Temptations Are Mainly about Mistiming

1 Lent        A      March 5, 2017
Gen 2:4b-9,15-17,25-3:7  Ps.51:1-13
Rom. 5:12-21         Matt. 4:1-11

Lectionary Link

The Bible traces the great human epic and we as human beings have in every age had to be honest about things we don't understand.  Human being have always felt that there were forces which impinge upon our existence and since we are persons, we personalize the forces which seem to intervene within our lives.  In the human biblical epic beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we find human beings not feeling fully responsible for their actions; they felt tricked into actions by higher powers.  And so comes the cry of Adam and Eve.  "The Devil made me do it."  Or more correct to the story, "The serpent tricked us into doing it."  The original serpent has morphed into many metaphorical figures such as Lucifer the fallen angel of light who committed pride in heaven and became the liar.  The serpent is also a dragon, Beelzebub, the Lord of the flies, the devil and Satan, the accuser.   This serpent, dragon, devil and Satan have earthly agents, particularly in apocalyptic literature and the agents are usually seen in evil political figures and Empires which are called the Beast or beasts like the winged lion, the bear, the leopard and the beast with 10 horns.  Also there is the Anti-Christ and the false prophet who are the agents of the devil in the biblical apocalyptic tradition.

Rather than to take all of these images literally, we can appreciate their psychological truth as shadow forces within the human subconscious which can come to concrete expression within our lives whenever we lie or misuse power in our lives.  During the season of Lent we are asked to apprise our human agency.  Whose agent are we?  Are we God's agents?  Or are we agents of the inner forces which are expressed in lies and the abuse of power?  And if we want to be God's agents how can we accomplish this?  And how can we understand why we come to do what we do?

In the biblical epic, if Adam and Eve failed in their moral test because they were tricked by the higher powers of the serpent to disobey, is this story descriptive of the fact that all human beings fail and fall to similar trickery?  How is that we come to let wrong desire become the power to make us agents to do and say wrong things?  And where can we go to find heroic help for our moral agency dilemma?  How can we come to celebrate the fact that God inspires us to do good things rather than bemoan that fact that the interior shadow Satan tricks our desires toward acting out in bad things?

The first Sunday in Lent begins with the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan.  The wilderness is symbolic of paradise lost; there is no longer a perfect garden.  The weeds and the wild have taken over and they are not in natural harmony with humanity and human culture.  Jesus was driven by the higher power of the Spirit to fast and to be alone.  The Spirit wanted him to go into the ruined garden of the human unconscious and face the shadow forces which cause human beings to become agents of evil and bad will.  The shadow force is known to Jesus and to all as a lying accuser, Satan.   And we might look at the account of the temptation to gain some insights to help us in our hopes of being agents of God for good in our world.

I would submit to you that the dynamics of temptation is mainly about being tricked into mistimed deeds in our lives.  If creation is good and everything is potentially good, what can make things bad?  Our mistimed interactions with the good things in life.

Food is good.  Recognition is good.  Death is natural and death can be inevitably good.  What is that can make food bad?  Recognition bad?  And death wrong?  Mistiming of how, when and how many times we do things is what makes something good or bad.

The insights from the account of the temptation of Jesus show us the tricks that Satan, the inward and Shadow accuser of Jesus, used to try get Jesus off God's time schedule and into another time schedule in the performance of the deeds of his lives.

Food is good for us just as all things necessary for the reasonable maintenance of our physical lives are.  But the mistiming of our use of good things can result in destructive stewardship for our lives and for other people in our world.  Jesus was under the obedience of God his Father to undertake a fast.  He was taking a rest from food perhaps for the very purpose of becoming aware of his inner life as a battleground where he needed to go and win a battle that patriarch Adam and matriarch Eve lost.  Bread is human processed food.  John the Baptist ate locust and honey in the wilderness as his abject reliance upon nature's provision and not on human provision.  Perhaps Jesus was fasting for forty days from human processed food including bread.  "Jesus, you are God's special one.  If you are greater than Moses who interceded to get Israel some heavenly manna, why don't you just outperform Moses and command these stones to become bread to feed you."  How did Jesus respond?  He essentially said, "My food and provision are on God's schedule and not yours because everyone should live by the word of God and not by mistiming to do things at the wrong time with the wrong frequency." 

Another way that Satan tried to get Jesus to mistime deeds of his life was get him to interpret the Bible in a way that contradicted the laws of nature.  What happens if anyone jumps from a tall place?  The laws of gravity become evident.  The Psalm is a book of poetry and in it is written that God's care is so real for us that God's angels will catch us if we fall.  We can get tricked into doing wrong things when we take things so literally.  One of the worst tricks in life concerns our deaths and the death of other people.  We know that Jesus really died; he died at the hands of the Roman soldiers.  But the net that caught Jesus was God's resurrection life.  Satan tried to get Jesus to end his life before it was time.  "Go ahead Jesus, jump and you will defy gravity when the angels catch you."  Jesus believed in gravity and so should we.

