March 25, 2007 Sermon
This page is offered for those unable to attend the service or who would like more time to study the message.
Lent 5 – C
Isaiah, Philippians 3, Luke 20 Emmanuel, San Angelo
March 25, 2007 Allan Conkling
Spring is a time of increasing beauty. And at the same time it is a season of increased worry for many people. With Holy Week and Easter right around the corner I have begun to consider just how much there needs to be done here in order to get ready for the season. It is as if the increased hours of daylight draw our attention to those things which have been left dormant in the winter. In the Old Testament reading, God says to his people, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old…” I guess Isaiah didn’t have to worry about Income Tax time. For students, homework and term papers are coming due. The house needs work. The cares seem endless, and worries are always a part of life.
At first blush, Paul’s letter to the Philippians is not so helpful to us either. Paul writes, “I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish…” Paul had a message to proclaim: He fully expected the end of the world to come soon. Of course he didn’t have to worry about gains or losses in his life. He didn’t have to worry about his aging parents or going to the doctor, or whether his children were picked up after school. If you believe that the world is going to end tomorrow like the Left Behind series, it matters little what you do today. So what does this have to do with us today?
The challenge for living faithfully today has to answer three main questions: How can I hold on to the past, and be informed by it, with not getting stuck in it? Is it possible to live with an eye to the future while not losing sight of today? And how can I make the most out of where I am and what I have right now?
Just like the other two readings, The Gospel reading for today seems very distant for those of us not living an ancient life of 1irst century Palestine. It has little to do with the big questions, the big issues of life. “Once upon a time a man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants and went away to another country”: What does that have to do with me? But as we look below the surface this story comes alive with meaning.
In this story, Jesus challenged his followers to consider their ultimate allegiance. What does give your life purpose and meaning? Who or what do you live for? And what would you be willing to die for? He said, “Once upon a time a man planted a vineyard.” There came a time for the workers to surrender control, but that is not what happened. The vineyard was Israel. The laborers were the Pharisees who refused to change. The messengers were the prophets of old, and the son, who would suffer rejection and death, was Jesus himself. Human nature being what it is, their first reaction was to think the meant someone else: “Heaven Forbid!” they said—and then they got mad. I wonder what we would do?
The season of Lent is almost over. For the past several weeks we have been invited to consider all of the ways we view life; what we hold important; what roadblocks keep us from deepening our faith; and our love of our neighbor. We have been invited to offer up our “unruly wills and affections,” as the collect this morning said. Yet how often do we say by words or actions: Heaven forbid! Heaven forbid that I surrender myself. Heaven forbid that I surrender my family. Heaven forbid that surrender my church…or my job…or my marriage…or my finances. Heaven forbid that I allow Christ to be anything but at an arms distance from my life.
From across the centuries comes the example a man who loved his God and loved God’s people so much that he was willing to surrender himself to death for them. Do we dare open our hearts and selves that much? Do we dare follow his example to love others and accept others in Christ’s name? Do we dare pattern this church and our lives as Christians in this way?
Paul in Philippians performs what in psychology is called “transvaluation.” In other words, Paul takes an existing value scheme and turns it on his head, transforming it into a completely different set of meanings. “What used to be a profit,” says Paul, “I now regard as loss.” What used to be his driving force, he now considers as garbage. What he once fought to avoid as a sign of weakness, came for Paul to be welcomed as a sign of his true strength. What about us? What are we willing to do?
There is the story about a young man in 18th Century England, oldest of nine children, son of a school teacher, who on one Sunday complained about the poor quality of the hymns that were sung in church. “Then give us something better, young man” his father replied. So this 19 year old went on for over 50 years writing over 600 hymns which earned him the title of “Father of English Hymnody.” Isaac Watts wrote several of the hymns in our hymnal: Come let us join our cheerful songs, Jesus shall reign where’er the sun, O God our help in ages past, and the one we just sang, When I survey the wondrous cross, based on our passage from Philippians. I like Isaac Watts not only for his example of great faith but because, rather being simply content to criticize what he thought was unworthy, he set out to put something better in its place. What are we willing to do? Is this the day, or the Lent when we decide to do something differently?
“Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.” (Hymn 474)
Copyright © 2003 Emmanuel Episcopal Church. All rights reserved.
Revised: 04/03/07