Sermon - 5th Sunday in Lent

John 11:1-45, Ezekiel 37:1-14

             Resuscitation is nothing at all like Resurrection

  

The lessons appointed for each Sunday are very carefully chosen.  There is a committee (or was a committee) who worked tirelessly to arrive at the three-year cycle of readings we follow.  So, it is no accident that the Gospel story of Lazarus is read on the same Sunday as we read Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones.  These two readings are paired in order to better illustrate what each is trying to say.

I want to thank Julie Gibson for her dramatic recitation of the Ezekiel passage.  She let it slip that she had once done this – and I begged her to share it with us today.  Luckily, I didn’t tell her that if she prepared a retelling by memory of that passage, I would do the same for the Gospel reading.  Though I should have.  It would have aided our appreciation for these verses as real-life encounters.

The common thread in both these passages is the ability of God to bring forth life.  There is a shared confidence that God is the creator of life and is therefore capable of restoring life – particularly when hopelessness has set in.

In Ezekiel, there is a valley filled with dry bones – very dry bones.  Ezekiel is asked if he thinks these bones can live.  Ezekiel is reluctant.  He doesn’t want to say what he is probably thinking.  The best he can muster is to say if anyone knows whether the bones can live it would be the one asking the question.  “O Lord God, you know.”

Of course, God does know, and the answer is “Yes.”  But we are getting a bit ahead in the story.  The opening of the vision needs to be allowed to run parallel with the opening of our reading from John 11. 

In John 11, it is the mortals asking the question.  Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that Lazarus is ill.  They are the ones asking if those bones will live.  The opening of the story encourages us to think they believed that Jesus would be able to do something.  The middle section of the story exposes their anger and frustration that Jesus had delayed two additional days before coming.  Both sisters greet Jesus with the same words: “If you had been here my brother would not have died.”

But Jesus is there now.  And while he shows compassion (particularly when Mary speaks these words to him), Jesus is prepared to reveal something greater than his competency as a healer.  He offers assurances, that where he is found there is no death.  For one of the very, very few times in the whole of the Gospel account, he makes a clear statement of who he is and what he has come to accomplish.  “I am the resurrection and the life” he says to Martha.  Something greater is going on here.  Something which we will better understand if we once more yoke this encounter with the one of Ezekiel as he stands in that valley of dry bones.

God is the one who created life and God is the one who brings life.  Healing is a marvelous gift, as is the ability to resuscitate another.  But both of these stories reveal God’s desire to do more than pump oxygen into lungs.  God brings life.

Life is that what happens when God’s spirit resides within us.  Remember that the same Hebrew word can be interpreted wind or breath or spirit.  God says to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to the breath…”  “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”

Don’t think that I fail to realize how grateful Mary and Martha were to have Lazarus back to do his share of household chores.  They probably enjoyed his jokes and took great comfort from his companionship.  But everyone in Bethany on the day that Jesus called out to Lazarus knew that something greater was afoot than the ability to resuscitate someone who had stopped breathing.

I wish I could tell you more about resurrection.  I wish I could describe for you what it is like or what it is going to be like.  There are some who will try – and others who will offer corrections of what the first attempted to do.  Individual faith communities and most individual Christians finally made a choice between believing that resurrection which happens immediately upon physical death or happens on the last day, at one final sound of a trumpet.  Pick a side – but know there is ample reason for picking the other side.  We just don’t know.

But here is what we do know:  Resurrection is unlike anything we have experienced and it is unlike anything we have ever encountered.  We will look for metaphors – but none is adequate.

I want to say I learn more about resurrection from the Ezekiel passage than I do from John 11.  John 11 assures me of Jesus’ love for each and everyone of us.  John 11 allows me to see Jesus as compassionate and caring and self-sacrificing.  (Don’t overlook the warning from his disciples that returning to Judea might lead to his own death!)

Ezekiel’s vision allows me to know that in the midst of what seems to be desolation and destruction, God will do God’s thing.  Ezekiel speaks of hope in a valley where all hope seems to be lost. 

Resurrection is a technical term of Christian theology.  It should never be used in a situation where resuscitation is what has happened.  It might be appropriately used when a child of God is lifted out of despair.  Resurrection is surely at work when an addiction is kept at bay or a contrite spirit allows for confession.  In those instances, we glimpse the power of God and the ability of God to bring life where none was to be found.  That is what Christian theology means when it speaks of resurrection.  And that is the gift which Christ brings.  This is what the Church seeks to make real in the life of every child of God.  This is the Word of God and the promise of God which will guide us through our days of mourning Lazarus or looking out over a valley of dry bones.

