I spent some time recently with a number of clergymen and clergywomen from various churches, the scribes and Pharisees of our day. It was a Bible study session and we happened to be discussing the very same passage from John which is the text for this sermon.

Do not misunderstand me. I do not consider myself superior in any way to the ministers I will tell you about. For all I know, they may have gifts and skills far beyond my own - I am utterly sincere in saying that. But I will let stand what I have called them: "the scribes and Pharisees of our day." My fellow ministers had three objections to this passage from John. First, they objected to Jesus using the words, "My Father." One pastor said it was not helpful to her to think of God as Father because her own father had been cold and dist…