October 1, 2006 Sermon
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Proper 21 - B
October 1, 2006 (8am) Allan Conkling
The readings today have all of the makings of an old fashioned hellfire and brimstone sermon, with themes to make a Pentecostal preacher smile. Here is the Old Testament God whose anger blazes hotly against the wayward wanderers. Then comes James’ call in the second lesson, to “resist the Devil”, followed in turn by Jesus’ disturbing words, that if your hand offends you cut it off, or if your eye causes you to sin, poke it out. Sinners are deserving of a millstone, and will be thrown into hell, where the worms consume and the fire burns. For some I suppose, this is just what we need to hear more of in churches these days. But as anyone who has grown up in one of those “strict religions” can tell you, this is just the type of message to keep people out of church, for it fails to tell of the love and grace of God. [Aside: Where did I read in the paper yesterday that all Bibles should come with a Warning Label, stating that if used improperly can cause injury or death?] Today’s Gospel borders on sadistic. It brings to my mind guilt and shame, and conjures up childhood scenes of what happens to little boys and girls with impure thoughts, of heathens and backsliders who burn in Hades for playing cards, smoking, going to dances and drinking.
Garrison Keillor jokingly said that churches must have some kind of Guilt. For without Guilt no one would ever serve on committees, make a casserole, or fill in a pledge card. But thankfully our tradition has never been this way…we are neither Bible-belt Puritan nor Medieval Catholic. You don’t hear us say that humankind is basically bad and that salvation depends on “getting saved” or reciting endless Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s. You won’t hear me say it because I don’t believe it.
I do believe that we
are given choices. And yes we do fall into sin. We are after all free moral
agents, not robots. But
This means a lot. For if we don’t have to be fearful of our destiny or have to live in shame or guilt then we are freed to live as God would have us. We are freed to live life to its fullest, knowing that God loves us – all of us- and wants us to draw the whole world to God’s self. Are there areas in our lives that need to be cut away? Of course! Are there habits, resentments, old relationships, destructive behaviors, unhealthy attitudes that need to be left behind? Anyone who is honest with themselves would know how to answer that!
Readings like today remind me of the constant need we all have to reexamine our lives. That’s why in our church we have things like Lent, and recite the General Confession every week before taking Communion. We may “not be worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs thy table” but we also know that his “property is always to have mercy”. Christ is both our savior and our pattern. When we truly seek to live as a follower of Christ, then we will also want to pattern our lives in accordance with his teachings. We rejoice in things in which Jesus rejoiced—things like mercy, justice, integrity, reverence, openness, and faith. And when these qualities appear in people around us, we welcome them unconditionally. In so doing Christ’s identity becomes our identity.
Today we are invited to stop and reflect and to redirect our lives to our Center and our life giver…not out of fear but out of faith and gratefulness to God, who calls us to live fully, love extravagantly, and be all we can be in God’s sight.
The words of the Psalmist sum it all up: “Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.” (Ps 19:14)
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Revised: 10/10/06