Mythbusters

I wonder: did you ever watch that show, Myth Busters?  I loved it!  These two geeky guys go around scientifically proving whether or not a particular myth was factual or not.  

My favorite episode was the one where they proved that Tryptofan, that amino acid that this is found in Turkey is not the reason why we get sleepy at Thanksgiving rather, it is the ingestion of the 2000+ calories we consume in one meal.  

There’s a myth these days that needs busting, beloved:  only those that mutter the magic words: Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior are going to heaven.  What a flimsy image of God—it is no wonder Church is in  decline.  The larger image of Christianity in our world is not very beautiful—it is an image of exclusion instead of compassion.  It is an image that is in fact a myth that too many have wandered into.  

Too much of Christianity these days gives me hives and makes me itch—the kingdom is not about what’s after our mortal lives—the kingdom is here and now, on earth as in heaven is about bringing to fruition the beauty of God’s vision for all humanity.   That Christs sets the whole creation FREE!  That’s the message we proclaim.  

I love the work of early church forebearers who understood that Christ’s resurrection was such good news that all of creation was set FREE.  All of creation.  I read it every year at the Easter Vigil—John Chrysostom’s Easter Sermon.  He writes it so succinctly: “Let no one fear death for the savior’s death has set us all free.  He that was taken by death has annihilated it!  Hell took a body and discovered God.  It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.

Christ sets all of creation FREE!    That’s what we give ourselves to!  

We pray it every week.  On earth as in heaven.  On earth as in heaven.   That’s the work of a Christ follower—to make earth heaven—to usher in the kingdom right here, right now.   We are invited into this universal kingdom that we persist in proclaiming each and every day.  We set the world free beloved.  That’s our work.  

Did you notice?  Today our readings are all about persistence—tenacity down right stubbornness and determination.   The widow won’t give up.  She’s faced with a narcissistic judge who doesn’t care but finally relents because she is relentless.  She never quits.   

The early church proclaimed that the enemy of the Holy Spirit was apathy.   How easy it is these days to ignore the world and numb out—numb ourselves with all kinds of delusions and distractions, but we beloved are called to harrow hell.  Hell is right here and now.  We are called to be persist and to never give up.  To be myth busters and hold fast to faith that sets the whole creation FREE.   

So what?  You may ask.  What does that mean for my day to day life?  

It means that we are called to bearers of light and beauty in the world.  From the small moments of kindness in a grocery store line or on the highway to being good news in and through our church.    

How is Ascension good news?  How are we part of the dream that God in Christ has set all creation free?  That is our message.  That is the question we need to be asking ourselves each and every day.  How am I, how are we bringing heaven to earth right now?    How are we living that the message that God is beautiful and is in fact love?   How did I do that today?   How does this church do that work of setting creation free?   

I’m going to quote Archbishop William Temple again:  “the church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”    

Why those who aren’t our members?  Because we love our neighbors, because we are to bring heaven to earth and live that God is in fact LOVE and beauty and compassion. 

Our work beloved is give away our lives, our time, our wealth to that beautiful idea that creation is set free by Christ and we are good news for all the world not just ourselves but all our neighbors too.    So let’s go bust some myths—let’s be persistent stubborn and relentless in our pursuit of grace let us live the theology that Christ set all creation free and we are called to be good news—heaven on earth right here, right now.   Let’s harrow hell.  

Write it on your heart beloved: you are the good news the world needs right now!   Be relentless in pursuing that!  

C’mon beloved—let’s go bust some myths!