Amen.

Midweek Worship - Lust

7 Deadly Sins - Lust

Genesis 1:26-28

                                                                                  Lust

  

In addressing “Lust” as one of the Seven Deadly Sins, I want to start by drawing a strong distinction between sexuality/sensuality and lust.  They are not the same thing.  Too often, with disastrous results, we have confused God’s beautiful gift of sexuality with the devil’s weapons.  Lust is wrong; lust is abusive and lust is exploitative.  Lust is a sin, a deadly sin.  Lust is evil precisely because it takes a part of God’s beautiful creation and turns it into an object or an opportunity for self-gratification.

The disastrous results of confusing God’s beautiful gift with the devil’s weapons include a lowering of our appreciation for the opportunity to expose ourselves to another and be affirmed by them.  The disastrous results include forsaking the invitation from God to leave behind our loneliness and join ourselves to another.  The disastrous results include a sense of shame which makes it difficult for us to speak of the joy and comfort of another’s companionship.

Among the seven deadly sins, lust has surely proven to be extremely deadly.  Lust is even more prevalent than harassment which is even more prevalent than assault.  But the numbers associated with assault are staggering and shameful.  How can a “Christian nation” tolerate such rampant abuse?  And why would we respond with a wink and a nod to any mention of demeaning one of God’s own beloved daughters or sons to the status of our plaything?

Lust, and a prevalence of sexual exploitation is a deadly reality in the world and in our culture in particular.  And in far too many instances it has robbed us of something which God proclaimed “good” in the opening verses of Genesis.

“Lust” is unchecked desire.  It is an intense, unbridled yearning for an object which has caught our eye or our attention. “Lust” immediately strips the object of that desire of any of its God-given worth and becomes for the one lusting a trinket or trophy.  Lust is a deadly sin.

Deadly also are the ramifications for those who become the object of another’s lust.  Heartbreak, life-disruptions, permanent scaring of body as well as psyche – these are the residual effects of being reduced to the object of another’s lust.

Lust is deadly and must be eradicated from the lives of God’s children and the church which bears Jesus’ name.  We must do this.  And we can do this in a way which does not confuse lust with God’s good gift of sexuality and sensuality.  Separating the two will embolden our resolve to celebrate the one and totally forbid the other.

It has been far too long since I read C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters.  In that collection, an elder devil offers advice to his younger apprentice.  Repeatedly, the advice is to get the subject thinking about something which will distract the subject from that which is more important.  There are far too many indications that we have allowed this to happen with regard to sex and sexuality.  We have been distracted into thinking that the deadly sin is simply about what we do with our bodies.  We get caught up in this action or that behavior – failing to hear God’s Word and understand the connection between our physical interactions and the way in which those give shape to our spirit.  It is absolutely impossible to exploit or abuse someone whom you respect.  There is no opportunity for lust when there is an appreciation of the other as one of God’s beloved children.

Before I close, I do want to acknowledge that unbridled desire is expressed toward other things as well.  Money, power – these too become objects of our lust.  Once again, by relegating lust simply to sex we can ignore the other expressions of this sin in our lives.  Might this just be one more of the devil’s ways of making sure the main thing is no longer the main thing?

Lust, regardless of the object, quickly makes us little more than a slave of the devil – seeking that which glitters and sparkles while ignoring things eternal, humble, honest, and life-giving.

One of the writers referred to lust as “less serious.”  The thought behind such a designation is that sins against our own flesh are less grievous than spiritual sins.  I wanted to end with that, perhaps in order to reinforce what I said at the very beginning.  We have allowed lust to confuse our appreciation of the gifts of God.  And we have become so fixated on sins of the flesh that we have allowed them more time in our Sunday Church School classes that weightier matters such as greed, and envy, and gluttony.  These sins give rise to a culture in which others are seen as stepping stones on my way to the top.  These sins blind us to the ways in which our actions hurt and harm. 

We could tackle the topic from the other side – lust is only possible when we fail to see the image of God in the other.  Failing to recognize the image of God permits us to treat the other as if their only purpose is to service me. We know their purpose is to glorify God.

Amen.

Sermon - 4th Sunday in Lent - Year A

Psalm 23                                                                                                                     

                                                      A Psalm of Trust 

Does it cause you to think less of me if I acknowledge that I had not looked ahead to realize that the 23^rd Psalm was the appointed lesson for today?  I made a reference to a particular verse of Psalm 23 in my sermon last week.   Forgive me for anchoring two sermons on this passage, but there is a lot in the Psalm worthy of our attention.  When asked “Is there a text important to you in troubled times,” the overwhelming response is Psalm 23.   It does speak to us, in troubling situations.  It’s message of a God in whom we can trust bears repeating.