The last temptation is about mistiming about fame, power and recognition is our lives.  In the Gospels it is recorded that the opponents of Jesus thought that he had made a pact with the devil.  The only way in which he could do his mighty works was because he had sold out to Satan.  This is a theme in literature such as in Goethe's Faust.  Faust made a bargain with the evil one to attain glory but to do so he had to sell his soul to the evil one.  In Star Wars, there is the metaphor of people who have gone over to the dark side and the Evil Empire was an expression of that dark side.  In human history, we have the example of the mystery of evil expressed on grand scale: Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot whose crusades of mass murder expressed an evil of the worst kind.  What happens in Empires when power becomes absolute and when lying on behalf of power becomes normal?  Satan promised Jesus the highest position in the world if he would go over to the dark side and use his power and skills for the mystery of evil.  But Jesus knew the first commandment; worship the One God who created everything, even the possibility of evil.  The fame of Jesus would not be mistimed because of Satan.  The fame of Jesus came after his resurrection when his Risen Life spread by the Holy Spirit in the lives of people who are members of the good and kind kingdom of God.

Today there is the temptation to go to the dark side of the powers of the kingdoms of this world.  Fame, wealth and power are intoxicating drugs in our world today.  People will cheat and lie and even kill to attain fame, wealth and power.  Many people get tempted to go over to the dark side today.  When people are able to do this on a grand scale, lots of people get harmed.

Today, we pray again the Lord's Prayer.  We ask for God's kingdom to intersect with our lives.  We need to submit to the timing of God's kingdom in this world.  We ask not be to led into temptation.  We ask not to be tempted to mistime the deeds and words of our lives.

Today, by the words of Jesus the altar bread will become for us again the presence of Christ.  And we will endeavor to live our lives by the presence of the Risen Christ in us as the Eternal word of God.  How will we know the presence of the Risen Christ in our lives?   We will know it as we come to sense God's time for the events and circumstances of our lives.  We will come into the esteem, fame, recognition and glory of our lives in God's times and ways without having to compromise with the dark side of the shadow of evil.  And we pray to arrive at the time of our death not a minute too late or too early, in God's good time.

The witness of Jesus is that he encountered the evil one; he encountered the dark side and he won because he was committed to be on God's time schedule for the providence of his life.

Lent is a season for us to assess the temptations regarding the mistiming of lives.  How can we know God's timing in our lives?  Are we finding peace, joy, the reality of being loved, forgiven?  Are we bringing people together or creating division?  The results of God's timing being known in our lives are known by the evidence of the fruits of God's Spirit.

The mystery of evil is out there and in us too.  It is tricky.  Power, fame and wealth can be made to appear to be godly and attractive.  And we must resist and find God's kingdom of love, peace, joy, self-control, gentleness, goodness, faith and justice.

May God reveal to us the tricks of the shadow of evil in our world and in our lives and may we have the strength of the Risen Christ to resist evil and to spread Christ's peaceful kingdom in our world.  Amen.

Sunday School, March 5, 2017 1 Lent A

Sunday School, March 5, 2017   1 Lent A

Themes for Sunday School about the Temptation of Jesus

We believe that even though Jesus is God, he was human that he was bi-lingual.  He could speak the language of God and he could also speak our human language because he lived and faced the good and bad things in life.  And Jesus faced the hard tests in lives.  We call some of these tests, temptations.

What was the temptation of Jesus about?  Jesus faced an inner enemy, Satan, who came to Jesus as a lying and an accusing voice.  He tried to trick Jesus by lying about some things.

Is food good for you?

Is fame and recognition okay?

Is dying something that will happen to everyone?

Yes, yes, yes.

Is too much food and food at the wrong time go for you?  No.  So we have to learn how and when to eat food in the right amounts at the right time.  Food is like drink and many things that we need in life; we need to choose to use them in the right time and right amounts.  If we take too much food and don’t share food with others who need it then we use food wrongly.   If we eat too much food we can make ourselves sick and unhealthy.  When God the Father wanted Jesus to fast, Satan tried to get Jesus to disobey his father and forget his fast.

Has Jesus become famous?  How?  By dying on the cross and by rising again and by bringing good news to billions of people through the Holy Spirit.  Satan tried to trick Jesus in making seek fame by disobeying God the Father and God’s plan for making Jesus famous in our lives.

Does everyone die?  Yes.  Should we make ourselves die or cause someone else to die?  No.  We want to live in the right way.  We want to die in the right way.  Satan wanted Jesus to jump from a high place so that when he fell some angels would catch him.  But this was not the way Jesus was to die or be rescued.  How did Jesus die?  On the cross.  How was he rescued from death?  By his resurrection.

