Truth is a tricky thing isn’t it? Ideally, truth is Truth, with a capital T, immutable, unchangeable, but the longer we’re in our interconnected world, the more it seems like truth isn’t as certain as it should be. And just for clarity’s sake, I’m not necessarily talking about facts, which isn’t quite the same thing as truth, though discussions around “alternative facts” and manipulated data does come into some of our uncertainty regarding truth in this world. Unfortunately, it seems more and more common the truth is considered inconvenient to the agenda of others, and so people bend it, rationalize it, or sometimes downright ignore it. And so we find ourselves skeptical, and asking the question that Pilate asks later on in the gospel of John: “What is truth?”
And for us today, we know the truth is that which points to salvation in Jesus Christ. Truth is that which points to God the Father and the blessings of creation in which we are also blessed. This is truth – that God so loved the world that God sent Jesus into the world to be the way, the truth, and the life, and in this divine love, Jesus gave his very self for the sake of the world. And this truth can be a unifying truth. It was for the disciples and the early church. This truth spread across the known world, and all who heard and received this truth through the power of the Holy Spirit knew the love of God. And when it comes down to it, these truths are the most important. When we stick to these truth, we tend to do okay. But that other thing that Jesus prays to the Father about today? Where he says, “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”? That bit doesn’t seem to work out as easily, even though we know the truth that we are always protected by God the Father through the name of Jesus Christ. Because for us who are from a time standpoint so far removed from the time of Jesus and those first disciples, a lot has happened, and humanity – in all our wisdom, and I use that term a bit tongue in cheek here – has decided to explain more fully the truth that we are given in Jesus Christ.
And you just know that’s going to work well, don’t you? This idea that we can explain better the simple truth that we have been sanctified and saved through Jesus Christ’s atonement on the cross – we all have a temptation to figure out exactly how that happens and what – if any – role we have in the salvation we’ve been given. And things tend to get out of hand. It’s hard for us to be unified when our understanding of this truth begins to splinter because of all the rules and explanations we put around it. Don’t believe me? Did you know there are at least six varieties of Lutherans in the United States alone? I’m not even talking about Lutherans versus Presbyterians versus Roman Catholics yet. If even we Lutherans can’t be in full accord on how God’s grace has and continues to save us through Jesus Christ, to be one as Christ is one with the Father becomes highly unlikely. It seems to me like the basic truth has gotten a little cloudy.
And yet, there are signs that the central things are becoming the central things again. There are signs that the things that testify to who Christ is are more central than they once were. It seems when we return to the source, when we abide deeply in the Spirit’s call to love God and love neighbor, certain things begin to become clear once again. Truth becomes truth once again. And loving God and our neighbor is indeed that testimony – proof that we have experienced God’s love. And God’s love – declared through the truth found in holy scripture – is truly revealed and experienced through relationships that reveal God’s love.
But that doesn’t mean our love is perfect. That doesn’t mean our community is without flaw or divide. Because if we were all of one accord, then we wouldn’t have so many different varieties of Lutheran. We wouldn’t have the schism between Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church, to be followed up by divide between Protestant and Roman Catholic, and then divided again between Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Presbyterian, Anabaptist, Methodist, Baptist, Moravian, Church of Christ, United Church of Christ, Mennonite, Non-Denominational – you get the point. Don’t get me started on the different varieties of Baptist churches out there.
It seems there are still disagreements. Even within congregations, we aren’t always of one accord. Because even though we see the same thing – we read and hear the same good news – our life experiences cause us to receive that news just a little bit differently. And let’s be honest, somewhere along the way, we’ve begun to think that our way is better than another way, and that we know better. Even the early church dealt with challenges from those who thought they “knew better.” And even worse, the early church also was challenged by those who thought they could gain fame, power, or money by promoting themselves as gatekeepers for truth – offering promises of special knowledge or shortcuts to receive God’s grace. And many were led astray by those who put themselves in the place of judgment instead of God. They began to think they had to think or act their way into God’s grace that has already been freely given.
Fortunately, these days we don’t have anybody who claims to have a deeper connection to the divine, who claim that God has granted them special knowledge, and if only you’ll donate to their private jet or third vacation home, you’ll also receive that special knowledge and blessing. By the way, a private jet isn’t on the agenda for next week’s congregational meeting. I promise.
But here’s the thing. As much as I may make light of certain faith leaders and the claims they might make, deep down, their source they claim is our source. The truth behind all things is our truth. And the challenge is, somewhere in our history, things have gone sideways. But the promise is, the promise remains. The good news remains. And in this good news, we are all made one again in Christ. We begin to focus on the central things once again. We focus on love of God and love of neighbor. And when we do that, amazing things can happen. We can partner with churches and other religions we don’t completely agree with because we believe that loving God means showing love to our neighbor. We can find common ground in service with just about anybody, and that is truly a gift. So let me ask you – what is the central thing that brings you into deeper community with someone you might not agree fully with?
Maybe you’re passionate about Habitat. And serving others means serving others regardless of race, color, or creed. Maybe you knit prayer shawls with love in your hearts, or blankets for babies. Once they leave this space, we know that the prayerfulness they are made with is open for any who finds them. Or maybe you put together food packs with Feed My Starving Children or donate to World Hunger initiatives. Hungry people are hungry. And blessed people try to bless the lowly regardless of who they are. We can and do testify to the goodness of God together, even when we don’t believe the same things. So today, people of hope, I encourage you all – witness to the central things. Be of one heart and intention in knowing that as God has promised us all eternal life through Christ, we live into eternal life by how we serve one another. And in our witness and our service, all will experience in their inmost beings the love of God that we know and celebrate this day and every day.