I want to start with the 5^th verse.  This is the verse which exposes the setting to which this psalm speaks.  Try to repeat it with me, from memory if possible.  If not completely from memory, allow the chorus around you to remind you of what words come next.  Verse 5 – “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.”

This psalm is spoken to those who find themselves surrounded.  At every turn, in every direction the challenges and chances are pressing in tight.  The LORD does not come and remove me from this; the LORD comes and prepares a table for me right there, in the presence of my enemies.  When this banquet is over, some of those enemies might breach the perimeter and overtake me.  But before that happens, they are going to have to watch the oil flow over me and see that overflowing cup.

Psalm 23 is in the category of psalms referred to as “Trust Psalms.”  They strengthen my resolve to trust; to trust in God, to trust in God’s promises. 

Ready to try the verse again?  Say it with me:  “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.”

Now we can go back up to the top of the page.  With an assurance that the LORD is fully aware that we are in the midst of a whole host of enemies, that opening affirmation doesn’t seem so naive.  The psalm was surely written by one who had passed through the valley of the shadow of death and having come out the other side; they can now affirm the goodness and mercy of the LORD.

Verse 1 is probably already committed to memory.  Say it with me:  “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”  I know that there are things that you want.  There are even a lot of things that you need.  But isn’t it also true that we are being cared for in a deep and compassionate way?

There are many opportunities for us to express our “wants.”  These days in particular are overflowing with pleas for God to provide.  Nothing – nothing – I am about to say is intended to mean imply that we have nothing to ask for.  But I do want to encourage each of you to think of the ways in which God has been with you in the past.  Remember other needful times and recall how God proved to be the Good Shepherd for you.  Speak of these things, to one another.  Those of us who have lived more years may have more experiences.  We need to speak of them.  We need to share them.

Mostly, we need to remember them.  We need to recall them.  Again, not in order to feel guilty or shamed by the urgent cries on our lips this morning, but as a way of remembering that God has been a good shepherd and gaining confidence that God will continue to be our good shepherd.

How has God shepherded you?  How has God removed your “want”?

Say the verse with me again:  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

To get the impact of the next two verses, you must know a bit about sheep.  Sheep will eat and eat and eat if there is food in front of them.  Lying down in green pastures is tough for them.  They live with such a fear of sacristy that they just keep on eating.

The psalmist points out that there is no sacristy.  We can relax.  God will provide in abundance. 

Sheep are also prone to drowning.  Still waters are preferable to rushing waters. 

Even without that background, verse 2 speaks to us, doesn’t it?  Say it with me:  The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

Verse 3 might be the most difficult to remember.   It is devoid of poetic imagery; it actually fits more in the category of theology.  You will see that it also serves as a transition verse.  It is the affirmation, while difficult to remember, that gives the psalm its purpose.

You restore my soul, O Lord, and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.

Any idea what that last phrase means?  “For your name’s sake”?  What is the psalmist talking about here?

I have benefited from the suggestion that it is God’s own good name which is at stake here.  God does these things BECAUSE failure to do so would reflect badly on God.  God restores me; God guides me – for the sake of His name among the peoples and among the nations.  God does not merely shepherd me because God is in a good mood – this is who God has promised to be.  And thus, if God fails to guild me, his name loses its luster.  But, of course, He won’t.  Too much is at stake here.  For the sake of his name God will restore and guide.

I much prefer this translation of verse 4 to the translation in the NRSV.  Gone in that translation is the reference to the place through which I pass as the “valley of the shadow of death.”  Dr. Joseph Sittler pointed out that death isn’t the threat; it is the “shadow” of death.  Our fear of death is what is likely to separate us from God; death itself cannot.

Ready for verse 4?  Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

I do remember that we are in the middle of the season of Lent and I know that the focus of Lent is to identify our sins and work to seek a more pietistic response to God.  But our Lenten activities are to accomplish something more significant that scoring brownie points with God.  They are to position us to carry forth into the world the hope and promise which Easter brings.  I can’t think of a better way to accomplish that than by speaking and living the blessings of which Psalm 23 speaks.  If you haven’t accomplished anything else as a result of a Lenten discipline, take on the task of learning by heart Psalm 23.  Speak it to yourself; repeat it to your children; have it in mind when you find yourself at a loss for words.

