"Reigning Grace;" Sermon for Sunday February 19th, 2017 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Holiness, piety, responding to God is a uniquely personal journey.  It has been said that when you are holy, you are true to your purpose.  When do we truly know when our purpose is defined to where God needs us to be? These are tough questions but Jesus in this week’s excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount has us turn face that mirror (of the Law) and basically stare down upon our humanity (warts and all…).  He is basically teaching the disciples about building upon that foundation of faith—“walking the talk,” living faith as authentically real as possible, as we are capable. Capacity and willingness as discerned by a changed heart to God, is the key goal and our struggle.

Faith is a touchy thing though….  What do I mean by that? It is personal yet Jesus radically invites and challenges us to share it beyond ourselves, beyond our “rational” capacity to be children of Grace and Promise, with the world. It is here, that I believe promise is something we so definitely, spiritually cling to as a means of understanding how God would like us to respond through Grace. Perhaps the Beatles said it best: “All you need is love…”  Jesus says this too in one way or another but when He challenges us to incorporate it into our faith in action, (doing the Do’s of the Gospel), it becomes too much for us to handle spiritually and otherwise.  This is our daily battle.

The other night I was caring for an elderly woman, I regularly care for Wednesday through Friday evenings from 5:30-7:30pm.  She’s delightful, reminds me of my grandmother, God rest her soul.  When I came in the other night, she was well engrossed into another one of those Turner Movie Channel classic films.  This evening, it was the story of Our Lady of Fatima from 1952.  Outside of all the markings of a stereotypical 1950’s Hollywood perspective of religious stories, it was interesting what it had to impart in a rather overtly simplistic way.  Three young children shepherding sheep wander off to a cove on a hill and have a supernatural encounter with Mary, the Mother of our Lord.  The film dances back and forth with the secular, oppressive government leaders and townspeople persecuting these poor children to recant what they experienced…  But they could not and they would not.

They could not recant what they were so convicted by, since it was the truth, it was their faith.  It goes beyond witness and becomes a matter of when you must take a stand in what you know is right to Do (because God’s grace leads you there).  That’s what these children chose to do!  Children—the irony of what we all so conveniently forget about ourselves, spiritually.  We will always be God’s children with that ‘Imago Dei’ imprinted upon the heart by the Cross of Christ! Knowing and doing what is right, however, is that nebulous area of our faith journey, Christ is challenging us to think about this week.  These children were just a sample out of the multitude of the centuries of disciples who did indeed, lay down their life for the sake of the Gospel.

That’s the one thing that was amazing and profound to think about during those long, arduous early church history studies when I was in seminary…  Look at how the martyrs and pioneers persevered, suffered and sacrificed their very selves to carry on the cause of Christ!  Even where we are now as the quote “post-modern” church, how far would Christianity have come if it did not have this powerful cloud of witnesses, loyal priesthood of dedicated believers?  This is something we should not take for granted but be grateful for!

The film had a happy “G-rated” ending where the townspeople and the “villainous” government figure heads witness the miraculous appearance of the talking cloud of Mary, magnified sun and the dried up rain—which exonerated the children from imprisonment and peril… The young girl or lead character in the film carried through her witnessing and in essence her ongoing ministry, by helping the country to establish a shrine on the spot of where these supernatural experiences occurred.

In the face of conflict, she basically DID what Jesus is teaching the disciples to DO in this week’s Gospel: She did not resist the evildoers… and she DID indeed go the extra mile, fighting seemingly perilous odds and she DID indeed pray for her enemies—those seeking to persecute her and her cousins.  Her resistance was built upon a firm foundation of FAITH. Her life’s witness exampled and incorporated love, this was apparent.  Her faith story both won over her enemies, the entire town and her family, as well as converted them bringing peace and unity.

The innocent humility of these children connected for me in contrast to St. Paul’s challenge with his wayward Corinthians. The Corinthians became wrapped up in a self-concerned pride, puffed up with a worldly wisdom, which in turn became a problem for their spiritual foundation building as a people of faith.  The temple of the heart—that first church where God works, was getting rattled and conflicted by the ways of the world.  You have probably heard on occasion, of the saying—having your heart in the right place… This is exactly what Christ and St. Paul are teaching us this week.

