Marcus Borg begins by telling a story about Dominic Crossan. Dom was the featured speaker at a weekend event in Portland.
Crossan began his first presentation by saying, "I want to tell you a story about something that happened last night. Last night after my lecture, while I was signing books, a student from the local seminary . . ." (Marcus Borg's footnote: There’s only one seminary in Portland. It is the Western Conservative Evangelical Baptist Seminary, and all of those adjectives matter. And so, the audience immediately knew that he was talking about a conservative student.)
"This student," Dom continued, "said to me, ‘I told my professor that I was coming to hear you tonight.’ And my professor said to me, ‘You’re going to hear Crossan!?!? Why, why he’s to the left of Borg!’"
That’s not the punch-line, though.
Crossan continued the story, and he said, "So I said to the student, 'Please give my best regards to your professor. And tell him that the real problem is that both Borg and Crossan are to the right of Jesus. And rumor has it that Jesus is to the right of God.’"
"And I start with that, partly because I love telling the story, of course, but also to suggest that whatever we do here will still be to the right of Jesus, who is to the right of God. And whether that’s good news or bad news, I leave that up to you to figure out."
"This student," Dom continued, "said to me, ‘I told my professor that I was coming to hear you tonight.’ And my professor said to me, ‘You’re going to hear Crossan!?!? Why, why he’s to the left of Borg!’"
That’s not the punch-line, though.
Crossan continued the story, and he said, "So I said to the student, 'Please give my best regards to your professor. And tell him that the real problem is that both Borg and Crossan are to the right of Jesus. And rumor has it that Jesus is to the right of God.’"
"And I start with that, partly because I love telling the story, of course, but also to suggest that whatever we do here will still be to the right of Jesus, who is to the right of God. And whether that’s good news or bad news, I leave that up to you to figure out."
This is a year of politics, elections and political labels.
My take on that story is that no matter how liberal, progressive, tolerant, inclusive, and loving-of-people any of us may strive to be, we will still be to the right of God.
On the political label spectrum, God is the ultimate cosmic liberal!
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