Can we be tempted to use food and many good things in our lives to use them in the wrong way, at the wrong time and by over using good things.  Yes.  So we need to learn how to use all of the good things in God’s creation properly for our own good and for the good of others in the world.

Is fame and recognition okay?  Yes, because we from childhood need to have self-esteem.  We need to be told that God’s loves us, cares for us and we need caring people in our lives to tell us that we are important for them.  We do seek to be famous, we seek to be as good as we can and we work hard to make a difference in the world.  Sometimes we might be recognized by others for what we do and sometimes we might not.  Remember the best reward and the best fame is when we do good.  Nobody else can make us really good and important.  Satan tried to tell Jesus that he could make him famous and Jesus knew that he was lying.  Jesus did not want the kind of fame that Satan offered.  Remember bad people in life have a different kind of fame than good people.  We want good people fame because we want to inspire others to be good.

Will we all die?  We should not be tempted from anger or self-anger to ever hurt others or ourselves.  When we die and how we die is not our choice and so we look to Jesus to obey God by having faith to place our life and death in God’s hand.  What we can know from Jesus is that when we die, God will resurrect and preserve us in the only special way that God can.

Sermon

  Is chocolate cake good?  Is it okay to like chocolate cake?  Is candy good?  Is it okay to like candy?  Is playing outside fun?  Is it okay to play outside?

  Is it okay to eat ten pieces of chocolate cake?  No, why not?  It might make you sick.  And your body needs other kinds of food besides chocolate cake.

  Is it okay to ten pieces of candy?  No.  Because your body needs other foods and getting too much sugar is not good for you.

  Is it okay to play outside, when you still have lots of homework to do?  Or when your Mom has told you that it is time to come in and take your bath or clean your room?

  So, eating cake, eating candy and playing outside.  All of these things are good things.  But they can be bad things, if they are done at the wrong time.

  And I am going to teach you a new word.  Temptation.  Temptation is when we get tricked into doing something at the wrong time.

  Speeding in the car might be good for a racer on the race track.  But is it good on the streets of the city?  No.  But sometimes drivers drive too fast in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  So how can we learn to deal with temptation?    We learn to do all good things at the right time.  God gives us parents to help us do the right things at the right time.  And sometimes it is hard for us to hear our parents say no to us.  Our parents might say, “Wait and eat your cake after you eat a good healthy meal.”  They might say, “Eat only one piece of candy and then brush your teeth.”

  They might say, “Put on your helmet when you ride your bike and do not ride in the street.”

  God gives you parents and teachers to help us do the right things at the right time.  And parents too, they need to learn to do the right things at the right time in their behavior too.

  Jesus was tempted by the devil.  The devil tried to get Jesus to do things in the wrong time.  And he did not follow the devil.  He followed God his Father.

  Jesus showed us that we can learn to do the right things at the right time.  How many of you want to learn to do the right things at the right time?  If you learn to do this, you will learn to say no to temptation.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

March 5, 2017: The First Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: It’s Me O Lord,  As a Deer, Yield Not To Temptation,  Simple Gifts

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures forever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: It’s Me O Lord (LEVAS, # 797 or CCS, # 210)

Refrain: It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer. Refrain

Not the stranger, not the neighbor but it’s me O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  Not the stranger, not the neighbor but it’s me O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Praise be to God! (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Book Genesis

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 32

I said," I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." * Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.

Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; * when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.

You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; * you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; * I will guide you with my eye.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

After Jesus was baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"  Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory:  As the Deer Pants for the Water, (Renew # 9)

1          As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you; you alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.  Refrain: You alone are my strength, my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield; you alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you!

2          I want you more than gold or silver, only you can satisfy; you alone are the real joy-giver and the apple of my eye.  Refrain

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: Yield Not To Temptation (LEVAS # 170)

Yield not to temptation for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you some other to win.  Fight still pressing onward, dark passions subdue.  Ask the Savior to help you, he will carry you through.  Refrain.  Ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you.  He is willing to aid you, he will carry you through.

Shun evil companions, bad language disdain. God’s name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain.  Be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true.  Ask the Savior to help you, he will carry you through.  Refrain.

To him that overcometh, God giveth a crown.  Through faith we will conquer, though often cast down.  He who is our savior, our strength will renew.  Ask the savior to help you he will carry you through.  Refrain

Post-Communion Prayer. 

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Simple Gifts  (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 206)

‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free, ‘tis a gift to come down where you ought to be, and when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘twill be in the valley of love and delight.  When true simplicity is gain, to bow and to bend we won’t be ashamed.  To turn, turn will be our delight till by turning and turning we come out right.

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 

People: Thanks be to God! 

 

Total Depravity or Lapsarian Lite?

Ash Wednesday        March 1, 2017

Isaiah 58:1-12        Ps.103       

1 Cor. 5:20b-6:10    Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21

It is wonderful to be with you again on Ash Wednesday.    As the new pastor in town in 2001, one of the initiation rites was for the new guy to preach on Ash Wednesday. And I have survived several preaching occasions here in the past and hope to survive tonight.

