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Our
Spiritual battleground begins with us being “prisoners of Hope,” as we heard in
Zechariah this morning. Today’s scriptures wonderfully come together to have us
look fully into the mirror and realize our human journey as disciples of
Christ. Probably your first impression this morning from hearing our lessons is
that it is another overly legal-ease sounding spiritual debate about the law
and the calling of the Gospel… Not
necessarily so, I would say though, we are hearing words of spiritual
enlightenment and of concern. From St. Paul, we are hearing an enlightenment
that comes literally as a confession from his heart to the flock he is
pastoring in Rome.
I
found it interesting to read from a number of different commentaries this week
that looked at the illustration of the struggle of those entering the AA
Program and the 12 steps of progress they need to own in order to change. For at times we do feel a loss of control, it
could be physical, emotional or most importantly a spiritual loss between
willfulness and willingness. There is a
wonderful old Latin saying: ‘Simuli Justus et peccator.’ This simply means we are both, simultaneously
saint and sinner. Here you have it, the
players upon the battlefield of the soul, to “choose or perish.”
Sounds
rather intense, but that last half of the line comes from the 1983 classic
comedy, Ghost busters. The evil demigod
basically tells them, while they’re getting ready to battle, to “choose or
perish…” Of course, Dan Ackroyd’s
character miserably fails by choosing the ‘Stay-Puft’ marshmallow man
unknowingly to become their destructor.
He just couldn’t help the thought from entering his mind. What Paul is talking about this week is a wonderful
perspective upon the world and our reality versus the reality of the spirit and
the Kingdom of God.
The
sound coming from my lips, we know to be our voice… but have you ever thought
for a moment, reflected upon the very notion that it literally is the soul
speaking? I believe it is the inner
person that Paul is preaching about to his Roman congregation. He could only have reached that conclusion by
truly beginning to catch on to what his conversion experience began to teach
him about his relationship to Christ and his journey to serve the call of the
Gospel. Hearing and knowing the truth of
the Gospel, however, calls us to take full refuge in Hope. Would it be fair to say that hope is our
armor given by God’s Grace to struggle with the world we are called to serve
within? To a certain degree, I would say,
yes.
Years
ago, I knew a very talented young artist who was actually related to Andrew
Wyeth and the N.C. Wyeth family. He,
however, was more than comfortable at the time living the life of a perfect
BoHo artist. BoHo for those unfamiliar
means Bohemian or hippie. He didn’t seem to mind his poverty, in fact so much
so that he would continually paint over many of his former paintings, and he
was and is a very talented artist. At the time, he was a regular contributor to
the little arts and poetry magazine that I was a long time fixture of. The publisher couldn’t stand to hear how many
times he would paint over his paintings, so he actually bought him a huge roll
of canvas and gave him more money to buy any supplies that he needed in order
to make as many paintings as he could from that roll…
I
thought it was really interesting that he chose to do a series of paintings
around a “tarot” deck. If anyone is
familiar with them, they are considered a part of the quote, “black arts…” They are to predict the story of your life
for that particular day and time due to the stars in the sky and your
sign. Sounds like a fantastic way to
circumvent fear and anxiety, but ,it actually goes against the whole notion of
being hopeful and trusting in God to see you through, because it simply offers
an instant answer. It is purely an
illusion of control upon your destiny—very true to the temptations of the ego
and frankly devoid of looking inwardly to the spirit for help and guidance.
We
are stubborn though, we want, what we want, when we want it—the mantra of
consumerism! This same artist was truly
a character, for he was an avid drinker and a chain smoker. In fact, he was so addicted to regularly rolling
his own cigarettes and chain smoking that one day he fell asleep and managed to
set his mattress on fire! My friend,
also lived in this apartment building and saw the artist running out in his
underwear nearly beating off the amber flames upon the few articles of clothing
he was wearing! My friend, along with
the other neighbors, managed to put out the fire. A week or two later, the
artist came to one of the magazine’s meetings with a large sack of chewing
tobacco and a cup. I just had to laugh
as well as it was really kind of sad to see that he just couldn’t let go of his
habits! And if you ever have witnessed
anyone chewing that stuff it is definitely not too sociable.
The
Holy Spirit sent this 20 plus year old memory to me in thinking about this past
July 4th here in Vegas as well as the opening of recreational
marijuana stores throughout the valley.
