Sermon: Lent 1/Temptation

February 25, 2007

-I recall playing a game with my family once called Scruples

-it provided scenarios that required choices on the part of the players

-like, you are late for a job interview and can’t find a parking space—you notice that one of the parking spaces for those with a handicap is open, do you use it

-what made the game memorable was not the part about having to make a choice

-what made it memorable was that someone else then had to guess what choice that you made

-it wasn’t just a game that asked you to think about who you were, it also asked others to think about who you were

-it was a bit unnerving

-and I can recall one more thing about that game--that the image on the question cards was a little devil

-the season of Lent plays out a bit like this game

-it is a season during which we are confronted with the question, “what kind of person are you?”

-the doorway to this season is always the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness

-in order to speak to us about Jesus’ time of decision, the writers of the first 3 gospels use the mythic character of Satan

-while some in the Christian tradition believe that Satan is almost a demi-god given incredible powers including the power to get Jesus off track, such an understanding is not in keeping with the rest of the biblical witness

-the use of a character who personifies evil is meant to communicate to us how very compelling are the options that divert us from seeking God’s purpose

-the truth is that Jesus had some choices to make, cosmic choices about how to represent the purpose of God on earth

-and when I say cosmic, I mean two things

-first, they were cosmic in terms of  humungously difficult

-I used to have this favorite show years ago called “Picket Fences”—I loved the show because there were no traditional happy endings

-the plot line would always put the characters in a place where they would have to make a tough choice

-Jesus had some tough choices to make

-let me give you one example; within the Jewish tradition was an understanding of a warrior God who would defeat the enemies of the Israelites

-well, is that the kind of God that Jesus thought he was representing

-that my God is bigger and stronger than your God kind of thinking and therefore watch out!

-there’s a lot of that going around these days

-or were there other understandings within his tradition that he thought were more accurate albeit less popular

-tough choices

-the other thing that I mean by cosmic is that the choices that Jesus was wrestling with were not unlike the big choices that we wrestle with

-they have to do with our orientation towards other human beings be they friend or foe

-and these are not just personal issues

-these are decisions we have to make as churches, as employers, as employees, as countries

-this country via its supreme court has just wrestled with whether or not we should be holding men who we suspect are connected to terrorist activities without charging them or communicating with them

-for some countries this is common practice

-but the supreme court of Canada has spoken unanimously

-we will be a country that honors human life and we will put in place safeguards to ensure that we honor this principle

-these are choices that have both personal and cosmic dimensions

-it is these kinds of decisions that Jesus wrestled with

-and so Lent invites us to take 40 days in the wilderness to wrestle with those decisions that will have cosmic implications for our lives

-some communities emphasize it as a time of penitence

-I think it is a season during which we are called to think deeply about the kind of people we want to be

-and while there is no doubt that that process includes confession, confession is always followed by embracing an alternative vision

-throughout this season we will be challenged again and again to follow the Christ path

-each leg of our journey will require more of us

-at every corner we will be asked, “is this we really where we want to go”

-and if it is, what will be the implications for everything else in our life

-as a congregation, we will also take this season to begin asking ourselves what kind of church we want to be

-by the middle of next month each of you will be invited to be part of a conversation whose goal is to establish an identify for this congregation

-it is essential that we take this journey together for 2 major reasons

#1-it has always been necessary for God’s people to think about their calling and to rethink their calling as the world around them changes so that as a community of believers we can pursue that calling with our hearts, our hands, and our minds

#2-we no longer live in an era where people attend the church of their forefathers—in fact we no longer live in an era where people attend church

-so we need to be able to speak about the purpose that we are committed to pursuing—and furthermore we need to be able to identify what makes our calling unique, different than the calling of other churches in this region

-this process will be an exciting one but also a challenging one

-it is not always easy defining what is most important to us

-and there are many paths we could take

-will we opt for financial  security rather than a healthy mission program

-will we opt for  religious security-creating walls with our faith to keep the world out, -will we opt for popularity—seeking to keep everyone  happy while avoiding the Christ path

-or will we choose the path of love, of peace, of reaching out to those who have been excluded in some way from living in healthy community

-will we play it safe or will we take some risks

-will we care for only our own OR are there people out there that need our love to be real and tangible so that hope can return to their lives

-what kind of church do we want to be; what kind of disciples do we want to be known as

-but the biggest question of all, the question that was at the heart of Jesus’ wilderness struggle is this: What to we believe is at the heart of God’s vision for human kind?

-before my mother died I told her that I was going to have a preaching stole made in her memory

-this is it: I named it “Mama’s Mantle: Gifts my mother gave me.”

-it is filled with symbols that represent her gifts to us

-yet it is not just a memorial to my mother

-it has taken on a life of its own

-it connects me to a vision of discipleship

-a vision of discipleship that includes a commitment to beauty, to hospitality, to the encouragement of others

--there are days it challenges me and there are days that it comforts me

-I think that Jesus wrapped himself with God’s vision, a vision that included a commitment to joy, to forgiveness, to beauty, to creation, to the stranger, to the wounded

-there were other mantles, other visions, safer visions

-but it was this vision that he came to share with us

-it is a vision that can save our lives—it is a vision that will require our lives

-it is a vision that has turned the world upside down more than once

-it is a vision that has brought hope to the hopeless

-it is a vision that might set you apart but will never leave you alone because it is a vision that will connect you to God in a profound way

-what kind of mantle to you want to wear around you shoulders?

-so what kind of person do you want to be?

-what kind of church do we want to be?