Being in a house of Luther tonight, I should at least quote something from Luther as a starting point of reflections upon beginning this season of Lent.  In a letter to his colleague Philip Melanchthon, he wrote: "If you are a preacher of Grace, then preach a true, not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. For he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here we have to sin.”

Be a sinner and sin boldly.....that sounds rather contradictory coming from a preacher.  As an Episcopalian we might be regarded to be Lapsarian Lite.  Lapsarianism refers to beliefs about the Fall of humanity.  Reformers like Calvin and Luther followed St. Augustine in espousing the total depravity of humanity.  Though there are Anglicans and Episcopalians who can be severe about the degree of the Fall and human depravity, but probably most Episcopalian might be called Lapsarian Lite, because we believe that God still sees goodness in the Divine creation of men and women even after they fell into sin.

The total depravity of humanity, is that really a Lutheran belief?  I grew up among moderate Lutherans in Minnesota where "darn tootin'" used to be most severe curse words ever heard from the lips of Ole, Sven and Ingemar.  How could these understated Minnesota Lu'terns really be those who upheld the doctrine of the total depravity of humanity?  Were they were really frightened by the possibility of living really extremely sinful lives?

Perhaps it is my inter-Christian duty to evangelize regarding our Lapsarian Lite position.  Could it be that I might rehabilitate the notion of sin tonight?  Could I make the case that the New Testament actually presents sin as a positive notion? 

Our Gospel reading for tonight occurs in the Sermon of the Mount section of Matthew.  The words of Jesus invite his listeners to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  In short, he was saying the practice of God's law has to be deeper than the ways in which the clergy seem to practice it in public and in their proposal of all sorts of religious behaviors.  After all, clergy get paid to look religious and to say religious things and to require religious behaviors.  However, the practice of God's law must go beyond appearance.  And dealing with all of the skeletons in the closet of our private lives is a much more daunting challenge.  Indeed, all of us need to be in the closets of our private lives crying out, "Create in me a clean heart O God.  And renew a right spirit within me."  Why?  Because the words of Jesus require that we be as perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect.  And if this is the final standard, we can understand why Luther and others would hold to the total depravity of humanity.

And if sin is always falling short of the perfection of God, then what is point?  If we're all sinner, then we must be in good company, or perpetually bad company.  How can the notion of sin be understood to be a useful and insightful teaching for us tonight on the first day of Lent?

The New Testament word for sin comes from archery.  In Greek, "hamartia", meant that an arrow which has been shot, falls short of the target.  Aristotle, used the word to describe what happened as a result of pride and hubris.  Because of pride, one misses the mark.  So, sin means that we fall short of the target that we have been aiming at.

And here is the dilemma.  If the target is to be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect, then we will always be archers who miss the target.  And if God forgives us for missing the target then what is the best way to sin?  What is the best way to keep shooting our arrows and falling short?

First, we have the target that we are aiming for in life.  To be perfect as God is perfect.  And let's put out a string to show how far away that is.  And I am going to shoot an arrow.  And see how far I miss the target by.

How can we sin in a good way?  And how do we sin in a bad way?

Jesus came to show us how to sin in the right way.  What do I mean by this?

Well some people sin by shooting their arrows at targets other than God who is perfect.

Some people want the target of fame.  Some want the target of wealth.  Some want the target of looking like they are the most religious person in the world.  Some want to be the best-appearing Episcopalian or the best appearing Lutheran.  And when we have the wrong targets in life we can harm ourselves and others.  If we want and use something too much we can become addicted to something and we lose our self-control.  If we make religious behaviors reasons for being too proud of ourselves, then we do not understand the real purpose of religion.

The secret of sin is how can we sin in the very best possible way and still please God?  So here I am encouraging us to observe Lent by learning how to sin well.

How can we be good archers even while we know we will never hit the perfect target?

We have been taught the ten commandments.  And we can have the appearance of keeping  9 of the 10 commandments.  We believe in one God.  We don't have idols that we worship.  We observe worship time.  We respect parents, marriage, truth, other people's property and life.  But the hard commandment is the 10th commandment.  Thou shalt not covet.  Thou shalt not have wrong desire.   And this is the most difficult commandment because we do not seem to be in control of the direction of our desire.  We may not act out on wrong desire, even when we have wrong desire and so wrong desires can be very troubling for us.  Wrong desire can motivate us to want even good things for the wrong reason.

So what do we do?  We, like the Psalmist, ask God, to create in us clean hearts and renew right spirits within us.  We believe in the work of Jesus Christ to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and to make our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit.

And if we can begin to find the Holy Spirit within us as deeper than even our desires, then we can begin to find the right direction for our desire.

