The Not-So-Simple Roman Road
Romans 10:5-15
Many Christians have been taught to read these verses from Romans as asking the question, “How do I become saved?” How many of you are familiar with the Roman Road to Salvation? It is the inspiration of many evangelistic tracts and many a street corner preacher. Unfortunately this kind of surface reading of this text misses a great deal of eloquence that Paul used to answer a much bigger question of his day – a question with which most religious people of his time did not even want to struggle. Paul’s concern in this letter to the Roman church was not simply about an individual’s relationship with God, rather he was trying to answer from a Jewish context how could it be that the Gentiles (“those people” in whatever context we find ourselves) are included in God’s promise? God’s promise to the Gentiles is an ancient part of Jewish theology. The religious people of Paul’s day suffered from the same dilemma with which many religious people struggle today and that is how do we deal with our ancient texts’ message of grace and hope when our world and even our religion upholds legalism and hoops? Paul wanted them to remember the good news of their history and discover how those in the present could be part of that good news.
Good news, once received, remains neither good nor news if it is not shared. Many Christians understand this to mean an obligation to make others believe in Jesus like I believe in Jesus. Yet, Paul was describing a reality so much larger than our individual belief systems.
When Paul says “the word is near you, in your very mouth” he is quoting Moses in Deuteronomy 30:14. The road to God is not to be sought up in the heavens or below the earth. God is as close to you as the breath you take, the word in your mouth and the beating of your heart. This wasn’t new age Christian thought. This was old-timey Jewish religion.
Humanity’s inclination seems to be to reduce faith down to a set of beliefs one holds when Paul is calling us back to the deepest roots of our faith tradition that says that faithful living is the path to experiencing relationship with God. In other words, faith is more about who you are than what you believe. I remember Dr. King called it the “content of our character.” How is the world enhanced because you are here? Do others experience grace when they are in your presence? If you and I don’t live the good news by how we live in the world, it is neither good nor news.
“How beautiful the feet of those who bring good news.” Do you see the progression here? When what is believed in the heart matches what is confessed with the mouth and lived out with the feet, then we see evidence of faith. Our people who were once considered to be “those people” by some now understand that we too are the bearers of good news. Our people who have known life at the edges now offer a word, a confession, a life and an example of what faithfulness can look like – even on the edges. Our challenge is not to follow the ways of so many who have gone before us and diminish the experience of the presence and grace of God down to a set of limiting creeds. Belief is important because it is a motivator – the engine – that gives us energy to live our convictions, to stand with those who find themselves isolated, to speak for those whose voices have been silenced, to live with such grace that the world sees a better way than violence, war, hate and prejudice. Unless our belief gets lived out in how we offer grace to our world, our good news is worthless.
Sometimes it is really easy to become cynical about the world. But I believe how we live matters. I believe being people of grace makes a difference. This summer in Spokane a loan officer at a bank noticed that a Mallard duck had built her nest on the ledge outside his window, ten feet off the ground. One morning after arriving at work he saw that the eggs had hatched and that the mother was ready to lead her ducklings to the river. He watched in horror as the first duckling plunged off the ledge to the sidewalk below, landing with a thud. The loan officer ran to the street and as each duckling jumped, he would catch them and deposit them on the sidewalk next to the mother. A crowd began to gather as this duckling plunge involved ten little ones. Once they were all on the ground the crowd realized that the river was still two blocks away through downtown traffic. The ducklings were too slow to cross the streets safely. So, someone grabbed a box and they placed all the ducklings inside with the mother duck walking along behind. They carried the ten babies to the river. One person helping some ducklings set into motion all sorts of outpouring of care. This is an example of grace. The presence of God was in this encounter.
The opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday night was another of those God moments for me. Watching those delegations enter the stadium – some of them at war with each other. But for these few days a different paradigm exists. They come together proud of their countries and ready to engage others as a global community.
Last week we sent over 200 post cards to the Unitarian Church in Knoxville and MCC Knoxville in the wake of the shooting there two weeks ago. The pastor of MCC Knoxville told me that it made such a difference in his people’s lives knowing that people from far away cared about what was happening in their city. They experienced the presence of God in those postcards and I know that many of us experienced it simply in jotting down our prayers and hopes for those two grieving churches.
Robert Kennedy once said:
Each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those tiny ripples can build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
The presence of God is available at any moment but have you noticed that we only realize it when something gets put into motion? Someone reached out. Someone cared. Someone prayed. Someone comforted. Someone resisted evil. Someone spoke uncomfortable truth. Ripples of hope sent out into the world. You and I have the power to set into motion all sorts of encounters with the divine simply by speaking the passion of our hearts and putting our passion into action. It is like God hands us the world on a silver platter and says, “Go make something wonderful with this.” It’s not the simple Roman Road that many of us were taught but I can tell you it is a better way to go forward in your faith.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com “2K Paul” August, 2008, “Paper or Silk?” August 2005.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/amazingduck.asp
“God Not Guns Sabbath – Worship Guide”, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Washington, DC, pg. 30.