Some weeks ago I read a paragraph in a magazine (Plough, which is in our magazine rack) that struck me profoundly – I’ll share it with you now.

“When you meet people of other faiths, don’t hopelessly think to yourself that they are damned.  Even when you see people who are involved in wrong dealings, in behavior you want nothing to do with, don’t condemn them.  Be careful!  Watch out that you don’t destroy what heaven has in store.  Your neighbors, no matter how pagan they may appear to be, can change, but you must show that you trust them.  Yes, if you really believe that they belong to God, then Jesus can overcome any darkness, fill any heart with joy, and turn any person to the Father in heaven.  Always trust that those you meet belong to God; they will come to him one day.  The Savior wants to help all people (2 Pet. 3:9).  If God can change you, then when others see what your life is like, they will also change.  When God’s power is seen working in us, it will have an effect far beyond our immediately spheres of influence.  In this way the whole world will receive the Savior’s help.” (pp. 72-3))

Then I saw where the quote had come from – from a book called Everyone Belongs to God. So I went online to look up the book, and I found it.

And when I saw a picture of it, I thought, “I don’t believe it – I think I own that book.”   So I looked in my bookcase of unread books, and there it was!   I remembered buying it at a conference – whether it was a Quaker Yearly Meeting or a Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, I can’t remember – they both have great book displays.  I also remembered that at the time I bought it, I was concerned about LBGTQ issues, and I thought this book would speak to those issues.

Well, I read the book and it did not discuss LBGTQ issues – that would be much too narrow a focus for this author.  He meant EVERYONE, not some subset of people whom our culture treats very badly.  He began by  calling attention to what kind of people Jesus spent most of his life with.  And that was those living in miserable poverty, oppressed by the upper classes, barely able to eke out a living.  Jesus was born into the lower classes – that’s where he grew up.  And that is the kind of people who flocked to hear Jesus.

He  chose his disciples from among the working class – uneducated fishermen, or those cast out of society, like tax collectors — because these people are the ones who cry out for justice, who are longing for a better life, who have less than their share of the world’s resources. 

And do you remember his first sermon in the temple?

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim release to the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind,
to deliver those who are crushed,
and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus spent a lot of time talking about the Kingdom of God.  And he spoke of it as being here, on earth, a treasure buried in a field, a mustard seed, a lost coin. I’d like to spend the rest of our time together, sharing the ideas I found in this book. For example:

The Kingdom of God seems to have very little to do with the world’s religions.    Recall Jesus’ words: “ And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”  The risen Christ wants to draw all people to himself . So one particular church or confession of faith is no concern of his.  We need to represent the gospel of the Kingdom that shines for all people no matter who they are. (p.3)

Some religions and some Christians teach resignation, that we should accept things as they are because this is somehow God’s will.  Jesus didn’t resign himself to anything.  He calls us to seek God’s justice in the world.  So we are to look for God’s justice, right where we are, where people suffer and fight for their rights. As Blumhardt puts it:

“Seek justice, but do so through love. Jesus needs a people who, in the power of he Spirit, will transform everything out of love. All things in heaven and on earth must become new through love.

“If you find it difficult to believe in God’s new creation, then love those whom you can love. Just give your love to everyone you meet. Most people are unable to express themselves about formal faith or deep spiritual matters, but everyone understands what love is. Let love surge up in your heart and you will be one with God’s great missions on earth. If you want to find your way forward, if you want to represent the kindgom of God in anticipation of a new heaven and a new earth, then commit yourself first and foremost to love.” (p. 94)

Here is a passage which makes us understand that when Blumhardt says everyone belongs to God, he really means everyone.

“Fallen human beings lie in the dirt  — yet they are precious stones.  A diamond that lies in the dirt cannot glitter.  But because it is a jewel, it cannot be spoiled by the dirt.   It can be picked up and polished again and sparkle as before.  Therefore, when you encounter those who are lying in the dirt, don’t think that they are rotten.  It is a crime against God’s love to think of anybody as being lost or bad.  What God has created is never bad.  But people can find themselves in the wrong place, and because of this, can give a completely wrong impression.  If a jewel is to sparkle, it must be brought into the light somewhere.  That is why you should not just tell the unbeliever that he is a sinner.  No, first tell him, “God loves you!” . . . 

We are never permitted to trash anyone, least of all ourselves.  No person is evil at the core; they are merely entangled in evil  . . . ” (pp. 75-76)

“God has promised to re-create heaven and earth and bring the whole world into the light of the Savior….  This is our heart’s deepest longing , that Christ reconciles the whole cosmos.  He is the ruler over all, and his light will fill the entire universe.” (pp. 76-77)

“Therefore, avoid dividing the world into “us” and “them.”  If you do, you will harden your heart.  There are not two worlds, one in God’s hands and the other one not.  There are not two species of people either, one totally under God’s rule and the other completely outside of it. . .(p.77) There is just one Lord, one God, one Father of all, “who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6)  All things are God’s because Christ is all in all (Col. 3:11). . .” (pp. 77-78)

As I tried to pick out which passages I wanted to share with  you, time and again I just kept on reading.   So much of what he said sounded like Quaker understanding of the gospel: that you live the gospel message of love, as Quakers try to live it, through their testimonies of community, equality, simplicity, integrity, and peace, rather than just “believe” cetain ideas about God (which can never contain the whole of God and are like the proverbial blind men trying to understand an elephant). Our thoughts are never big enough to understand God, but we can try to live the way Jesus told us to live. Quakers are also suspicious of religious rituals which often seem to have little with how people live their lives. 