I want all of our target holders now to get in alignment with the perfect target of God.  If by the Holy Spirit, we can begin to shoot the arrows of our desires toward the perfection of God, all of the lesser targets will then help us in our growth in perfection.  Our desire for fame can become the esteem we get from seeking to love God.    Our desire for fame can become our task of making forgotten and needy people famous and recognized in our lives.  The money and wealth of our lives can become things which we appreciate and use in the service of God.  We can understand that being a good Lutheran or being a good Episcopalian can be in the path of our efforts to more like God.

So here is the good news about sin for us during Lent.  It is unavoidable and all our best friends, are sinners too.  But if we understand ourselves as being archers who shoot the arrows of our desire toward God because we are given direction by God's Holy Spirit, then we can understand how God's grace is working for us.

If we are shooting our desire, our deeds and words towards the perfection of God, we can know that God's grace helps us achieve what we do in the direction of God’s perfection.  But we also know that God's grace helps us to make up for what we always lack in perfection.

The grace of God allows us to participate in God's perfection as if it were our own because we are judged only  by our willingness to be associated with the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.  We ride the coattails of Jesus Christ into the perfection of God.

So, do we ever lose our designation as sinners?  No.  Apart from association with God's perfection we are always missing the mark.  But in association with Jesus Christ, whatever we lack is always provided for us on our behalf.

We have the Lenten adventure of sin.  Let us ask for the Holy Spirit to direct our desire and convert it as an energy to shoot the arrows of our life practice toward the perfection of God.  If we can bring all the targets of our lives in line with our quest for the perfection of God, then we can enjoy all of those targets as motivational rewards toward excellence.

Let's give all my helpers a big hand of applause for their wonderful assistance.

And to all of us for Lent, I say, Archery anyone?  Creative sinning anyone?  Or as Luther would perhaps say, "Bold sinning anyone?"

Let us Prayer:  Gracious God, let each of us know the Holy Spirit deep within us to transform the desires of our hearts and motivate us in the direction of God's perfection.  And let each of us know and choose to receive God's grace as the gift of God in participation with divine perfection.  And God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit give us a holy Lent.  Amen. 

Aphorism of the Day, February 2017

Aphorism of the Day, February 28, 2017

The function of Lucifer, the serpent, the devil and Satan in biblical tradition is varied.  The serpent appears as a talking snake who is smarter than the naïve Adam and Eve.  The serpent tricks the innocent into knowing moral distinction.  Eating fruit from a tree is not bad unless your maker has told you not to.  Mom tells us not to take cookies from the cookie jar and we do and so we put into question mom's authority in our lives by not submitting to mom's schedule of when she intends us to have cookies.  The Garden of Eden story presents insights into the moral situation of humanity; it is presented essentially as people being trick to distrust their relationship with God and thus get thrown off in their timing for enjoyment of the things of their life.  The temptation of Jesus returns us to Eden overgrown into a wilderness and the showdown with the accuser who tries to trick Jesus in his timing about food, fame and his end of life.

Aphorism of the Day, February 27, 2017

The main issue of what is called temptation is "timing."  Temptation is the tease to lure us to do both wrong things and good things at the wrong time.  Striking someone is the wrong thing to do unless it is time with a justified act of defense for an otherwise helpless person.  Temptation is to be drawn into "mistimed" living and is characterized by first denying wise probability practices.

Aphorism of the Day, February 26, 2017

Sometimes in the attempt to declare such a high Christology of Jesus as God's unique Son, which we was, we forget that Jesus was not really interested in being an "only" son; rather he wanted to repair in the minds of the children of Adam the forgotten notion that they have always already been children of God.

Aphorism of the Day, February 25, 2017

Why do Elijah and Moses appear on the Mount of the Transfiguration, and not David who is the "model" for the Messiah?  It probably has to do with the currency of Elijah and Moses in apocalyptic predictions of the time and has to do with their mysterious deaths/transitions/assumptions to the afterlife.  As liminal as their transitions were, they perhaps had the ability to be inner spatial travelers and thus capable of "reappearance" to affirm Jesus as the valid successor of Judaic traditions.

 Aphorism of the Day, February 24, 2017

I suspect that most Christians read the Bible "selfishly" putting oneself in the place of the chosen at a perceptual center of the universe.  After all, from whose point of view can I truly honestly see or interpret anything?  How convenient it is to place oneself into the place of God's favor and to assume that my enemies are God's enemy, even those enemies who are reading themselves as being God's favored ones too.  Is this hermeneutical madness and a cacophony of interpretive chaos?  The hermeneutical circle is like a personal paradigm in which one's subjectivity is constituted and one's friends and enemies are defined by how one embraces those who are regarded as being close and far away from one's "revealed" opinion.  Even to have a pope to declare infallible meaning and interpretation does not free such declaration as free of fallible interpretations of fallible people who presume to follow declared "infallible" meanings.  American Christians who think they share a sameness of belief often are in reality living in a cacophony of perpetual hermeneutical excommunication of the other.  This has only been further exacerbated by the polarized political context in America.  Americans are living in the state of mutual excommunication of each other.  We do need translators of Peace.

