Though one may be the loneliest number that you’ll ever do, and seven is the luckiest, three is by far the world’s favorite digit. So ingrained is it in our lives, we hardly think about it, yet why do we get three wishes, three guesses, three chances, and three cheers? Why are there three bears, three little pigs, three billy goats gruff, and three blind mice? Why are there three Stooges, three Amigos, three heroes in Harry Potter, and three witches in Macbeth? How about three strikes per batter, three outs per inning, three goals in a hattrick, and three points for a field goal? Why are there three primary colors, three parts to an atom, three bones in the ear, and . . . the list goes on.
For the ancient Greeks the number three represented harmony, wisdom, and understanding. For the Israelites, shalosh, symbolized harmony, completeness, or new life. Needless to say, the Bible is replete with threes, 467 to be exact. In the Hebrew scriptures, God repeats things three times for emphasis (we don’t sing Holy, Holy, Holy for nothing), there are three patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), and God calls Samuel three times to make God’s intentions clear. But nowhere is the number three more prevalent than in the passion and resurrection story of Christ. Jesus predicts Peter’s three denials, he prays three times in the Garden, he is crucified with two others making three crosses on Calvary. He breathes his last at 3:00 o’clock, rises on the third day, and sends his spirit on Pentecost to complete the three-to-end-all-threes, the Holy Trinity.
In this sense, is it not surprising that over the centuries, even the church has organized itself around three elements of faith. Known as the three B’s, these basic components of church life have been ordered and reordered to reflect entirely different expressions of what church means. As we receive ten new friends into membership this morning, I thought it important to understand and celebrate the three B’s as lived here at The United Church of Christ: BELIEF, BEHAVIOR, AND BELONGING.
Let’s begin by thinking about the past. For many of us, religion is something we inherited, passed to us by parents and grandparents as a gift, a form of identity and tradition. I come from a long line of Congregationalists, later to become the United Church of Christ. Indeed, I’m sure if I went back far enough, I’d find some relation was a founding member of the church we attended.
Sunday mornings were all about worship, right? And attendance was mandatory, or at least something we never thought to question. We were schooled in our faith by pastors or priests, along with ardent church school teachers who taught us what to BELIEVE and how to BEHAVE. There were many rules and regulations I’m sure I didn’t understand—the question why was not an option—we simply did as we were told, or didn’t. As the years went by, we were confirmed in our faith, because our parents expected us to be, and after all, our friends were doing it, too.
Then came adulthood where the rubber met the road. This faith that was our legacy, that shaped so much of our lives, that meant so much to us when we were young, that was so central to the lives of our mothers and fathers, just didn’t seem to fit anymore. In a culture that was becoming more secular by the minute, where the moniker, “spiritual but not religious,” was an acceptable option, our faith drifted away, leaving behind a subtle longing, a million questions, yet precious few places to turn.
This traditional model of church: BELIEVE, BEHAVE, BELONG, in that order, has worked for centuries. For these churches, belief comes first. Getting your theology straight—accepting the facts as determined by one’s faith community, summarized in its creeds, and solidified in its rules—is the primary order of business. Once on board, it’s imperative one behave in accordance with these beliefs. Finally, if you have embraced the right beliefs, and behaved as proscribed, then you may belong to that community. There is nothing wrong with this approach. Many people appreciate a setting where uniformity of belief creates a focused sense of identity and purpose.
However, here at the United Church of Christ, we practice our B’s in a very different way. First and foremost is an open invitation to BELONG. When we say, “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here,” we mean it. Bring your questions and your doubts, bring your experiences and disappointments, bring your hopes and dreams, your anger and your fears. I guarantee we will have no pat doctrinal answers for you. What we will offer is guidance and companionship along the way, a place to practice learning and living in faith with others in accordance with Jesus’ command to “love one another as I have loved you.” Here, we invite you to think of Jesus as a new friend, or an old acquaintance who’s moved back to town. This Jesus is someone you will get to know slowly, step by step, experience by experience, in the company of others who long to know him, too.
Finally, when you have made a commitment to BELONG—formally or informally—when you have begun working, learning, and experiencing life with others on the same path—when you start BEHAVING, that is loving the way Jesus calls us to love, I promise, I absolutely promise you will come to understand the radical power of Christ to transform your life and the world. “Ah,” you’ll say, “I was blind, but now I see—at least a little bit.” Which will bring you back to the beginning, to BELONGING, where the community that holds you “steady as you go” will become more precious in every way.
BELONG, BEHAVE, then BELIEVE. This is faith from the inside out, not the outside in. This is faith from the bottom up, not the top down. This is faith at its best, embracing all and excluding none who seek the path of love.
The eminent Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “With all the conceptual truths in the universe at his disposal [Jesus] did not give [his disciples] something to think about together when he was gone. Instead, he gave them concrete things to do – specific ways of being together that would go on teaching them what they needed to know when he was no longer around to teach them himself … “Do this” he said – not believe this but do this – “in remembrance of me.”
BELONG, BEHAVE, BELIEVE, then rinse and repeat for the rest of your life. The disciples were not taught what to think from a pulpit; they passed no tests of faith before heading out. They simply answered Christ’s call to follow, part of a motley crew if ever there was one. The rest was all on-the-job training. Even at the cross the disciples could not get it right, yet still they persevered, and still Jesus loved them, just as he loves us today and every day. Friends, this is the good news of Jesus Christ who is risen again! This is the Easter Day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it, and while we’re at it, let us rejoice in this family of faith we call home! Amen.