.For example, Blumhardt says: Take heart, and may God give his Spirit to all you meet!” Isn’t this pretty much exactly what George Fox said when he said, “Walk cheerfully over the world and answer that of God in everyone”. Surely he must be a Quaker. Hear it once more: ”Take heart, and may God give his Spirit to all you meet!  This author continues to say: 

“Remember they don’t need to become “Christians” like us. This designation need not come up at all. Whoever does the will of God is a child of the kingdom of heaven, whether he takes his cue from Confucuis, Buddha, Muhammad, or the Church Fathers. Christ is the only one who brings truth and life into people’s lives. Everything is in his hands.

“Every nation is equal before God. Before him, unbelievers and pagans count just as much as Christians. People of all descriptions are entering God’s kingdom. They are coming to Christ, but not to Christians. The vision of the Son of Man — representing compassion, social responsibility, and equality through the works of peace — is catching on among the so-called irreligious. Here is the entry point for Christ’s spirit, which will encompass the whole earth.”. . (pp.45-6)

Does this author have anything to say about using violence (e.g., the Crusades) or fear of hell as methods of evangelism? Yes, he does. I quote him:

“The gospel is a power, not merely a message. Therefore you must keep it pure. To combine the gospel with threats or pressure makes it unclean; light and darkness get mixed.

“This is why it is so important that you keep telling those you meet, “You belong to God.” God defends the rights of humanity. God is love and cannot abide the thought of a single person not belonging to him. Right now millions of people live in darkness, but they will all be freed. That is why we, too, must defend this right for every person. To condemn anyone upholds the power of sin and death. As soon as you or I or anyone else writes someone off, God is denied a certain right. You must instead commit each soul to God’s care and keep that soul in mind as one for whom God’s right will also come to light. Otherwise, you are not a faithful witness of Jesus. And you must believe the same for yourself. That is the gospel.” (p. 95)

And shortly before I got to the end of the book, I found this quote:

“Jesus came into the world — yes, into our wretchedness and filth — for God loves the whole world, incluing all that has become diabolical and godless. ”The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light” (Matt. 4:16). It was to the desperate, the condemned, the murderous, and those who no longer had any consolation or hope that Jesus came. To them it was given to see the God who loves them. Base everything you say and do on this fact: light has come into the darkness and can shine into every pit of despair. This light is love. The gospel is God’s love in our darkness. With every word of the gospel, God lays claim to the darkness — to sin, death, and hell, — through his love. He loves each person, no matter how lost, as his child. You and I and those around us may be sinnders. Yet from the cross God says to all of us, “I lay claim to you, not to judge you or condemn you, but to help you” (John 12:47). This is the light of the gospel and the darkness cannot overcome it (John 1:5).” (pp.129-30)

But my biggest surprise was discovering who the author of this book was and when it was written.  In fact the author is not a Quaker.  His name is Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, he was a Lutheran pastor in Germany, and he lived from 1842 to 1919 – this book is over a hundred years old!   I am so grateful that those who heard him speak or read his letters (on which this book is based) preserved them for us to read and be challenged by more than a century later! This book was published in 2015, compiled and edited by one Charles E. Moore. Thank you, Charles E. Moore, for your faithfulness in preserving the prophetic voice of Christoph Blumhardt. 

In the foreword of this book, written by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, we find these words, “In every age, God’s people need prophets to help us see beyond our blind spots — to expand our vision of what God is about.” The prophet Jeremiah had to reassure the captives living in Babylon that God had not deserted them, but also to tell them that God was not going to destroy Babylon. To quote directly,  

A salvation that requires someone else’s destruction is too small a salvation, Jeremiah proclaimed. To a people in exile, he wrote, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jer: 29:7) You will not be saved apart from your neighbors, the prophet says. Everyone belongs to God. . . [And when Jesus] “pointed out that a Syrian soldier and a Gentile woman had more faith than anyone else in their day, the hometown crowd tried to throw him off a cliff. Your gospel is too small, Jesus said.” (pp. x-xi)

And here is the final quote I will read to you (also from the Foreward):

Our gospel is too small. It is, indeed, too small a thing to think that the hope of the world rests in our ability to recruit others into a religion [Christianity[ which has too often made us morally worse. 

To confess that the hope of the world is Jesus Christ is to open ourselves to a kingdom beyond our control — beyond our imagination, even. It is to embrace the revolutionary notion that everyone belongs to God.” (p. xiii)

Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove (from Forward to Everyone Belongs to God)

Reference: Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Everyone Belongs to God, Plough Publishing House, 2015.

This message was given to Spokane Friends by Lois Kieffaber during Sunday morning worship on October 29, 2023.