Aphorism of the Day, February 23, 2017

"This is my son the beloved.  With him I have well pleased."  This is attributed at the baptism of Jesus and at the Transfiguration to a heavenly voice, presumably the voice of God the Father.  It is re-echoing of the Royal Psalm, "The Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you."   Within the Roman Empire, "son of a god" was familiar in the Emperor cult.  The early Christians were looking for ways to declare the uniqueness to Jesus vis a vis models from both the Judaic roots and the Roman contexts.  Using familiar words did not detract from the kind of uniqueness that Christians were claiming for Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, February 22, 2017

The account of the Transfiguration is a third person narration which might be an indication that it was a tradition of the visionary experiences of the prominent disciples of Jesus.  It was a tradition which used the Sinai event as a parallel teaching template for the audience to understand the difference between the Beloved written Law and the Beloved Son of God.  Obey the written law; listen to the Beloved Son.  The Transfiguration is a vision of Jesus as Light and his followers are called to be lights of the world, a "lamp" who shining wick is fueled by the inner rising chrismatic Oil of the Holy Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, February 21, 2017

If one were to contrast the events of Sinai and Tabor, at Sinai Moses took the tablets of the Law to the people and said, "This is God's Law; listen and obey It."  On Tabor, the voice of God said about Jesus, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him."  The divine law has become a precedence for a divine family member who is to mediate the life of God to people beyond the boundaries of people separated and made distinct by their ritual purity rules.

Aphorism of the Day, February 20, 2017

Elevation, clouds, light, apparitions, hearing the audible voice of God, experience of awe.  These are the vocabulary of theophany to relay the event of superlative values within the early church.  All of these features are present in the account of the Transfiguration.  Theophanies reveal the liminal state of betwixt and between of the natural and spiritual.  The event is natural enough to be recounted; it is mysterious enough to provoke awe and mystery.  But frankly, both natural and spiritual have recognition simply because they come into Language.  If we did not have language there would be no coming to language of existence or the existence of language.

Aphorism of the Day, February 19, 2017

Try to embrace the Sermon on the Mount as a profound teaching on Christian martial arts.  It is the wise art of transmuting all life situations into the experience of blessedness.  It is discovery of life force "Holy chi Spirit" as a force for such self control that self defense becomes a positive offense.  It is living evangelistically, leading with one's winsome good news. One walks the extra mile as the occasion to share good news with another.  Finally, Christian martial arts of the Sermon on the Mount is to focus on God's perfection and God is love and to love is to participate in God's perfection.

Aphorism of the Day, February 18, 2017

The prophets believed that the fulfilled of the law would happen when the laws of God were written upon the hearts of people.  They prayed for an evolution of general moral, ethical and spiritual awareness in the populace such that they external enforcement of the law through juridical procedures would be unnecessary.  Religious institutions are in trouble when they rely more on legalism for their identity rather than upon inner charism of their membership to be governed by a Spirit of Love which according to Jesus and Paul, is the fulfillment of the Law.

Aphorism of the Day, February 17, 2017

Beatitude living could be seen as unwitting Christian strategy to "conquer" the Empire.  In contrast to Zealot movements in Judaism seeking armed resistance to the Empire and in contrast to ritually pure Judaism which maintain visual and community separation within the Roman Empire, Christian compromise of the ritual purity aspects of Judaism allowed Christians to look enough like other Roman citizens to be able to blend with them and provide the favorable conditions for conversion to happen.  By dropping the ritual purity standards of Judaism, Christianity was better equipped to present the Gospel in winsome ways to the peoples who lived in the cities of the Roman Empire.  Christianity won the Empire from within the hearts of people. 

Aphorism of the Day, February 16, 2017

The Father makes the sun to rise on the good and the evil.  Sunshine is available to everyone and so is the love of God.  Perhaps the most awesome frightening thing about the perfect Father is an incredible permissive freedom.  The sun continues to shine no matter what we do as a metaphor for the light and warmth of God's provision of love which beckons us to leave evil, embrace good and then beckon others to the warmth and light of love.

Aphorism of the Day, February 15, 2017

Does "turn the other cheek" imply not exercising self-defense?  Probably not.  In the context it seems to mean a self-control exercised to avoid aggressive revenge.  The anger which comes to an aggressive act is not really defeated by mimicking the aggression through an act of revenge.  Responding to an aggressive act with an act of revenge means that one actually has been converted by the original aggressor. Revenge cannot model enlightened control, even though self defense can be employed without being revenge.

