Someone paid a price

In his analysis of discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer declared “cheap grace” to be the deadly enemy of the Church. We, unfortunately, have not moved beyond that reality some 70 years later. By cheap grace, Bonhoeffer meant the presumption that I can receive forgiveness for my sins without abandoning my life to Jesus and his way. I do this because I think because I have been taught that God’s grace is freely given that there is no cost associated with it. After all, if I have to pay for it, it’s really not a gift and really not free. That seems to make perfect sense to me.

Indeed, the Scriptures teach us that this gift is free. But the reality is that someone paid for it. When you get a gift from someone, they bought it and paid a price for it. It is because of their generosity that you don’t pay anything. The one who paid the price for the forgiveness we need was Jesus. In other words, although the gift is free, it doesn’t mean there was no cost associated with it. The truly hard work has already been done. But there is a catch. When offering this gift to us Jesus tells us that if we accept it, our “Thank you” need only be obedience to this request: “Go and sin no more.”

As humans, we all too easily slip into an understanding that Jesus died for sins in general: we don’t really expect it to get personal, or have any real implications for us as individuals. In this way of thinking, it is so much easier to dodge individual responsibility. When we make a generalization like “Jesus died for the sins of mankind” we can avoid the reality that “Jesus died to pay for my lie last week at work.” When it remains a mere generality, nothing in my life needs to be any different.

But Jesus offers me an individual gift of grace. When I hear those words, “Go and sin no more,” it means that I must undertake to change my habits, my thoughts, my behaviors, my attitudes, and my relationships in such a way that they align with the will of God. This is true repentance.

Once I accept Jesus’ invitation, I cannot remain the same because I am no longer the same – I have been changed. “Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ,” says Bonhoeffer. It is costly because it costs one his life, and it is grace because it gives a one the only life that really matters in the end. This kind of grace condemns sin and the evil it creates in our lives. It is grace because it changes the sinner.

To be a disciple, then, means that I can’t just see myself as part of some large abstract crowd that believes some sort of doctrinal statement. I must seek a personal relationship with the teacher. I must be able willingly to respond to the invitation to follow.

Embracing Discipleship: An invitation to a holy Lent

Most of us would like to live a life of extraordinary quality that is not only fulfilling but also carries significance beyond ourselves. More than likely that is among of the reasons we become Christians. Fortunately, it is exactly the kind of life Jesus promises if we will follow him. So, we might ask, why isn’t it happening as it was promised? Why does it seem that I am living a life of quiet desperation?

I go to church; I read from the Bible; I pray; I try to be a good person and to serve others; yet, my life with Jesus doesn’t seem to be much more than something added onto my already too complex life.  When we feel that way, many of us try harder, pray harder, study harder, and try to figure out what we’re doing wrong because that’s what we think Jesus wants us to do. What we don’t realize is that in the midst of all this, Jesus may just be asking us “Aren’t you tired of all this yet?” Maybe that’s why so many people get burned out on religion.

Instead, Jesus says, “Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll find your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me. Work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn from me. If we hear him in this way, we realize that Jesus calls us away from the hows and whys and whats into the rhythm of his life of grace.

We need first to realize that Jesus is not a problem to be solved, but a person to know. Too often, we may treat him as a “how” or “what” and inevitably end up in the cycle of trying harder to work out an equation that God never meant for us to solve. Instead of trying harder, we need to trust more. None of this is new, and the danger as you read this is that you may dismiss it as so much religious jargon. “I know it is a relationship; I know I need to trust him.” Yet, we almost always slip right back into the cycle of trying harder and the extraordinary life we want to live eludes us.

My prayer is that, during this holy season of Lent, you’ll be able to step into the rhythm of grace that Jesus provides. I pray that you won’t just stand there, but that you will actually hear the music of Jesus’ life and begin a never-ending dance with the One who is the eternal Lover of your soul. True, God’s gift of grace, Jesus—the Word made flesh, is a mystery. “No mysteries for me,” you say, “what I want is the facts.” Do you say that to your lover? Of course not, because when we fall in love, it’s all about mystery. Why should it be any different with God.

“Come,” Jesus says, “follow me.” That is the call we hope to hear all through Lent here at St. Luke’s – and we hope to explore just how we can do that. Come ... and see!

Seeing the Lamb of God

We live in a world with so much to see. There is so much that our brains actually play a large role in filtering out what we don't seem to need at the moment. Because of that, we may miss something which is very important - but that the habits of mind we have don't let us notice. In our baptismal covenant, we are charged to seek out the face of Christ in all persons. The fact remains, we see many people and they amount to little more than blank faces to us in the end. Yet, each one has the capacity to speak to us of Christ. Is this what John the Baptizer understood when he "saw Jesus walking by and said to his disciples, 'There is the Lamb of God'"???

Maybe. Maybe it's a reminder that we need to have different eyes - and to train our habits of mind to have different filters so that we can see "The Lamb of God" wherever he might appear to us - in the kind gesture given to someone else, in the destitute person we notice on the street corner, in the young girl pushing a stroller with a weeks old infant. Wherever he may be  . . .

And he became incarnate of the Virgin . . .

Saint Irenaeus spoke about the importance of the incarnation (or the enfleshment) of God in Jesus of Nazareth as an absolutely essential part of our coming to know God, to experience the love of God, and to realize the promises of God. It all makes sense when we begin from the assumption that we need to experience God in human terms -- otherwise God remains a far off reality, unrelated to our human experience. It isn't enough that Jesus of Nazareth became human, either, because that was over 2000 years ago -- how am I able to experience a God who is supposed to be present to me through a human that lived long before I was born? The proper theological answer is that I experience God I'm the Risen Lord. True enough. But then, how do I experience the Risen Lord? The answer to that is what makes this incarnation stuff important. We experience the Risen Lord in one another -- as each of us becomes likened to Christ, we can speak Christ into the world and we can experience that Christ in one another. So Christmas isn't so much about the baby in the manger - it is about my ability to know and experience God in the flesh - the flesh and blood of my neighbor in the world - in all of their imperfection. Knowing and experience God then demands that I experience more and more of the people who live in the world. With each added person, I get a better glimpse of the God who has loved us so.