Striving towards a right relationship with God goes back to that “Golden Rule” of Love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength as well as love your neighbor as yourself.  This Golden rule is transformed and brought to New life through Christ who indeed, helps us to see what “perfection” is to God and it does not relate to this world well at all…  It is too radical and seemingly foolish to our humanity. The Kingdom of God and its’ call upon us to adopt “Kingdom-thinking,” is a radical call to believe, receive, incorporate and share God’s Grace through the fruit of our hearts humbly and spiritually shaped by this first ‘Law.’  Faith is a process, calling, commitment and a journey that is to most beautifully play out through the stories of our lives well lived, travelled with the Holy Spirit as our guide.

One of the first thoughts that popped into my mind when thinking about God and the notion or understanding of “perfection” comes from the creation story. Adam and Eve were in essence, to be the ‘good and perfect’ creations of God, made in the image of God. Well, we know what happened next… which the ironic aspect of that is captured further for me by, of all things, a Far side cartoon depicting God accidently dropping and breaking the specimen jar of humans to the earth saying oh oh! All humor aside, we are and will always be in tension with the Old Adam and Eve—Old Nature aspects of the self that Satan uses to tempt us to justify and commit sin.

Jesus lays it right out there in saying that vindictiveness, retribution—an eye for an eye, as a form of self-righteous wisdom is sinful, period. But our human nature or Old Nature, in contrast to the New Nature, that Christ implanted in our hearts by Grace to reap, seems so natural, logical a choice for us to jump to.  One of the funny elements of the film I saw with the elderly woman the other night, included a scene where the stoic faithful children, in the midst of the “villains” interrogation, were being bribed with candy and gifts to recant their faith—to which of course, they did not.  Another image here is picturing on one shoulder a demon telling you what to do and on the other shoulder, is an angel guiding and leading you to DO the right thing.

Sometimes though, doesn’t it seem like the angel who’s supposed to be on the other shoulder, is stuck in traffic coming down from heaven to talk to us and the devil wins over our seeming logic to DO what “feels the best” for ourselves? I believe this comes from another cartoon that I can’t recall at the moment… but in humor, we see our folly here don’t we?  By living into doing what’s best for the self, in no way considers God or neighbor at all—in fact, it is a turning away from God, period.

One of the earliest Biblical concepts I came to learn and still find profound, is the concept of a heart turned to God.  This is just another understanding of spiritual transformation—faith formation.  Turning the heart—that temple where God first works through, into a solid foundation—GROUND to build the engine for the New Creation—the New Adam, the New Eve, as exampled by Christ. The Cross of Christ we must remember, as well, is the cornerstone to this very foundation, this very engine!  Once that engine is built, we are called to maintain and build it up through—prayer, generosity, compassion, forgiveness, kindness and so forth, lived graciously and responsibly through our hands and feet as the Body, in the world, but not to be of it.

The lead young girl in the movie, was told early on by the vision in the cloud of Mary to GO forth and spread the Gospel, commit her life to the cause of Christ.  She DID just that, the calling never left her, it was never tempted enough away from her, to turn away…  Here’s some thoughts to meditate upon for this coming week:  What does the Gospel call you to commit to?  What does love God and neighbor mean to us today?  Are we holding fast to persevering Promise—building upon that foundation of faith by living Grace or is it becoming a fading relic to our own agendas, ways of the world?

Let us Pray,

Gracious and Loving Lord Jesus,

Help us to see Your reigning Grace

As that radical wisdom we must believe, receive, incorporate and share

Out of our Love for You and our neighbor

Teach us to realize Promise and be grateful, responsible children

Answering the call and command upon our hearts to follow You as Your disciples

We ask this through Your most precious Name—AMEN

February 19th, 2017; Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany; Year A; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon By: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 119:33-40; Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18;  1 Corinthians 3:10-23; Matthew 5:38-48

Below is a link to this sermon's delivery at the Grace Hub's 8am service.
https://youtu.be/cPTZLashR9w