Aphorism of the Day, February 14, 2017

One might look at the Beatitudes as a manifestation of the Risen Christ instantiated in the behaviors of the churches where the former ethnic enemies Jews and Gentiles lived in love together even while they adopted "peaceful" compliance to the Roman authorities for the purposes of maintaining themselves as minorities within the Empire.  The parallel and inward kingdom of God through the Spirit allowed them a guerilla warfare; they were more convinced of the inner strength of the Spirit than the outer resistance of open armed rebellion.  Beatitude living conquered the Roman Empire by striking the insides of people with a winsomeness of good news.  Eventually the Caesar Constantine could not resist the collateral effects of those who had embraced the good news.  In short, good news proved to be a better way of living together.

Aphorism of the Day, February 13, 2017

Some of the contexts and legal prescriptions found in the Book of Leviticus seem to base upon an inadequate cultural appreciation of whom God love, care and justice might extend to, but the book of Leviticus prescribes care and protection for the impaired, the blind and the deaf.  The phrase in the summary of the law does not derive from Jesus, it comes from quoting Leviticus where it is written: You shall love your neighbor as your self.  The major twist on this phrase comes in the parable of Jesus about the Good Samaritan by conceiving of reciprocity in neighboring.  A neighbor is the one who loves and a neighbor is the one who receives love.  Depending upon the need of a person and the ability to give, a neighbor is/can be both an active agent of neighboring and the passive recipient of receiving the benefits of another neighbor.  Perfect community is reciprocal neighboring.

Aphorism of the Day, February 12, 2017

What is the purpose of the law?  To show everyone how good I am when I perform a statue?  To show others that I am holier than thou?  To train human instincts to keep us from harming self and others?  To expose the mystery of the uncontrollable inner self of desires that often want to do things not socially acceptable?  To reveal the mystery of inner froward desires to convince me that I need the inside job done on me by the Holy Spirit?

Aphorism of the Day, February 11, 2017

Keeping the law is important but Jesus noted in the Beatitude that there is a parallel inner law of the Spirit that needs to go with the actual body language performance of the law.  The law of the spirit is expressed in the fruits of the Spirit and this helps us complete our efforts to perform and practice moral, ethical and just behaviors.  We can do the right things for the wrong reasons and dealing with our internal motives is what throws us upon needing God's grace and needing to defer to God's Spirit within.  "God, I don't always do things, even good things for the right reason; but do not let me further sin by coupling my wrong motive with harsh judgments upon others who are not keeping the rules that I want them to."  There is an external juridical sense of the necessity of keeping and enforcing the practice of the good law; the interior law of love to accompany the practice of the law is expressive of our continual need for a clean heart and a renewed right spirit within.  We don't have time to judge others if we are all crying together, "Create in me a clean heart, O God."

Aphorism of the Day, February 10, 2017

Swearing or trying to underline that one has the character of truth in what one says or in making a promise seems to be a theatrical act in face of people who might not trust one's character.  Jesus said, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no."  We come to know the character of people in their daily ability to honor their verbal contracts.  People who need to make dramatic theatrical gestures in swearing by God or by their mothers that they "really" mean what they say may be an indication that there is not enough evidence regarding their regular and normal truthful character.  In court people swear to tell the "whole" truth with their hand on the Bible, a book that symbolizes a judgment against them should they not tell the truth.  Such public vows are a display, perhaps because the jury and judge to testimony are not privileged to see the day by day truthfulness of the one testifying in court.  Jesus implied that the grand gestures of swearing might be "using the holy in vain," if one does not have the normal practice of honoring one's verbal contracts.

Aphorism of the Day, February 9, 2017

The beatitudes indicate that Jesus believed that the morality of the law included both moral absolutes and a relative continuum.  Thou shalt not murder is the moral absolute but it is related to a moral continuum referring to one of the prime motivations which leads to murder, namely, anger.  Can one who is proud never to have committed murder also be one who never had anger in one's heart.  The moral continuum of Jesus was anchored upon an impossible standard, "Be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect."  How does one "exceed" the righteous of those who seem to be keeping the law?  By looking inward at the motivations of the heart, even to discover that we often do the right thing for the wrong reasons.  In being honest about the condition of our hearts we are brought to beg for the renewal of a "right spirit" within us, which in fact must be God's Holy Spirit from whom we borrow justification with God and the grace to tolerate our own imperfections accepting forgiveness as we forgive others.

Aphorism of the Day, February 8, 2017

In the hyperbole of Jesus, he seems to equate anger in one's heart toward someone to be the moral equivalence of murder.  The exaggerated of language of Jesus was given to shock the tendency towards moral pride.  Legalists might be those who use the law as a personal check list of "my achievement."  Jesus was more interest in future moral achievement than past achievement because if our moral direction is fixed upon being perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect, we do not commit the pride of achievement of thinking ourselves better than others.  With hyperbolic language Jesus is not against moral achievements like "not murdering" people; he is more concerned about us having the moral attitude of focusing on what we have not yet become on the path of perfectability.  What we have not yet become makes humility very natural.

