeing things
• Lots and lots of Christian people do see things this way
• But it’s not a Christian way of seeing things
• Not at all
This way of seeing our humanity crept into the church about 200 years after Jesus
• It came in the form of a competing religion called Gnosticism
• And when the gnostic religion began to mix w/ the Christian religion, the Christian leaders of the day warned of its danger
• They said that the Gnostic view of the human being was a direct contradiction of the teachings of Jesus
• Nevertheless, this religion began to mix into Christianity
• And even though Gnosticism itself died out…
• It infected certain sectors of early Christianity so thoroughly, that it remains in a Christian form today
• Like a flu virus, it periodically returns throughout the centuries, attacking our fundamental view of ourselves
Here’s what Gnosticism believed…
• Human beings are divine souls
• However, they are trapped in a world made by an inferior god
• And when Gnosticism discovered the God of the Jews/Christians, they said that this inferior god was the God of Abraham (Jehovah)
• They conceded that the God of Abraham made the cosmos
• But their view was that this creator-god was a lesser god
• The true godhead-god, sometimes called Pleroma-god, or fullness-god… this was the supreme god
• And this God was pure spirit
• And this god would have nothing to do w/ nasty physical matter
When Gnosticism began to mingle w/ the newly emerging Christian religion…
• It began to challenge the ancient Judeo-Christian view that the world was good
• whereas the Jewish/Christian view savored and loved the material world
• whereas the Jewish/Christian view saw God present in material world
this new Gnostic/Christian mix, began to see human beings through the lens of a spirit/flesh dualism
• Spirit came from the really-god, god
• Flesh came from the lesser-god, god
• Therefore, the material world was of lesser worth
• The material world was a necessary evil
• It was transient, wicked, temporary, and of very little value
• But the spiritual world… ahh. That’s where the value is
The spirit world is eternal
The spirit world is precious
The spirit world was real
And thus, was to be pursued
Matter and the material world…
The cosmos, the human body, the physical earth…
• These things were demonized in this Gnostic version of Christianity
• Spirit was good, matter was evil
And the human being…
Well that was the premier battle ground between these two great elements
The pure spirit of the human being was trapped in an evil physical body
• The body was bad
• So sexual appetites were bad
• So the desire for food was bad
Savoring the taste of ice cream, bad
• The desire for sleep was bad
• The desire for comfort, warmth, coolness, human touch…
• All bad, bad, bad
The body-consciousness part of humanity, bad, bad, bad
The spirit-consciousness part of us, good, good, good
• Salvation, according to this Gnostic/Christian hybrid, was found by being freed from the physical realm
• And becoming truly, completely focused on spirit
And a whole bunch of Western Christianity came under the sway of this Gnostic/Christian mix
• You see it in your religion even to today
• How many were taught that sex was nasty
• How many were taught that body desires are not to be trusted
• How many of us have thought that this bad, bad world was going to burn
How many of us have been dislocated from our own bodies
• Dislocated from our own physical desires, it’s bad!
• Dislocated from our environment, it’ll burn
• Dislocated from the material world, it doesn’t matter
In my upbringing, if you didn’t do a church-job, it was ok, but you really settled for second best
• Desires that were not spiritual desires were distractions
• Joys that come from pure savoring of the material world distrusted
And so where does our social sense of alienation come from?
I believe it comes from our alienation w/ the very essence of our beings
But it was not to be so
God created every dimension of the cosmos in our Creation Story
• And over each dimension, he pronounced that it was good
• Our bodies, God liked when they were created
• Out our taste buds, our enjoyment of food, God said it was good
• Our genitals, and the fire of sexual desire in us, it was good
• the way our eyes enjoy beauty, and our noses enjoy good smells, our story tells us, is good!
• And God likes that we liked these physical, material pleasures
God never said that only the spirit part of us was good
The whole kit, the whole caboodle, all of it was good
And yet, because of this Gnostic/Christian view of our humanity…
• We are alienated from ourselves
• Alienated from one another
• Alienated from our planet
Now…
when it comes to pastoring people, this Gnostic/Christian mix is a disaster
• I tell people all the time to look for the sacred in the material
• But that dimension of the Divine has been stolen from us
• God and creation? We can’t see it
• We hear the words, but the experience has atrophied
• Read of a boy in Sunday school recently, saw God in the woods
Had a profound spiritual experience in the wind in the trees
told his SS teacher, but she thought he ran the risk of the heretical religion of pantheism (God is limited to being the created world)
So she rebuked the child
In this child’s memoirs, that was the beginning of the end
He left Christianity and became a neo-pagan, where his sense that God could be found in material world was validated
But our religion has taught us that we can sense the Divine in the food we eat…
• In the trees that give us air to breathe
• In the bodies of our lovers
• In the smell of our children (except teenage boys, no god there!)
The sacred is to be found in our bodies, in our senses
• In our muscle, and ligament, and bone, and blood…
• God inhabits those very material parts of our humanity
When we say that God is as close as close can be…
• That includes our bodies, includes our lungs, and in our legs, and in the air we breathe, the food we eat
The material/spiritual split was never Jesus’ idea
Never was part of our tradition
So, when it comes to helping people on the spiritual journey, one of the huge obstacles that must be overcome is our commonly shared view…
• How could God ever inhabit me?
• This bad, bad fleshiness that I am?
• How could the divine ever inhabit me?
• How could the HS ever indwell my awful, sinful, traitorous housing of flesh?
• Because the material world feels bad, bad, bad
And when we are alienated from our own bodies, our own planet, core realities of the spiritual life are rejected
• How could I be truly spiritual, I am so much a body
• How could this world demonstrate God, it’s matter and will burn
But let me say quickly before we close…
Next week we’ll see…
• Alienation from the earth
• Alienation from our bodies
• Alienation from the environment
• Alienation from the planet…
…this is not the religion of those who follow Jesus
In fact, the spirituality of those who follow Jesus is one of increased belonging
• A spirituality of becoming more truly ourselves, is a spirituality of fully realizing the beauty that is our entire being
• Our body consciousness is just as much a part of our Divine being as our ego and spirit consciousness
And as we advance on the spiritual journey…
As we become more fully human…
• We realize about ourselves that the essence of who we are is glorious
• We realize that the Divine attributes vested in us at our creation includes our bodies, our world, our trees, our breath
• And that residing in the very essence of who we are is Divine life, Divine spark
And that the spirituality of following Jesus doesn’t create alienation…
• No, it leads us to a deeper sense of belonging…
• Belonging in this dance with the Divine
• Belonging to the human community
• Belonging in this creation, this planet, this world
• Belonging in our own souls
• And belonging in our own bodies
And as we come to this awareness…
Jesus’ words about caring for this earth make sense
But I’ll continue on this theme in next week’s lesson