Red Letter Religion

A few years ago, when I was serving as dean of the chapel at Georgetown College, I invited Tony Campolo to campus to speak in the chapel. Tony was a professor of sociology at Eastern University, formerly Eastern Baptist University, in Philadelphia. He was famous as a powerful speaker and influential author. He was known as a Red Letter Christian, because he paid attention mostly to the words of Jesus, those in red in the old Bibles. He filled the chapel that day, not quite a thousand people, and preached his liberal evangelical gospel, quoting Jesus and Holden Caufield. As soon as things were over and I escorted him back to his overnight quarters, I went to the library and checked out the book, Catcher in the Rye. I stayed up all night reading that book, again. I paid attention to that character, Holden, whose dream is summed up in this quote: “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye.” Tony said something like this that day, “In this chapel today, I also am a catcher in the rye. Some of you are running toward a cliff, and I am here to catch you, and connect you with Jesus, and send you in a new direction.” Tony died this week. In Philadelphia. He was 89 years old. A ministerial friend of mine, Terry Lester by name, posted a picture on Facebook. It was a shelf from his ministerial library, of 21 books by Tony Campolo. I honor him today and revere his memory and celebrate his influence. The spirit of Tony Campolo and the red letter words of Jesus must have been part of the voices and visions that week in Palestine when Cornelius and Simon Peter heard voices and saw visions and were transformed by the red letter gospel of Jesus Christ. This story in Acts of the Apostles comes in three parts, organized by the three questions, as a way to embody the red letter gospel of Jesus. Part one features two visions and asks the question, What is it? Or as we might say, What is going on? Part two, describes the encounter of the Jews and the Gentiles, told around the question, Why have you come? Or as we might say, What are you doing here? Finally, part three, Simon Peter asks the question, Who can forbid baptism or as we might say, Want to come over for dinner? Follow me now as we work our way through this story. I Has God ever directed you by means of a vision? This story has two visions. God comes to Cornealius in a vision and tells him to reach out to Simon Peter. Cornealius is a Gentile, a religious person, what is known as a “god-fearer.”  These Gentiles were known for their interest in spiritual and religious things and were often drawn to the Jewish faith because of two things: monotheism and morality, neither of which were common in Greek or Roman religion. The Jews were known for their love of God but also for their rules. How to dress and what to eat; where to go and when; who is in and who is out in the economy of God. This is the way of all religions, especially Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. The more devout you become in the religion, the more clear you draw the lines between clean and unclean, saint and sinner, and elect and damned. It is the sad part of religion, dividing the whole world into them and us, dividing the community into them and us, even dividing your family into them and us. The current political atmosphere in the United States illustrates this. People everywhere are feeling afresh the separating power of political behavior. It is the building anew what the old apostle called, in writing to the Ephesians, “the dividing wall of hostility.” A pastor in another state called me this week seeking help. “I have four couples that are distraught over the election. They are drawing lines in the sand, drawing circles to keep people out, withdrawing from relationships while speaking words of resentment and retaliation. What can I do?” The use of religion or politics or ideology to divide the world into the righteous and the wicked or the saved and the lost or the good guys with white hats over against the bad guys with black hats: this spirit of division permeates the world. Into this world comes the red letter gospel of Jesus. That is what we read here in The Acts of the Apostles. That is what we need here in the United States of America, maybe even in the Providence Baptist Church of Hendersonville. The text sums it up this way: “This is the message God sent to the people, preaching peace of Jesus Christ. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning with the baptism of John. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy spirit. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed. They put him to death but God raised him on the third day.” II. This week, I asked Facebook readers about revivals. What is a revival and how will we know if it happens? Many Christian people quote the words from the Hebrew Bible, of what God said to Solomon, “If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” But we don’t know what it means to humble ourselves or turn from our wicked ways and we also don’t know what it would look like for our sins to be forgiven or our land to be healed. There were 40 responses to my post this week. “forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity” one person wrote. A member of this church wrote, “open communication without judgment.” “Acceptance of the biblical truth that God is no respecter of persons” wrote one person in another state quoting this Bible story in Acts chapter 10. “Freedom, equality and restorative justice” wrote a white minister from South Carolina. The “illusion of inclusion” wrote a Hispanic professor from another state. One resident of our city, not a church person, wrote about replacing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH). “Robust Kindness” wrote a pastor from Alabama, and from Kentucky, a pastor wrote, “an awakening to unconditional love of Spirit that transcends all religion and calls us to awareness of our responsibility to one another in the whole human family.” These responses echo the story of Simon Peter and Cornelius. These Jews and Gentiles lived in different social settings. They had little contact. Jews had a long list of things that were unclean, and Gentiles were considered unclean. What happened when they got together and started talking? Getting together to talk is often the first step toward friendship, collaboration, and understanding. The Holy Spirit was facilitating understanding and communication. We are in the midst of a period of social contention in the United States. This is true also around the world. If only people would talk instead of fight. Words are needed rather than weapons. Or maybe if we would only eat a meal together instead of separating into our cubby holes. Maybe the common meal, without all the restrictions of theology and protocol and ritual. I feel the exclusion on the many times I have worshipped in a Catholic setting. Communion is served, but because I am not Catholic, I must approach the Lord’s Table with my arms folded. I am refused the food and must settle for the blessing. Which leads me to this. The real open table around here is in the building next door. Maybe the red-letter religion of Jesus is more surely practiced there than in any other religious building in this county! I applaud all of you involved in this ministry. For 15 years, you have been living out the red letter religion of Jesus. It is the embodiment of true human community. If you want to see a parable of this centripetal force of true religion, watch the video posted on Facebook overnight by Glenda Tapper. It is a simple meal, bringing people out of their cubby holes into the common space. In the background the music plays, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” III. This week featured the Country Music Awards. During that ceremony, they honored the late, great Kris Kristofferson. He was a Rhode’s Scholar who took his Master’s Degree in English Language from Oxford University and moved to Nashville, Tennessee He made a success at writing and singing music. Including favorites of mine, like “Sunday Morning Coming Down” and “Here Comes That Rainbow Again.” His greatest feat was discovering John Prine in a small Chicago nightclub and taking him to New York. But I digress. Also, on the program was Brooks and Dunn singing with Jelly Roll. I was unfamiliar with the song they sang, “Believe.” It is a song written by Ronnie Dunn about a boy who strikes up a friendship with an old man who had lost his wife and his son. The chorus is an answer to the questions of life, one of which is “How do you keep from going crazy?” The answer, “I raise my hands, bow my head. I’m finding more truth in the words written in red.” I brought my red-letter Bible today. It is the first Bible I ever bought. The words of Jesus as printed in red. I am a red-letter Christian. The story we read illustrates how religion can be transformed into true spirituality, authentic discipleship, genuine living of faith, hope, and love. In the story, Simon Peter signals his transformation by welcoming Cornealius to the religious ritual of immersion in water. Perhaps in our version of the story, we can signal our transformation by welcoming a stranger to the kitchen table. That, truly, is red-letter religion of Jesus.