Aphorism of the Day, February 7, 2017

The Sermon on the Mount is a proclamation that the fulfillment of the Law is an answer to the Psalmist's prayer, "Create in me a clean heart O, God and renew a right spirit within me."  Apparent outward right "doing" is not enough; one must also be possessed with the inner motives of what might be called right "being."  One's righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees or restated "one's righteousness must exceed the professional persona of the clergy who get paid to appear to be doing all of the legally right things."  The Sermon of the Mount can bring the despair of the injunction, "Be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect," since the standard of right inner being is impossible and out of our control.  The uncontrolled unconscious like Freud said is polymorphorously perverse and the Sermon of Mount invites us to allow the Holy Spirit to be the right Spirit within us as we identify with a perfection not our own for justification in God's sight and tolerance of our own imperfection.  We are put on the path of taming perverse "energies" for other righteous purposes even knowing that perfection leaves us continuous room for growth while accepting the continuous perfect forgiveness of God.  We work at reparation while accepting forgiveness.

Aphorism of the Day, February 6, 2017

Perhaps one of the purposes of the Sermon on the Mount is frustrate any sense of "self righteousness" by setting a standard of perfection beyond what one does.  One can be completely "domesticated" to follow all of the rules even while one harbors all sorts of thoughts and feelings and dreams and lusts and anger within.  The Sermon on the Mount drives one to express, "Create in me a create heart and renew a right spirit within me."  And of course, the clean heart one receives is the Holy=Clean Spirit who is clean on our behalf but whose presence places us on the path of probable moral progression unique to one's individual experience and not permitting us to be in the judgment seat on other people's unique moral probable progression.

Aphorism of the Day, February 5, 2017

In the Sermon on the Mount, the words of Jesus promise the fulfillment of all the law even while his words rail against the elevation of legal minutiae to seeming great principle.  How was the law fulfilled?  In jurisprudence, ignorance of the law is no excuse but also if a law is not promulgated then a law is not valid and offenders are not culpable.  A law has to be officially published.  The Gospels fulfilled the law of God by offering it to everyone.  This accessibility to the news of God's love is what fulfilled and made valid the message.  God's law is not fulfilled if it is treated as being only intended for people who keep it locked up in a segregated community.

Aphorism of the Day, February 4, 2017

Sometimes when people prefer reading only in the mode of the "primary naiveté," (see/google Paul Ricoeur) they read the Gospel as being the direct application of the ministry of Jesus to the people of his own setting.  While there are traces of the original "Jesus settings" in the Gospels, they are interwoven with the continuing oracle of the Risen Christ in the varied and uneven settings and conditions of the people who were being formed into what has become to be called "churches."  The "perceived" inconsistencies of the words of Jesus regarding things like realize kingdom of God or future kingdom of God are not so much the inconsistencies of Jesus but rather the uneven experiences in the various conditions of the followers of Christ in the cities of the Roman Empire until about the year 120.

Aphorism of the Day, February 3, 2017

The Gospel writings should be viewed more as contemporary with the Jesus Movement communities in the years 70-120 in their theology than referring to events contemporary with Jesus of Nazareth.  How was one to live from an interior and parallel kingdom of God/heaven even while one's body was situated in the kingdom of the Caesars.  Living from "within" in honoring "King Jesus" when the outside world yelled "There is no king but Caesar" colors the spiritual advice for living which characterizes the presentation of the Sermon on the Mount.  It is ironic that Jesus was saying that not one jot or tittle of the law would be abrogated even while Gentile Christians were not required to adhere to the jot and tittles of the ritual purity laws.  One can only assume that there was a major reinterpretation  of what was regarded to be the true "spirit" of the law.  The laws of ritual purity were meant to segregate those who adhered from those who did not observe ritual purity.  Gentile Christians in being freed from ritual purity segregation could more easily camouflage themselves in the Roman cities situations and walk on that sensitive line of "being in the world but not of the world."

Aphorism of the Day, February 2, 2017

The notion of Big Laws and little laws came to be articulated in the post-resurrection communities of Christ.  Little laws were the ceremonies and rites which marked the segregatory distinctness of Jews from non-Jews.  These distinguishing rules became optional in the Christ communities even while adherence to the Big Laws, the laws of creation regarding the true nature of all things, were expounded by the oracles of Jesus which are recorded by the churches in the Gospels as the church presented the relevance of the life of Jesus in a new age while awkwardly being anachronistic in the presentation of Jesus being a retroactive endorser the Gentile mission.

Aphorism of the Day, February 1, 2017

"You are the light of the world."  Light is the necessary condition for seeing well.  Light is a metaphor for wisdom and the charisma of living which enables others to see the value of their lives more clearly.  Lots of people are members of the bushel basket lighting company, being quite brilliant in the closet of shining for me, myself and I.  God's light is the animated wisdom in a person that is meant to be shared and when one is willing to share the light of one's life can become serendipitously winsome to those for whom it has eventuality.