August 26, 2007 Sermon
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Proper 16 - C
August 26, 2007 Allan Conkling
Blazing fire...darkness...tempest and gloom...a scourge passing among the people...sheer terror...weeping and gnashing of teeth. I am struck at just how foreign and difficult these passages are for me today. One commentary calls it "the steel" of biblical faith. Cold steel it is.
I have been an Episcopalian all my life. Actually I am a 4th generation Texas Episcopalian. We Texas Episcopalians are all a bit unusual, for we "live and move and have our being" in the shadow of two other very noble, but very different religious traditions: Southern Bible-belt Christianity on one hand, and the unique, Texas brand of Catholicism on the other. Both are similar to us in some ways, and yet, in other ways we are as different as night and day.
One distinction between "us" and "them" became apparent to me when I sat down to write this sermon and reflect upon the readings before us this morning: Hell-fire and brimstone; terrifying images of God's raw and destructive power; promises of burning fires and purgation. It occurred to me a good Pentecostal and an old-school Roman Catholic would probably feel very comfortable with today's passages, but not so a middle-of-the-road Episcopalian like me. How many times, after all, have you heard anyone in the Episcopal Church ask, "Have you been saved?" We just worry less about judgment, guilt, and future torments. We emphasize God's redemption, not God's rejection. We speak about God's love...but this is the stuff of AM radio stations between here and Lubbock, of late night preachers on TBN, and the far out plots of the "Left Behind" series. I also suspect that for many, this is a big reason why you are here and not there.
So what do we do with readings that seem so bad--so out of touch with where we are and what our needs are? Well first let me say that I have been reading the Bible for a very long time. Not a day goes by that I do not engage this book. I have read it. I know it. I teach it. Some days I feel like I eat and breathe it. So please, don't hear me say that issues of eternal life and salvation are not a concern to Episcopalians, they are. It is just that...well; I think readings like today miss the point.
I have grown up in a church that does not give easy answers. We read the Bible seriously but we do not take it literally in all parts. We believe that God's overwhelming love and irresistible Grace is what makes us who we are, not anything we do to earn God's favor. "Being saved" depends less on what we do, than who God is. God as we understand God to be, is less interested in seeing that we measure up, or pass muster, than with calling us into a relationship--a relationship not based on fear or guilt, but on love.
Of course we do not want to become smug or complacent about our faith. As we see in the Gospel reading, when the person approached Jesus and asked, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" she or he was actually asking a valid question. Seeing the way that many people act toward God or how they treat holy things, or how they treat God's creation; and how they mock or scandalize the faith, it is natural to think that perhaps we who are faithful have an inside track. After all we are here this morning! However the Lord's reply turns smugness on its ear. Jesus says in effect,
"Mind your own business! Heaven, wherever and however it will be, is far different than what you will ever imagine. And when the time comes for you to go there, many that you would leave out are going to be ahead of you in the line."
Elsewhere in the Bible God's kingdom is described as a "pearl of great price", a "treasure hidden in a field." "Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness," Jesus said. And here is the critical issue for us today. Do we as a church and as individuals desire to live as the Lord would have us live? Do we treat others with dignity and respect, and teach our children to do the same? "Justice is the line...and righteousness is the plummet" says Isaiah in the OT reading. That is salvation. Salvation is not in the distant future, or brought on by any acts piety done to curry God's favor, or avoid his wrath. Salvation is not about guilt or fear. Salvation is now. Salvation is a life lived in the present moment.
I have to admit that I don't find much to attract me to today's readings. After all I am an Episcopalian. But if you will set aside your "blue sheet" and pick up the bulletin--or turn in the Prayer Book to Psalm 46 (page 649), there you will find the Good News. Hope...Refreshment...Promise...Invitation and Challenge. It is all there, just waiting:
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold."
That is the God we serve. That is the God we love and who loves us. Always present. Always loving. Always calling us to follow in his will.
And you know the response we make to our loving God for giving us the Good news of salvation. You know the response because we say it every week:
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!
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Revised: 09/04/07