A sermon preached at St. Francis by the Lake Episcopal Church, Canyon Lake, TX.
The lectionary readings for the 5th Sunday in Lent are here.
Y’all may have picked up on the fact that I’m not shy about substituting words in the Book of Common Prayer; I modernize the use of thees and thous because, like many Anglican theologians before me, I believe that worship and scripture should be in the common language. I use words that include both men and women when referring to humanity as a whole and sometimes I add the name of women who have too long been hidden. Today, you may have noticed what I did with the word ‘sinner’ in our opening prayer.
If you were here a few weeks ago on the first Sunday in Lent, y’all know how I feel about the labels ‘sinner’ and ‘wretched’. Time may move like molasses when it comes to revising our prayer book – and I do love our Book of Common Prayer – but our understanding of human psychology and the use of demeaning labels has grown since even the last revision in 1979 and I believe that our theology must evolve with this understanding.
And, so, I’ll say what I did then: We must be careful with the labels we assign to ourselves and others. When we define ourselves or others by our worst characteristics or behaviors, we cover up the beauty of the image of God in all people. We are not sinners, we are not wretched, we are human beings, beloved of God, who sin, who choose our own way of defining good and bad rather than God’s way. We have unruly wills and affections. Yet sin does not delete the image of God within us nor does it erase God calling us good.
Our scriptures are full of stories of folks not so different from us who had unruly wills and affections. Our faith ancestors felt free to tell their identity stories with both positive and negative episodes. They seemed to understand far better than we do the importance of acknowledging what they got wrong as well as what they got right. Acknowledging we have strayed from God’s ways like lost sheep comes from a desire to be in relationship with God; from an instinctual understanding that we are most human in relationship with our Creator. Berating ourselves or others doesn’t draw us into closer relationship with God. When we choose to berate ourselves or others, we are saying that God’s name for us is incorrect and God’s gift of forgiveness isn’t sufficient.
Remember that God created us good and yes, sometimes God calls us ‘stiffnecked’ but really, can we say God is wrong with that? We can be stubborn about wanting to do things our way. Psychologists tell us that a little feeling of guilt is good, it guides us away from harmful behavior and towards what is right. But when we let guilt ferment into shame, we’ve let it stew too long. Guilt is about our behavior: “I feel bad because I did such and such and it caused harm to others and myself and I want to do better.” Shame is about our identity: “I am a bad person because I do bad things.”
Our true identity comes from the image of God within each of us. And, yes, we have unruly wills and affections, but the Good News of Jesus, the good news that God has worked to convey to everyone since, well, the beginning of creation, is that we are created and lovingly designed for LOVE and community. It is when we choose another way that we miss the mark. We have a choice to let God shape us as God’s beloved or not.
Jesus asks the question, should I pray for God to rescue me from the pain and suffering I must endure for the sake of all and answers his own question – no, because this is the purpose for which Jesus came and all that Jesus did was for God’s glory.
Committing ourselves to God’s Way, the Way of Love that Jesus walked in flesh and blood, is the way our our heart, soul, mind, and strength are oriented to the true joy of God’s Way. This is how we bring Glory to God, by living as God created us to live and showing the world God’s Love.
We give up our way – we let go of the life we may want to craft for ourselves that puts us at the center – and we receive the life God has in store for us, following and serving Jesus for God’s Glory. Like a seed, we must die before we can grow and bear fruit.
When we chose to live for the glory to God’s kingdom with all that we think say and do, it changes the world even when we can’t see it on the evening news. There are still wars and famines and natural disasters; still shootings and killings. There are still people so in love with power that they think nothing of oppressing and abusing others to maintain that power. There are still people so in love with themselves that they are blinded to the needs of anyone else.
In all of the hate and fear and anger and war of this world, people are crying out “we wish to see Jesus” even if they don’t use these particular words. When we see and experience suffering in this world and our hearts are troubled we follow Jesus’ example. God doesn’t cause us to suffer for God’s glory but in suffering, we know that God is with us and we help others see God’s love, by our prayers; by our actions; by our listening; by our words; by our giving of work, wisdom, and wealth.
The new Covenant that the prophet Jeremiah speaks of is the divine assistance, the power of the Holy Spirit in us, that writes God’s law of love on our hearts. We no longer live for ourselves but for the greater good of all, together, side-by-side, following Jesus, doing what is ours to do and equipping each other for Kingdom work, all the while being shaped by God’s love. This inner transformation, this taming of our unruly wills and affections, will one day render the idea of sin obsolete because we will no longer desire our own way but only God’s way of love, justice, and humility*.
We follow and serve Jesus as we love God, our neighbor, and ourselves with our whole being – heart, soul, mind, and strength. And God, throughout the whole of our life, trains our unruly wills and affections toward the Kingdom on earth as in heaven.
Next Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most important week of the church year – the week we walk though the very purpose for which Jesus came: to show the world that God’s love is more powerful than any force in this world. These dark forces thought they were burying Jesus but instead, like a seed buried in the ground, he rose to bear the fruit of God’s Kingdom so that we too, could participate in this transformation of power.
Begin planning your time now so that you can participate in all that Holy Week has to offer – the entry into Jerusalem, the fellowship of Jesus with his closest disciples as they celebrate the Passover together, and yes, the pain and suffering as they watch his arrest and crucifixion. And finally, the joyful triumph of Jesus’ resurrection. All for the glory of God, as we give ourselves over to God’s Way, following Jesus in the faith and knowledge that God works through even the worst this world has to give to bring love and forgiveness to all.
We are a resurrection people in covenant relationship with our Creator. We have received the gift of forgiveness through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. With this gift comes great responsibility to show the world, or at least our small corner of it here in the Hill Country of Texas, the power of Love so that those who wish to see Jesus can find him with us. Amen.
*https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/lectionary-commentary-lent-5
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