Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Sermon series: The Word That Changed the World

2010-02-21 800.mp3

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This past week it's been a challenge to not get caught up in the excitement of the Olympics.  Even for someone like me, someone who usually pays little attention to sports (unless my kids are playing of course), I find myself wanting to learn about the athletes and to watch them compete.  I know it may be hard for you to believe but before this week Lindsey Vonn, the downhill skier from Minnesota and Shaun White, the snowboard phenom, were strangers to me.  I feel like I know them now.  They are impressive with their talent, drive, determination and commitment to the sport.  There is lots of talent gathered in Vancouver to be sure.  But it's not just talent that got these athletes where they are today.  They've worked hard.  Sacrificed a great deal.  Trained endlessly.  They have detailed strategies for the best plan to reach their goal-and they have followed the plan to the "t", all to bring home the gold.  You have to admire their discipline.  Seeing their hard work pay off is exciting.  It feeds our idea about the way the world is supposed to work.  Of course that kind of justice lasts only so long.  Shortly after stepping off the platform where she received a gold medal, Vonn entered another race in which she caught just a tip of one of her skis on a turn-and down she went. The race was over for her.  The gold medal gone.  In one quick moment, everything changed.  In spite of doing everything right, something went wrong and she was denied the medal she had hoped to receive.

This past Wednesday we officially began the season in the church year called Lent.  Don't bother trying to look it up in your bibles.  It's not there.  It's a season created by the church in an attempt to call Christians back to their senses, to repent and to refocus on who Jesus is and what it is we learn about God through him.  It's a call to faithfulness.  The word Lent actually means "spring" which refers not only to the season before Easter but also to a kind of spring-cleaning for the soul.  Forty days to cleanse our system.  Forty days to practice disciplines that promise to reopen our eyes to see our complete dependence on God.  This isn't something we're inclined to do on our own.  We are more easily caught up in the culture that says work harder, be smarter, achieve more and all will be well.  This thinking fools us into behaving as if life depends on us rather than the other way around.

Our complete dependence on God is something we need to be reminded of again and again.  We live by God's grace but so often we seem to forget that.  It's a journey, this faithfulness thing, with lots of two steps forward and 3 steps back.  It includes ups and downs:  moments when you find yourself on mountaintops confident in faith and filled with hope, and other times in a valley overcome with dread and doubt.

It's interesting to note that both of the readings from Scripture have us begin our Lenten journey in the wilderness.  The wilderness is a familiar place-for people in bible times and for us today.  Biblically, the wilderness (or desert) represents a between-space, a space of testing, trial, learning, discovery, and transformation.  It's not an easy place to be.  It's where comforts are stripped away and you are keenly aware of how vulnerable you really are (working-preacher.org)

The preacher Barbara Brown Taylor was so intrigued by the bible stories of wilderness that she decided to go to one alone and sit for awhile.  She discovered how very quiet it is and was overwhelmed by how lonely she felt (Bread of Angels pg. 37)

The Old Testament story we read earlier tells of God's migrant people on the verge of crossing into the promised land.  They are given a lengthy set of instructions to help them get ready for what's next.  They've been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.  A generation has come and gone.  But the past is behind them.  It's milk and honey ahead.  So Moses speaks to the people about specific ways in which they should go forward to be prepared for their new home.  And their first step?  To remember 2 things:  whose they were.  (They belonged to God.  They were dependent on God).  And to remember who God was:  faithful.  God had brought them out of slavery through the wilderness to the land of milk and honey.  God was gracious.  God was generous.  In just these few verses the word giving is used 6 times and 5 of those it is God who is the one giving.  Boil the instructions down to one line and Moses' tip for the faith travelers is this:  remember whose you are and who God is.  God is faithful; you live by God's grace.