How are we doing?  Ready to repeat the whole thing with me?  I am a bit nervous, and performance anxiety is a real possibility.  But let’s try it.  And when you find yourself at a loss for what comes next, listen all the more intently for the clues given by a neighbor and fellow pilgrim.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.

You restore my soul, O Lord, and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil;

For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Amen.

Mid-Week Worship - Envy

Genesis 4:1-8

                                                                                 Envy 

Envy is such an ugly emotion.  It drives a wedge between us; and between us and happiness.  Envy impedes our ability to appreciate the things which God has given us and it blinds us to the gifts presented by those around us.

When I started this series on the seven deadly sins, I did not anticipate envy being one of the seven I would come to fear the most.  But I have.

Envy enters the story of humanity early.  I read for you the encounter between Cain and Abel.  It is probably an over-simplification to say that envy alone lead to the murder.  Jealousy is another face of envy – we want for ourselves the social position of another.  The story from Genesis 4 is troubling in many ways.  Not the least significant is wondering why God openly preferred the offering of Abel to the offering of Cain.  That doesn’t seem fair, does it?  Cain had worked just as hard.  The only real difference is he chose to dig in the dirt rather than herd sheep.

The story of Cain and Abel is troubling.  There are many additional questions we would like to have answered.  The one question which is clearly answered is how wrong things will go when we leave unchecked our envy of another’s praise.

St Thomas Aquinas wrote of a beginning, progression, and conclusion to our struggle with envy.  It begins with a desire or attempts to lower the other person’s reputation.  Again, left unchecked, we progress to receiving joy at the misfortunes of the other.  Where does all this lead?  To hatred.  Because “sorrow causes hatred.”

Bertrand Russell said “Envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness.”

And it doesn’t have to be.  Go back to the story of Cain and Abel.  Even if God was more appreciative of the gift of Abel, that didn’t mean there wasn’t room in his heart for Cain.  When the cold winter sets in, even God is going to be moved by the prospect of a few fresh turnips.  Our happiness or worth are not in competition with those around us.  This isn’t a cup capable of only holding so much.

When I first read through the list of seven deadly sins, I found myself responding based on what I had been taught, as a child, to avoid the most.  Envy wasn’t one of the first to concern me.  But is ought to have been.

In the writings of St. Paul, envy is prominent.  Paul speaks of our desire for that which rightfully belongs to God.  We covet the ability to provide for ourselves.  We are resentful at the inability of our works and our words to bring salvation.  Paul knew that grace evades us precisely because we do not want to admit our inability to accomplish for ourselves.

Envy separates us from one another.  It separates us from ourselves. And it even separates us from the love of God.  It is truly a deadly sin.

Amen.

Sermon - Amid COVID-19

Grace and peace to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I hardly know where to begin.  And I am uncertain about what needs to be said.  As all of the cancellations began to be announced, we realized there may come a time to talk about Sunday worship.  But it still came upon us swiftly and left us dizzy with a whirlwind of variables to hold in tension and factors to consider.

In the end, some of us decided that regardless of the ways in which it could prove to be a bad decision it was important that the Sunday morning ritual of prayers being carried to the altar needed to be maintained.  Regardless of how many were gathered in this room at this time - all of us would know that God’s Word was being heard and God’s presence was being sought and God’s assurances are being received.  And I want to promise you that this will continue to be the case.  In this place, in this room, and before this altar God’s name will be invoked and the petitions of this congregation will be offered week after week after week.  And even if it is only one or two who gather, every one of you will be showered with prayer.

In the end, some of us voiced our desire to take the associated risk in order that we could be together.  We did not want to face this alone and we did not want to feel isolated from one another in the face of these frightening times.  This is in no way a judgement of those who made the wise decision to stay away.  It is merely another layer of the confidence that something larger is going on in this place and at this hour and that is why we chose to gather.  The prayers we offer this morning are our assurance that God is with us and when God is with us there is none who can oppose us.  I needed to be here, in this place, this morning.  And I know that you felt the same and that is why you are here.

We will be wise, and we will be careful, and we will exercise extreme caution.  But we will also boldly proclaim that there is something more powerful than any virus.  That something is what drew us to this place the very first time we came, and it is what has brought us back to this place today.

You can put your own words to it.  Choose the language which best expresses what it is that draws you and drives you.  I have already hinted at the three which resonate in my life.  There is ritual, and community, and a hope rooted in shared decisions.

I am concerned, and I am worried.  The extent of this thing is impossible to judge, and we are all praying that the warnings are a distant cry from what becomes.  I am concerned and I am worried, but I come to this place in order to build that wall which will not let fear gain access.  Fear is that emotion which erodes us of the ability to see hope and promise.  The opposite of faith is not disbelief, it is fear.  My faith will not allow me to be fearful.  My concern and my worry will not become a faith-robing fear.

