Rik's Sermons: Lent 1C

Showing posts with label Lent 1C. Show all posts

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Finding our Real Identity!

Sermon for Lent 1C – RCL

March 10, 2019 – St. Matthew’s

After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'"

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written,

'Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'"

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,

'He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,'

and

'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Today is the first Sunday in lent. A time we are called to prepare ourselves for Holy Week and Easter. A time the church invites us into a time of self-examination and repentance. Notice that the church invites – not demands – that we prepare during these forty days. For the church to demand would be bordering on being the tempter that Jesus encountered in the wilderness. To demand certain actions would be to assert that we somehow know your relationship with God and your need to change that relationship.

This is also not about equating giving up chocolate, or alcohol, or some other thing with Jesus being tempted by the evil one. The temptations of Jesus are about identity theft. The devil in these temptations does not really question if Jesus is the Son of God. The devil acknowledges Jesus’ special relationship with God and tempts Jesus to exert more power, to claim more. The devil tempts Jesus to take on the kind of power that frankly the world expects of the messiah. The devil temps God to use a different kind of tool to bring about God’s kingdom. A tool of power and might. If only God would turn more power over to the evil then we could get it over with and have God on the throne here on earth.

The devil is trying to change Jesus from the one that Isaiah proclaimed who would come to heal the sick, and open the eyes of the blind and make the pathway level to a powerful emperor to rule the world. To change Jesus form someone who challenges the power structures that corrupt to embracing absolute power that Lord Acton, the 19^th c. British politician famously said corrupts absolutely.

The good news is that Jesus rejects the temptation to change his relationship with the godhead and with humanity. The good news is that Jesus is determined to show that there is a different way that is not the way of absolute power and absolute corruption. A way that recognizes a Love that is, in the eyes of our world, crazy. A love that loves all of God’s creation no matter what.

What does this tell us about our lives? Caroline Lewis from Luther Seminary suggests that “perhaps there is one takeaway from Jesus’ temptation that might make a difference for a life of faith, besides being reminded of the fact that Jesus is Jesus -- and we are not. Perhaps the one parallel between Jesus’ testing in the wilderness and the tests of our own lives is the identity test -- that who you are, who you have chosen to be, who God has called you to be, seems to be a truth that is tested often. In fact, every, single, day.”^{^[1]}

One way we can prepare for Easter, for the day we remember that God’s love will not be killed by anything humankind can do, is to focus on our identity. Not the identity that our society wants to impart on us – the identity as a consumer, as a pawn in our political system, as a democrat or republican. Not the identity that Facebook creates as it serves us ads for anything we happen to look at – or the algorithms think we should be looking at.

Lent is a time to focus on our real identity. Our identity as beloved children of God. A time to remember that we are loved by God so much that God came to earth in human form to show a better way. The reality is that we are tempted to give up that identity – or at least question it on a regular basis.

The advertising industry is always trying to get us to give up that identity. To give it up because we are obviously lacking. Lacking that one thing that will spark joy in our lives. If we would only fork over more cash to buy some “thing”, or go on some vacation, or live in some gated community, then we would be fulfilled. We would be safe. The message is we are not fulfilled because we do not have “it” – whatever it is.

Politicians try to steal our identity too. They try to sell us a vision that we are not safe under the current political regime – or that we won’t be safe if the other side comes into power. We are told that the other – those who do not look like the dominate power structure, which is mostly wealthy white males, are somehow out to steal whatever we value. We are told that if we vote for them, we will somehow be safer. That we will somehow be better. Political campaigns these days are about gaining power and instilling fear. Fear that somehow our power will be taken from us. Politics in many places have devolved into identity politics that equate safety and power as sitting only with those who look like those in power. And those that don’t are demonized.

All of this pulls us away from our true identity. Our identity as beloved children of God. Loved no matter the color of our skin, no matter our national origin, no matter our sexual identity, no matter our wealth – or lack of wealth. Loved because God made us and values us and desires nothing more than we spread that love to all corners of God’s beloved creation.

Lent is a time to prepare. And one way to prepare is to look for the temptations that turn us away from the Love of God. What are the temptations that steal your identity as God’s beloved child? For Jesus the devil was sure that the temptation that would separate Jesus were all based on power – power to change from a message of healing into the evil message of domination.

We are walking in a wilderness time. There are so many messages out there that question our validity, that question our place, that question our worth. Wilderness can be a scary place – but it can also be a place where the Holy Spirit shows up to help us find our identity. Even in this time of wilderness where society tells me that the un-homed are unworthy I find God In surprising places and people.

On Wednesday I participated in Ashes to Go at St. Paul’s. Starting at 7:30 – while the rain was blowing sideways – I opened the J street doors to offer a prayer for a holy lent and a reminder that God loves God’s beloved creation while administering ashes. During this time I also opened up the doors of the church so that our un-homed parishioners could come out of the cold and the rain and find a place of warmth. One of our long term un-homed folk came in for a couple of hours and then left. When he returned, he brought me a breakfast from the nearby 7-11 and said “here – Eat” How did he know that I had not eaten breakfast before leaving the house clutching my coffee cup? In that action I saw God’s work in the world. In that action I saw him not as an un-homed person but as a beloved Child of God helping to bring about God’s dream of love to our world.

The church invites us this lent to find what steals our identity as beloved children of God. To identify the temptations that turn us away from the path of light and love to a path of darkness and doubt. Perhaps that means giving up chocolate. Perhaps that means giving up alcohol. But only if those things are temptations that turn us away from Gods love. Only if they are things that separate us from the ability to see God’s creation as good. Only if they prevent us from journeying with Jesus to Calvary. Only if they prevent us form seeing the empty cross and empty tomb on Easter.

