Dunbar United Church of Christ - May 3, 2009

Socialism, fundamentalism, communism, capitalism, fascism....atheism, theism, conservatism.... There are hundreds of isms (234 on one site): philosophical, political or moral doctrines and belief systems. And the number of books written about each one of these can fill libraries. Look up socialism. Its a word that refers to (many) economic theories for social organization. Socialists don't like how capitalism concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls the money -- making society unequal. They want wealth and power to be distributed more equally. But there are many kinds of socialism: market socialism, religious socialism, libertarian socialism, and many more.

If you study any of the isms, you'll find the same complexity. Chinese communism isn't the same as Russian or North Korean or Vietnamese communism. But if you watch the news or listen to politicians, you'd think language is simple. Obama is a socialist they say. What does that mean? Is he a market or libertarian socialist?

God gave us minds so we could think about these things. Are democrats and republicans socialists? There's no simple answer here -- people are too complex to be defined by any label. Democrats and Republicans in America are socialists AND capitalists AND many other things.

We all call ourselves Christian. But we practices our faith differently. Like Paul said -- we work out their our faith -- in fear and trembling. That is -- we struggle.

As you can see from the reading today -- the early Christians practiced a way of living that today we call socialism. Money and goods weren't owned privately -- they were given to the disciples, and the disciples distributed it according to the needs of each person. The early Christians lived as equals and simply.

Were all complicated, just like social systems, and each of us is a mix of good and not-so-good. The letter from John says that were all infected with a spiritual disease called sin.

Sin is whatever we think and do that separates us from God and Gods will.

God is love, John said. Whatever we think or do that isn't loving is sin -- a cancer of the spirit. We've all got it. Jesus is our chemotherapy -- that's all we need to know. Following-Jesus-Christ-ism -- that's the ism that will save us.