I am worried of what might happen as COVID-19 continues to spread.  I am concerned at the possibility of deaths.  But my prayers assure me there is no reason to fear.  Death has no hold on me.  And it is no threat to any of you.

There is no way for any of us to know how this whole thing will play out.  But there is no doubt that the ancient rituals of God’s people will provide a light for us amid even the darkest of nights.

There will likely come a day when my confidence will start to slip away.  On that day, I know that one of you will be there to lift my drooping eyes.  There will come a day when you might suffer anxiety and worry.  On that day, it will be my turn to remind you of what you know and where you find your confidence.  We do not know the path by which God will lead us through, but we know that God will do so.  The community gathered around the cross becomes the assurance that what we seek has already come.

I kept looking over the appointed lessons for today, and I did not forget that we were supposed to talk this morning about the deadly sin of wrath.  But the passage which emerged in my time of quiet was Psalm 23.

Here, I prefer the older translations to the more recent.  The version I memorized as a child translated the 4^th verse this way:  “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  One of my seminary mentors noted that the psalm does not talk about “the valley of death”, it speaks of “the valley of the shadow of death.”  Death is not as disruptive as the shadow which death casts over our lives.  We cease to live when that shadow overtakes us.  And that shadow robs us of something more precious than death is capable of taking.

We are of all persons to be most pitted when we allow the fear of death to rob us of life.  We are lost, when our days are void of any meaning other than to keep death at bay.  The question of whether our lives has meaning is more essential that how long our life will last.

The ancient promises will be spoken in this place by those who have joined their lives to ours.  This community will take on the worries and anxieties of each of its members and this community will apply the salve needed to erase our fear.  Together, we will navigate whatever may come.  And with God’s support we will endure whatever we must.

Amen.

Mid-week Worship - Seven Deadly Sins - Greed

2^nd Week of Lent – 2020

March 11, 2020  

Amos 8:4-14/ 2 Samuel 12:1-17a                                                                                 

                                                                               Greed 

It has been a while since anyone looked at me and told me that I was greedy, or being greedy.  The closest I come are those family dinners when my wife fears I am taking more than my share.  Her 97-year-old father (product of the depression) will never empty a bowl.  If I fail to leave a sufficient amount for him to not worry there isn’t enough, he stops eating and I get that look from Laura.

Perhaps it has been a while since anyone suggested you were greedy.  I hope so, I really do.  While I am only coming to know you, I do not perceive you as a bunch of greedy persons.

Or at least I didn’t.  Until I started preparing for these Lenten worship services and began to do a bit of reading about the seven deadly sins.  I feel compelled to share with you that we have done ourselves and the whole Christian family a disservice by failing to probe the wisdom of the early Church Fathers with regard to greed.

I am pretty sure that any and all of those who were trying to give depth and understanding to the message of Jesus would NOT accept MANY the behaviors which we have embraced.  It would be difficult for those in the first Church to comprehend how we not only fail to share everything in common, but also become insulted when asked questions about our stockpile of stuff.

We can say that that was then and this is now and that the two cannot be seen as one.  We can.  And most (practically all) do speak of this as being the practical realities.

I say it myself – obviously.

Which is why I hate it when God puts a hair-brain idea in front of me and start to read and pray and study.  Because what the bible says and what the theology of the Church teaches is that we have allowed the sin of greed to become a celebrated social good and a welcomed pillar upon which the good we seek to build is established.

Greed is not only what happens in my small scale interactions with others.  It finds opportunity for expression in larger pattern of interactions.  Let me use myself as an example.  When it was suggested to the Council that I might be asked to serve as Interim Pastor, everyone knew we would need to talk about pay.  Those who came to see me will tell you that I came to that meeting with the SC Synod compensation guidelines.  I used those to basically say, “I will only come to St Michael if you pay me this much.”  They will tell you, the amount was more than they expected.  It cast an unfavorable light on the amount that you had been paying Pastor Miles.

My colleagues in the SC Synod praised me for my shrewd negotiations.   And I think you next full-time pastor will also be appreciative.  What is frightening in all this is whether those accolades will deafen me to the warnings about greed infecting my life and driving my actions.

Greed is the deadly by-product of fearing that there won’t be enough.  Greed is the life-robbing emotion which lies under the worry that if we don’t have sufficient reserves then we will be left desolate and without resources.  Greed is also the cancerous growth which starts to rob our eyes of the ability to see the needs of our neighbors and our heart to feel the pain of their suffering.