The Gospel reading also takes us out into the wilderness where we find Jesus being tested by the devil.  Matthew, Mark and Luke all include some version of this wilderness exam, which is a clue to the importance of this story for understanding who Jesus is.  Jesus' head is still wet from his baptism where he received the affirmation and promise of being God's beloved Son.   Full of the Holy Spirit he's then led in the wilderness.  The devil tempts him with self-sufficiency, power and status-the root of the temptations being to turn from God and to rely on himself.  Familiar territory for us all I would guess.  We know the story well.   But from this story we learn something very important from Jesus:  resisting is not the key to defeating what tempts us. 

Think about it-Jesus was at the end of 40 days in the wilderness-alone, exhausted, famished.  He was in a weakened state.  He had no strength left and resistance takes strength-strength of mind and strength of will.  Isn't that when temptation always comes?  When we're tired, at the end of our rope, or discouraged?  We convince ourselves that we deserve something better, something different, something more.  Our thoughts turn inward-we think only of ourselves and then succumb to whatever temptation it is that promises to satisfy us-if only for a moment in time.  No, resistance is not the key to defeating what tempts us.  We aren't strong enough for that.  From Jesus we learn that the key to defeating temptation is to remember 2 things:  whose you are and who God is. 

With every temptation the devil tries to get Jesus to think about himself-his own needs, his own hopes and desires.  But Jesus doesn't think about himself a part from God-a key element for a life of faith.  Jesus chooses only to respond in the context of his relationship with God.  He trusts God's promise, made to him in his baptism-that he is God's son.  He remembers whose he is and remembers who God is:  faithful.  Jesus chooses to not go it alone but to rely on God's grace. The lesson we learn from Jesus echoes the lesson Moses taught to the people of Israel:  remember whose you are and who God is.  God is faithful; you live by God's grace.

This is not an easy concept for us to grasp.  Grace is hard to explain.  Using words to try to capture what that means always seem to come up short.  And yet I am convinced that we know it when we see it; we recognize it when we experience it; and we feel it when we practice it.

A couple of weeks ago, if you worshipped here at Bethlehem you might remember that I asked for some congregation participation as part of the sermon.  I had you all stand and had you think about moving to a new place in order to gain a new perspective.  Today, I'd like to raise the bar.  You see last time, I asked you all to do something, and let's admit, it's easier to participate in something for the first time when you're not alone and you can be lost in the crowd.  Today, I'm looking for just one person with courage to volunteer and help me with an experiment. 

So I will call upon the first person I see that raises their hand. 

Name?

Did I set you up for this?

Do you know what's coming?

I want to tell you a story.  You may or may not know this about me but 30 years ago my family and I began a tradition of making Ukrainian Easter Eggs.  Each egg takes 3-5 hours to make, not including all the prep work you need to do to get the dies and eggs ready.  It's very detailed work and requires a great deal of patience.  Every egg is a labor of love.  Over the years we've collected quite a few and now I've taught my husband and my children how to make them too.  These eggs are very special to me-not only because of the hours of work that went into creating each one but also because in some ways they mark important moments in time that I was able to share with my mom and dad and siblings and now with my own family too.   And I want to give one to you. 

Care to comment what you're feeling right now?  (You don't need to).

That, my brothers and sisters is the closest I can get to explaining grace.  __________  did nothing to earn the gift.   I chose ________________.   And in receiving this gift there are no strings attached.  Granted, ____________ had courage to respond to my invitation to come forward but most of that probably came because s/he trusted me to not make a complete fool of them in front of so many people.  Grace has everything to do with the one who gives.

This is true for God's grace too.  God has chosen you.  There's nothing you can do to earn God's grace.  There are no strings attached.  Put your trust in God who is faithful for grace has everything to do with the one who gives.  Thank you to _____________ for her/his willingness to be an example of grace.

Lent, is a season in the church, more than any other, that calls us back to our senses, to rethink and refocus on who Jesus is and what it is we learn about God through him.  It's a call to faithfulness and the first step is this: remember whose you are and who God is.  God is faithful; you live by God's grace.  When you pause to remember this you'll discover strength you didn't know you had, peace you didn't think existed and hope that will lead you through your fears.   May God continue to bless you with His grace.  Amen.

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