When has God challenged your perspective?

Acts 10:34-43
New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵ but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. ³⁶ You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷ You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
³⁹ “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰ but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

For an audio version of the sermon from last Sunday, Click here

Innocence and Suffering

Today the Episcopal Church remembers the “Holy Innocents,” the subject of the “Coventry Carol” so often heard at Christmas time.  We remember the slaughter of “every make child two years and under” by King Herod because of his well documented ego and paranoia.  Afraid that the “newborn King of the Jews” would usurp his throne, he had the children killed to eliminate his competition. 

While in all likelihood, the children suffered little (a swift death is often merciful), the agony of the parents is without parallel.  Even though I do not have children, I have been assured by members of my own family that there is no greater loss to be experienced than the loss of a child, regardless of their age.  In many ways, the death of one’s child upsets the natural order – children are to outlive their parents – or so it is our common wisdom. 

The fact remains that infant mortality has declined greatly in our society.  The great pandemics (influenza, typhus, cholera) seem almost non-existent to most of us.  These diseases claimed many innocent lives only two generations ago, before the advent of modern antibiotics.  Nonetheless, while the death of children may have been more common and even expected, the sense of loss is no less poignant. 

We only need to see the evening news with images of the children of Aleppo and the Syrian refugees, those fleeing Northern Africa across the Mediterranean. So many children. so many innocent seeking only safety and a better life.

The message of this day, however, is that out of such horrible suffering, God can change things.  Even though these parents suffered such tragic and profound loss, God delivered the Christ Child by a dream message to Joseph, who took the Child and his mother to Egypt to escape the tyranny of Herod.  When the Child returns, he will be the salvation of the world and proclaim a kingdom of justice and truth that would outlast any attempt by Herod to assure his own power.

That hope must be ours today – as many children suffer needlessly because of greed, prejudice, and the lust for power in nations throughout the world.  We listen to the promise of Christ and carry the message of his kingdom into our world.  If we remain faithful to its values and its promise, we, too, may see the “mighty cast from their thrones” so that the lowly, the powerless and voiceless innocents of our world might then be “lifted up.”

On the Recent Election - Our Responsibility

If the recently concluded election teaches us anything, it tells us that we are, as a nation and a society, more divided then many of us understood. We find ourselves as fellow citizens among many more people who feel themselves pushed to the margins of our society than we may have realized. The message for me seems to be that there are many more who do not believe that anyone cares about them.

As often happens with political events like elections, it becomes way too easy to line every one up on one team or another and to start taking pot shots at one another – not unlike the dreaded dodge ball games we might have experienced in junior high gym class. It is very easy to become “tribal” as we gather around ourselves people who voted the same way we did, whichever way that was. It is way too easy to retreat into our safety zones, among like-minded folk, and listen only to voices that reinforce our own beliefs and values.

I believe that Christ calls us to do exactly the opposite. It was not the pattern of Jesus life that, when faced with opposing viewpoints, he simply huddled up with his closest disciples and talked about the other side. No. He moved out to them and engaged them. It wasn’t always comfortable, but it was always with a mind toward justice and it was always done from a motive of self-effacing love. It is important to note that one of the most quoted verses of the New Testament (John 3:16) comes to us in the context of an encounter with Nicodemus, a Pharisee – and we all know how Jesus and the Pharisees often felt about one another. As disciples of Jesus Christ we must listen and engage and work to find places where all of us can stand and talk together.

Our Baptismal Covenant commits us to “respect the dignity of every human being.” That means that we must respect the dignity of those who voted for Hillary Clinton. It means that we must respect the dignity of those who voted for Donald Trump. We must respect the dignity of those who voted for Gary Johnson or Jill Stein. And we must respect the dignity of those who felt themselves even unable to vote for any reason at all. We must acknowledge that we are first and foremost people of faith. We must presume that “others” are people of good will, and that we all want what is best for our nation and our society even though we may disagree on how best to get there. 

A key to moving forward is to realize that Christ calls is to listen to those who disagree with us to discover why they feel the way that they do. We are not required to agree with one another, but we are called to accord each other respect.

There are people in our parish who may rejoice that their voices were heard yesterday. There are people in our parish who may feel that their most closely held beliefs and values were rejected. There are people in our parish who may fear for what the future will bring for them or for those they love. There are people in our parish who are anxious about what comes next. Our parish community must be a place for all of these people.

From its founding, the Episcopal Church has prayed for the President of the United States in our liturgy. We will continue this noble tradition and will add prayers for Donald, our president-elect.

Most importantly, we need to begin urgently to listen to one another, to pray for one another and to find and build a community where, because of our mutual love and respect, can come together in peace.

In the present circumstance, I recommend the prayer for sound government from the Book of Common Prayer (p. 821)

O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth.

Lord, keep this nation under your care.

To the President and members of the Cabinet, to Governors of States, Mayors of Cities, and to all in administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To Senators and Representatives, and those who make our laws in States, Cities and Towns, give courage, wisdom and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and to fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding and integrity, that human rights may be safeguarded and justice served.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society; that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name.

For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.  Amen.

I am grateful to the deep pastoral sensitivity of Bishop William Franklin, now bishop of my home diocese, the Diocese of Western New York, whose own reflections are the basis this reflection and this writing.

In the loving heart of Christ,

David+