I had not thought of myself, or you my brothers and sisters, as greedy until I made greed the center of my prayers and the focus of my reading.  We live in a greedy culture, and our culture encourages greed.

Hopefully you have your small catechism memorized.  (If not, it is on page 1161 of the ELW.)  Luther points out that the commandment, “You shall not steal,” includes a whole lot more than never being the mugger on the street corner. 

Luther reminds us, “We are to fear and love God so that we neither take our neighbors’ property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but help them to improve and protect their property and income.”

It is easy for us to condemn the greed which leads to theft and burglary, but what of the greed which lies behind selling that used car before the oil leak is noticeable?  Or the greed of a bull market associated with the fear of a world-wide flu pandemic?

Our culture has made money-making a good.  A greater good than so many of the other aims and ideals to which God’s people are to be committed.  While we occasionally question how someone made their money, practically everything in our society supports the acquisition of wealth as good.  We say –and it is true – that having stuff is not in itself evil.  But when, over time, the making of money and earthly delights becomes preferred over divine obligations, we are in a whole lot of trouble.

And, I fear, this is what has happened to us.  We have become greedy – we have allowed our amassing of stuff to be the salve for our fear that God won’t provide.  We no longer look to God for our daily bread but make sure we have enough money in the bank to buy bread for the remainder of our days.

And maybe it is wise to adapt the ways of the world.  Unlike the early Church, the Church of today isn’t likely to rally around us and help us if we become unable to pay our rent or feed our children.  That may be most profound difference between the way things were then and the way they are now.

Greed has cut us off from one another.  Greed has isolated us even from our Christian brothers and sisters.  This really is a deadly sin. 

Amen.

Sermon - 2nd Sunday in Lent - Year A

Genesis 12:1-4a & John 3:1-17                                                                     

                        Blessed to be a Blessing 

The encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus invites each of us to give careful attention to what it is that we are searching for.  Prior to this encounter with Jesus, Nicodemus had a rather charmed life.  He is a member of Jerusalem’s the ruling elite.  He surely experienced the accolades which came with such a position.  But Nicodemus realizes something is missing.  He comes to Jesus looking for something different, something more.

There is a difference between experiencing a charmed life and receiving God’s blessings.       

            Look again at the 17^th verse of John, chapter 3.  It reads:  Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  This verse beauti­fully parallels this morning’s reading from Genesis 12.  There, God speaks to Abram, telling him, I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you may be a blessing ...in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.  But God's blessing does not shield them from the harshness of human existence.  God's blessing provides them with the assurance they will need in order to persevere no matter what they face – and they will face much disappointment.  Their station is not to live a charmed life; their call is to the blessing which will enable them to be a blessing to others. 

            Abram was indeed blessed.  He is the patriarch to whom three of the world's major religions trace their origins.  Abram (whose name is changed to Abraham, so as to reflect his prominence) is revered as the father of faith for Jewish, Christian and Muslim believers.  He is blessed; his blessing is the root out of which our own blessing emerges. 

            But remember with me the realities of this man's life.  Twice he finds himself in situations in which he has to lie about Sarah being his wife.  Abram and Sarah are wondering shepherds.  Without a home, they are at the mercy of landed lords and rulers.  Abram knows Sarah's beauty will make her an object of desire, that he may be killed so another might claim Sarah.  So they say Sarah is his sister.  Abram is not murdered, but Sarah is taken into the home of another man.

            Abram is blessed.  But remember his nephew Lot, the one who was not satisfied with the harsh pastures of the hills and chose instead to go into the valleys of Sodom.  By the Oaks of Mamre, Abram learns that Sodom is to be destroyed.  It is Abram who has to argue with God - risking his stature in God's eyes - in order to save his nephew.

            Blessed?  Sure he is.  But Abram and Sarah are growing old.  Unable to conceive, Sarah asks her servant, Hagar, to be the mother of Abram's child.  The child born to Hagar, Ishmael, becomes an irritation and a fight ensues which threatens the whole clan.

            Abram was blessed by God - but his life did not always show the signs of what we might call a blessed existence.  He did not live a charmed life!

            Everything and more that can be said about Abraham can be said about Jesus.  He is indeed blessed:  He is the One acclaimed as God's Messiah.  Is there another whose name is better known around the globe?  The great civilizations of the west bear the marks of Jesus' teachings.  Churches bearing his name can be found on every continent, in practically every nation.  No one is more clearly associated with what it means to be favored by God - but remember Jesus' life.

