Sermon, July 29, 2001
8 Pentecost – Proper 12, Year C
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Today, I want to talk about something that I know nothing about. I want to talk about life after death. And the first thing I want to say is that I don‚t know anything about what happens to us after we die. I have some intimations and some clues, but I don't know anything. Neither does anybody else. Everyone is equally ignorant about what happens to us after we die.

I'm just fine with that. After all, Christianity is about this life here and now; living human life with authenticity and depth. The prayer that Jesus taught is all about our seeking to live fully in the present: "your kingdom come on earth, as in heaven; give us today our daily bread; forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us; save us from the time of trial." The focus of Christianity is our relationship with God, ourselves, our neighbors and God's creation here on earth. It is a trivialized form of Christianity that believes religion‚s primary task is getting a ticket into heaven when you die.

So, I give very little energy to speculation about what happens to us when we die. I'm content to trust God for that. Whatever God wants for us when we die is fine with me. My energy and focus needs to be about living faithfully today. And eventually, one day, that day's job will be for me to die faithfully, entrusting my death unto the same loving God that I am trying to live for day by day.

I've been a priest for over twenty years. Except for funerals, only once or twice before have I preached about life after death, because I don't believe it is a central focus of our discipleship. But I get a lot of questions from people. Most of those questions are generated by their contact with other forms of Christianity which seem to think our religion is little more than a transaction for avoiding hell. And there is something about those messages that is rather horrifying. They describe a monster god who has little in common with the God of Jesus Christ, and, in my opinion, is not a god worth worshiping. And they describe a selfish form of religion that is little better than the treehouse clubs you may have had when you were seven years old. Let me explain.

There is a version of Christianity that teaches that God is going to condemn to eternal hell every person who has not made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation by syllables. The Dalai Lama? Going to hell. The woman who was abused by Christians as a child and has stayed safely away from organized religion? Going to hell. The gentle and compassionate native far away from the Gospel message? Going to hell. The faithful Hindu who follows the highest vision of his ancient spiritual tradition? Going to hell. Some groups go even further. You may say you are a Christian and believe in Jesus Christ, but if you don't belong to our group, you are just a pseudo-Christian and you also are going to hell. We have teenagers in this church who have been pressured by their friends and by adults from other churches who have told them that they are afraid for their salvation because they are Episcopalians.

Treehouse religion. Everybody who belongs to my treehouse is in. No one from the other neighborhood allowed. They are out. They don't know the password. What an immature vision! Happily, most adults outgrow such childishness and begin to recognize our inherent connections with all of humanity, not just those in our small circle of narcissistic similarity.

Look what treehouse religion says about God. Their god is a monster. Their god is going to condemn to eternal hell every person on earth. The only way to escape this monster is to confess your fallen sinful condition, admit that you deserve eternal hell, and believe in Jesus Christ. God the Son has come to earth to save us from God the Father. Everyone who can't buy into this system of fear is condemned to hell. Why would anyone want to worship such a god? "Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?" Apparently, yes. The treehouse religionists who give their children a monster instead of a God.

If God is worthy of our worship, then God must be better than we are. If God is worthy of our worship, then God must be smarter than we are. I don‚t know anything about what happens after death, but I trust a God who is so good and so smart, that God will come up with something even more wonderful than I could imagine.

I don't know what that will look like, but I‚ve got some intimations and some clues. I've known the power of God to bring life out of death. I've seen that in this life. And I've sensed the living presence of Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead. I hope in the resurrection of the dead, and I believe that whatever it is it will be given with the same reckless abandon that Jesus‚ love and healing was given. He crossed every treehouse line in his society and welcomed the outsider, the sinner, the broken and the outcast. His resurrection is for all.

I've known a mysterious peace that is a byproduct of deep contemplative prayer. I've been to that place where I seemed to disappear entirely, where there was no consciousness of myself as separate from the all, where all was God and God was all. If, as some say, our lives are like waves of the ocean, and when they finish their time they return to their Source. I've been close to that, and it's just fine with me. 

I don't know what happens after we die, but I respect some of the great answers that have been offered by the ancient traditions. It may be that we retain some portion of our consciousness in another level of being. It may be, as some traditions say, that we continue to learn and grow and evolve in that other dimension in some way not too dissimilar from this life. If so, that's just fine with me. God has made us as growing consciousnesses, and I've got a long way to go to fulfill the possibilities and become who I am. It may be, as another great tradition says, that we return to this life to grow and learn and serve some more. I find reincarnation a fascinating possibility, and one not antithetical to Christianity, for even Jesus identified John the Baptist as the returning Elijah, the forerunner of the Messiah. I am not convinced by reincarnation; it is not part of my belief system. But I respect it as a part of the quest for meaning of life and death.

I do not know a thing about what happens to us after we die. But I believe in a God who does not give children a scorpion instead of an egg. I believe in a God who is loving and good. I believe in a God who is so universally present and wise, that there is no one outside of God's creative work of salvation. I believe in a God who gives when we ask, who reveals when we search, and who opens when we knock. I believe that God is the source of everything that is good and true and beautiful. And every human being who has responded to any form of truth or beauty or goodness already knows God and is being drawn toward the divine life. In the end, I believe God is going to win. God is going to have God's way. I don‚t believe God is willing to lose anything or anyone that God has made. God is perfect love, and perfect love is what human being are created for. It is perfect love that casts out fear, and I place my hope in that love which I believe will triumph over every monster and hell that we human beings can create.