Before you start thinking that this sermon is going to turn into some
sort of moral play against these things, I would caution you to focus on the
spiritual side of ourselves alone. I
would think that the news colors around these stories daily, like how someone
silvers a mirror, especially the last few days talking about palm trees and
house fires, limbs wounded and other issues of impairment, due do the lack of
control. Just the other day, I was in
the midst, of writing a reflection paper towards achieving my standing status
within the United Church of Christ. This
reflection has been quite powerful to begin to do since it is forcing the
question of how have you incorporated Christ?
Just how much truly have you changed and are shaped into where you are
now serving?
A
part of this reflection has you look at the UCC’s statement of faith or to use
an old term, your “creed.” The third line of this creed or statement says most
perfectly, our hope, trust in God, to not only love us but save us from
ourselves. This line says: “You seek in
holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.” Aimlessness is purposelessness. An even more profound thought for you to
spiritually chew on is that the reality of “hell” on earth is life seemingly
without purpose. This thought comes from
my past before Christ entered my life, for I was immersed in the philosophy of
existentialism. The big $20 word simply
means the struggle between “being” and “purpose.” We fall short for the better of course, that
we all operate with some form or another—hope.
Call
hope or being hope-filled, what you will, but that my friends is an operative
of faith! So why do we struggle with
staying on the path of God’s true journey for our souls? Is it something as
simple as it being too much work for us?
Is it merely the illusion of control that our will tempts us to take
precedent over and above that of God’s? I wondered about that in thinking about
how many people are AA survivors and have taken on the painful journey of
dealing with their addiction. Our
consumerist society definitely goes against the grain of the Gospel in more
ways than one… Drink responsibly in
those Jim Beam ads still don’t divorce accountability from cause and effect. As
I saw the news covering the hours’ long lines for those seeking to buy
recreational marijuana and the reported three-million-dollar profit of the last
few days… I wondered about the costs
skyrocketing for those cancer patients and other terminally ill who need
medical marijuana for dealing with their pain.
As
preached upon before a few sermons ago, greed and indifference are our greatest
sins and temptation to all other sins. Money may seem to make the world go
around, but 7 to 10 thousand homeless in this city alone, says it truly is an
allusion! Coming from a big city like Chicago, hearing of the numbers here of
homelessness was staggering and frankly did bring tears to my eyes—wondering
why? How did it get this bad? I could sit back like the statue of the
thinker or I can choose to make a difference in whatever way I can as a pastor,
artist, poet, administrator, counselor and so forth. The reality of our New lives in Christ should
reveal to you those gifts of Grace ready and able to use for God’s will and
purposes for you.
Jesus
in today’s Gospel almost sounds discouraged by humanity’s response to his
teachings. He’s been trying to open our
eyes now for 2,000 something years!
Never place a period where God has placed a comma. I must confess that I love that statement. God is always going to be speaking to you
whether you like it or not! Whether you
are willing enough to hear His calling upon your heart to change or become the
cause of your own demise, ruin—He is still working upon us. You are never a
lost cause to Christ—this is that Hope we must cling to!
Remembering
that artist and his “tarot” card painting, I recall one of his paintings being
of the “death” card in the deck. The
death card simply means change or be changed.
How Biblical for a black arts card to say?! Change or be changed, “choose or perish,” Go
clean and sober or wind up killing someone on the road coasting upon your 4th
DUI… Satan makes lawlessness, the
allusion of freedom. Truth be told, you
are a prisoner but not one of hope or purpose.
I don’t know about you, but that really doesn’t sound inviting to me at
all! God’s love and will gives our lives
so much purpose; it does bring the hope of the Kingdom of God ever nearer to
our hearts to realize. Never say never to change, transformation—be and become
all things through Christ Jesus our Lord, who indeed gives us the strength and
courage to survive!
Let
us Pray,
Gracious
Lord Jesus,
Help
our hearts to cling to that hope we need to survive
Help
us don the armor of this hope to fight evil, aimlessness and sin
May
we not become discouraged in ourselves, but realize Your Truth to set us free
From
sin, death and the allusion of power from Evil’s temptations
For
You are gracious, merciful, abounding in a loving compassion that our New Natured
selves
Must
grow to incorporate throughout our lives journeys. AMEN
July 9th, 2017; Fifth Sunday
after Pentecost; Proper 9; Year A; Hybrid Lectionary
Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M.
Collins
Psalm 145:1-14; Zechariah
9:9-12; Romans 7:14-25a & Matthew 11:16-30
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church, 9:30am
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