            While we prefer to imagine it differently, Jesus was only able to attract a very small band of followers.  His message is not that widely accepted.  And his message proves so disruptive that Jesus is eventually condemned by the authorities of state and religion.  When he is taken in to prison, even those who claimed to be disciples abandoned him.  He dies a painful death upon an instrument of torture.

            Even though his life took on none of the forms we would associate with blessedness - Jesus was indeed blessed.  Blessed because God had promised he would be a blessing.

            A blessed life is not a life free from pain and disappointment.  That kind of a life would better be called a charmed life - it is a life marked with good fortune.  A blessed life is something differ­ent - a blessed life is a life lived with the awareness that we have the opportunity to be a blessing in the lives of others.  A blessed life is a life lived with the confidence that through us the lives of others are better.  A blessed life is a life which bears the marks of having come to Jesus to ask what it is that one must do. 

            Tradition has it that Nicodemus circled back around in order to aid Jesus in the days between his death and resurrection.  He does seem to come to understand that blessings are not a measure of what good comes to us as much as an indication of how we are a comfort to others. 

            "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be (blessed) through him." Come, receive God's blessing.  And then go, and be that expression of God’s blessing for which the world is crying.

Amen.

Mid-week Worship - Seven Deadly Sins - Sloth

Matthew 25:41-45, Revelation 3:14-18

                                                                                Sloth 

Did you talk through the conversation starters on your tables?  What did you think of the cute little critter at the top?  Sloths are such adorable animals; how can anyone find reason to malign them? 

I began to realize this, as I started putting together these series of reflections.  Most of what we know about “sloth” we associate with those cute little animals.  So much so, that my informal survey revealed inconclusive rests as to which came first – the word “sloth” - or an animal by that name which then defined for us what the word “sloth” meas.  Which do you think came first?

In many instances, sloth is associated with laziness.  We think of those slow-moving mammals as devoid of energy or drive.  We associate sloth with lying on the couch.  Sloth certainly got a greater foothold when the TV came with a remote control.  (How many us remember TV’s with no remote?  I tossed a TV a few weeks back because I couldn’t find the remote.  You can’t program it without one.)

Sloth is not the word associated with the first known listing of the deadliest of evil thoughts.  Akedia is the Greek word, and it was more widely understood in thirth-century Rome as dejection.  It was John Cassian, in the 5^th century, who began to associate acedia with sloth.

By learning a bit about the roots of this word, we begin to better understand why it was so abhorred by the early Church leaders as to merit becoming one of the seven deadly sins.  Acedia is not simply being lazy; it is revealing the dejection which overcomes someone who has failed to grasp the gravity of God’s grace.  St. Thomas Aquinas defined sloth as “sorrow about spiritual good.”

Sloth – the deadly sin of sloth – is failing to act in order to bring to God’s children the good things which God has for them.  The petition in our Ash Wednesday confession reads:  For our neglect of human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty…Have mercy on us, O God.

As I was collecting thoughts to put on those table tents, I found myself consumed in the contrast between how we think about this creature and reality.  We are inclined to think of a sloth as some lazy critter just lying around waiting for whatever to happen.  In actually the sloth is a species which has existed for more than 64 million years.  64 million years.  Humans have been here for about 6 million.  Sloths have been a part of God’s creation for so long precisely because it refused to give up or give in or neglect what it knew to be true about the way God had created it.

Mommy and Daddy sloths not only teach their children how to survive, they show them how with each careful and deliberate movement.

It is a deadly thing, when we cease to pass on that which has first been given to us.  It is a disastrous thing, when we fail to honor the faith that has been given us.  And it is a sinful thing, when we do not reveal in our words and actions the hope and purpose with which God has endowed us.

It is deadly, if not to us individually then surely to us as a community, when we lounge on our couches rather than bringing a word of comfort to those who are lost and lonely.  It is deadly, if not to us individually then surely to us as a community, when we spend every day off work at the beach and never once spend an afternoon helping a neighbor repair their leaking roof.  It is deadly, if not to us individually then surely to us as a community, when we park our car in the carport, close the door, and make a quick dash to the backyard chaise lounge and gallon of sweet tea rather than taking our turn delivering those sacks of food to our back-pack buddies.

Sloth – Acedia – it is a deadly sin.  To us as a community and to us as individuals.  

Amen.

Sermon - 1st Sunday in Lent - Year A

Matthew 4:1-11

                                                                   Gluttony 

(Jesus) fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.