Lent is a gift. A gift that invites us to find time to once again see that the Love that came to us on Christmas is in us and cannot be killed. The love that came down on Christmas cannot be killed - not even on the cross. And that love desires nothing more than that we claim out identity as beloved children of God. We are invited to spend this lent exploring the ways that separate us from our identity and to turn away from them and turn to God and embrace our true identities.

Amen.

^{^[1]} https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?m=4377&post=5294 Accessed March 9, 2019

Monday, February 15, 2016

Filled with the Holy Spirit and Tested!

Lent 1C RCL

'Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.'"

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,

'He will command his angels concerning you,
to protect you,'

and

'On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

On this first Sunday of Lent we, as always, read the gospel story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. This year we read the story from the Gospel of Luke. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit as the spirit leads him into the wilderness. And while in the wilderness it says that Jesus was tempted by Satan, or perhaps a better translation he was tested by Satan – and we pick up on the Satan’s last three tests at the end of the forty days.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was in the Holy Land and visited the Judean wilderness and saw what is now called mount temptation. The wilderness is not devoid of life – like I always pictured it. It is not like the Saharan dessert. During the winter when it gets enough rain there are shepherds grazing their sheep. It is perhaps like one would see in our high desserts on the east side of the sierras. But for much of the year it is desolate and Mount Temptation is high enough that I imagine on a clear day you could see much of the agricultural areas of Israel. And certainly the Jordan River – the source of much of their water!

There is a danger in the text. And that danger is that it is perhaps far too easy for us to dismiss the story by rationalizing it. By attributing the power of God to Jesus. Of course Jesus could resist the devil. After all he is God.

But that is not the point. We also need to remember that Jesus was fully human. He was fully hungry after 40 days of fasting. He was fully tested. But he was filled with the Holy Spirit just as we are filled with the Holy Spirit. And filled with the Holy Spirit Jesus passed the test. The tests where not about choosing wealth, power and safety. They were choices to turn from God to Satan. They were choices to turn inward and not to choose God. Jesus chose God.

So what does this mean for us. If the church has decided we need to read about the temptations – or testing – of Jesus every first Sunday of Lent that perhaps we are supposed to take away something for Lent. So what are we to take away from this lesson?

Perhaps a good place to start is the nature of the test. It is too easy to trivialize this as a temptation – after all we are tempted all the time – right? If we give up chocolate or alcohol for lent there to seems that every time we turn around there is chocolate or alcohol right in front of us – especially today being Valentines day –a day filled with chocolate and other “temptations”. But does saying no to some food or drink really make us more Holy? Is it really like the test that we read about today?

Another preacher I follow – David Lose said, “In short, I would argue that temptation is not so often temptation toward something – usually portrayed as doing something you shouldn’t – but rather is usually the temptation away from something – namely, our relationship with God and the identity we receive in and through that relationship.

Too often Christians have focused on all the things we shouldn’t do, instead of pointing us to the gift and grace of our identity as children of God. But the devil knows better. Notice how each of the temptations seeks to erode and undercut Jesus’ confidence in this relationship with God and therefore undermine Jesus’ identity.”^{^[1]}

Our political season is all about being tested! We hear politicians offer us food, safety and power – if only we will worship their brand of god – but usually if we really listen to them it is if we worship them. The political rhetoric sounds too much like Satan tempting Jesus. If you only elect – fill in pretty much any of the names – then you will be safe from terrorism, or you will have unlimited wealth and health, or the others – read as the foreigners, the gays, the Muslim’s – basically anyone who doesn’t look like us- will be put back in there places. Usually someplace where you are not… or so the politicians would lead us to believe. All too often politics plays on our fears and insecurities.

Looking at temptation this way changes the way I think about temptation. And it fits with the call to do something different for lent. It really is not about chocolate, or alcohol, or meatless Fridays. It is about our relationship with God.

That is what we are called to do this Lenten season. We are called to see what is distracting us – what is separating us - from the love of God. So if some food or drink is separating you from God’s love by all means give it up.

There is another reason to give up something. And that is a change can call us up short. If you, like me, have the habit of an evening glass of wine or cocktail giving it up can make us take notice. It can call me out of my rut. And if I take that time to recognize the God of love in my life and to recognize all of the other calls to worship the false gods of wealth, power and safety then it is good to give it up.

During lent we are called to look at what separates us from the love of God. And to find ways to get out of our ruts and see God’s love anew. That could well be giving something up. It could be taking up the Bishop’s Bible challenge and meeting with folks once a month to discuss it. It could be saying the daily office. If could mean turning off the political noise on the TV and reading a book or, dare I suggest, praying.

Lent is about finding a space to see the love of God that so loves all of us that God was and is willing to die for us. God’s love is that big. Nothing that we can do will separate God from us. We can draw away from God – try to separate ourselves from God – that is the definition of Sin. But God never gives up on us. That is the promise of the cross. That we can always return to God and be embraced by the Love that cannot die. No matter how many times we try to kill the love.

I invite you this lent to find a way to turn to God. To remember that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is calling us to turn away from the temptation to worship the idolatrous gods of wealth, safety and power – to just name a few. The Holy Spirit is calling us to rest in the embrace of our God. A God who so loves us that God was willing to take on human flesh and to live as one of us – and to die as one of us all for that love. And at the other end of our journey of Lent we will remember that the Love that we hang on the cross is not killed. But instead is a Love that is willing to pursue us. To pursue us all the way to death and beyond.

^{^[1]} http://www.davidlose.net/2016/02/lent-1-c-identity-theft/