“Fasting” has sort of gone out of vogue among Christians.  Most of the Christians I know who fast have said their cultivating of this spiritual practice is somewhat attached to their admiration of Muslims fasting for the month of Ramadan.  During my wife’s last year at the seminary, her professor of worship fasted each day during Lent.  What I remember most were the complaints about how grumpy he became.    

Have you ever “fasted”?  I haven’t.  Not really, or seriously.  I use blood-sugar issues as my excuse.  I have diabetes up and down my family tree.  And I experience hypoglycemia a couple of times each week.

Jesus did fast.  And at least once in his lifetime he fasted for forty days.  I can only imagine how famished he would be when that time was over.  It seems like the perfect time for the devil to come with temptations. 

Of course, it isn’t only food offered by the devil.  There is also power and prestige; there is recognition and admiration.  Jesus is tempted by being offered all he could grab of the things which we are so carefully taught are in short supply. 

All Jesus has to do is gobble it up; take it into himself.  But we all know what Jesus did, don’t we?  And by extrapolation, we also know what Jesus would have us do, don’t we?

Don’t be a glutton.

Today is the first of seven worship services in which we are going to make use of the Church’s identification of seven sins considered to be particularly deadly.  Once more we will touch on these seven sins on a Sunday; the other five will be during our Wednesday evening gatherings.  This morning, we want to spend a few minutes thinking about gluttony.  It seemed rather easy to see gluttony as the generic temptation which lies beneath the actual temptations Jesus endures.  It seemed rather easy, because too many of us would see gluttony as the opposite of fasting.  And because too many of us might think such thoughts, we can all learn something about this deadly sin.

Gluttony does not occur as a result of our being hungry.  Gluttony happens when the fear of being hungry drives us to consume more than we ought. Gluttony is selfishness, expressed in satisfying our own impulses rather than showing concern for the interest and well-being of others.  How can we eat so much when there are starving children?  How can we consume so much when there are so many doing without the basic necessities of life?  Gluttony emerges as a deadly sin because it exposes our inattention to the needs of our neighbors.

It has been reported to me by those who do make a regular practice of fasting that the experience places them in a new relationship with the one-in-five neighbors who experience food shortages.  Those who fast speak of the deep compassion they have when they see someone begging – deep compassion regardless of the story so easily constructed as to how that by the roadside begging for food.  “So what?” if there is an addiction issue, or perhaps a criminal record.  None of that matters when one’s stomach is turning in on itself and the gastric juices are starting to eat at the linings of one’s own bowels.  None of us wants to be there - none of us wants to experience hunger – and one of the ways we numb ourselves to this fear is gluttony.

And it is not just with food.  It is also with stuff.  With clothing.  With wood-working tools.  With trips to exciting destinations.  With public praise and recognition.  And even with our statue among our fellow church-goers.

Jesus is tempted to be gluttonous.  He is given the clear choice which would allow him to take into himself food and power and prominence.  And what does he do?

Gluttony applies to so many other things, but it does apply to food.  And here, obviously, I am preaching to myself.  We tell ourselves (and it is true) that once food is set before us it isn’t going back to the kitchen, then the grocer, and finally to a food pantry.  But we do regularly participate in the encouragement of larger portions by making this the hallmark of a great restaurant.  I am always pleased and impressed when a host puts on an extravagant spread.  And I am among those who would never, ever allow dinner guests in my home to face a depleted serving platter.  But what is true for me isn’t true for one-in-five of our neighbors.  And there is a connection between what folks like me want to buy and what is made available for those who have to keep a close eye on their food expenditures. 

Gluttony does not begin and end with what is forked into our mouths.  It arises when we do not see the correlation of our behaviors with the neglect of those around us.

It is a lot more difficult for us to see this in our segregated neighborhoods than it is in other cultures.  We have insulated ourselves.

Heddie West shares her experiences at the ending of WWII.  As a teenager, she was internally displaced in Germany.  As she began to make her way back home, she meet and travels with an older, more capable woman.  This provided Heddie additional safety.  This woman noticed a freshly planted potato field, she realized that each mount of dirt contained a potato slip.  They dug up those potato slips in order to stave off starvation.  Heddie continues to confess her sin, and to worry about the farmer and his family who did not have a potato crop because of her.

Would that we all could so clearly see how our actions impact the lives of others.  And would that we found it possible to curb our gluttonous actions in order that others might experience the bounty of God’s creation and a share of its goodness.  There is enough to go around, when we all share.

Our Ash Wednesday confession included a petition to forgive us of our self-indulgent appetites and our blindness to the needs of others.  It is a prayer that gluttony would end in our lives and in the way we interact with others.        

Amen.