Loading...Romans 7:15-25a from The Message
I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
Isn’t it the truth? Sometimes, we might feel like Paul in this part of his letter to the Romans. We might not understand our own actions. We might do or say the opposite of what we want to do or say. Our emotions might override our ability for discerning thought.
That’s what happened to me at our vestry meeting on Tuesday night. I let my emotions, my displeasure, and frustration take over, instead of remaining calm, cool, and collected. It was not pretty, nor was it appropriate, but it happened, and I need to own it.
While I wrote a letter of apology to the vestry, I feel it is important to say it here, also: I am truly sorry for how I reacted and responded.
Attitudes, feelings, the idea of scarcity or abundance regarding money can bring out the beast in all of us. Budget constraints can impact how we care for one another. Determining ways to pinch pennies or rob Peter to pay Paul to save a little money here to put towards something there is frustrating work. Yet this is exactly what the vestry has to do when our income cannot supply all of our expenses, which is something this parish is experiencing.
The vestry must make sure the church does not spend more money than we have. And even though we have a very healthy endowment to help, we cannot rely upon it too heavily to meet our financial needs.
It is hard work. It is frustrating and disappointing work, too, especially when we consider the impact on people—both those who give and those who receive pay for the work they do.
How we understand what it means to “Love People. Serve People.” must play a role in how decisions are made.
While a decision was made at the meeting, I don’t think any one of us left the meeting fully satisfied with the decision. There is more work to do, and it is going to take all of us to work through the visioning process that is identifying our hopes and dreams for this church over the next 5 years, and the upcoming budgeting process to determine a path, to make a plan, to take us there.
That process will require us to think out of the box and to take some risks.
This place is important to not only our members, it is important to the community. Everything we do goes through the lens of our motto: Loving People. Serving People. And we do a very good job of it. But sometimes we need to evaluate what we are doing and how it impacts all of us.
I’m going to ask you to pray with me for the vestry, for Dan Haas, our Senior Warden, Debbie Hanna, our Jr. Warden, Tommy Cheek, our Treasurer, Tina Walsh, our Secretary, Penny Tolle, Michael Duncan, and Bob Glass. Each one of these people offers their time, what they know, what they have, and what they can do to make this place run efficiently and within our budget. I also ask you to pray for the paid staff: for Annie, our Parish Administrator, Daniel Martin, and me. We work with the amazing Deacon Mary, Joe John, and Dan weekly to ensure that our worship is meaningful and beautiful.
Let us pray: Almighty and ever-living God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for the vestry and staff of this parish family. Grant us all things necessary for our common life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thank you for that prayer.
This lesson from Romans, one commentator wrote, might be the first time the image of an angel sitting on the right shoulder and the devil sitting on the left may have come up. We all live with both the binary, the either-or, and a continuum between them all the time. They impact the choices we make, the ways we speak, the priorities we have, and so much more. Each of us chooses one or the other or something in between. Hard as we might try, especially during conflict, thirst, physical pain, or being hangry, we can lose our control.
The thing is, when we do that, we need to apologize and strive to do or be better the next time. We need to ask for forgiveness, and trust that someday, we will be forgiven, by someone we have wronged, by God, or even by ourselves.
I intentionally waited to read the last part of this lesson at the start of this sermon, because this is what makes the whole thing about forgiveness matter. Paul says:
I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
We have Jesus. To model, to teach, to listen, to forgive, to heal. We have Jesus, to teach us tools to turn ourselves around and see the impact of our behavior, even when we never intended it to create harm or be hurtful.
We have confession and absolution, to help us admit our mistakes and to repent, to change our ways, always with God’s help. It is nice to know that we are not expected to be perfect, but that we can learn from all we do and say.
Yesterday, these young men from Osseo Lutheran Church in Wisconsin stopped to be with us on their way to the Appalachians to do mission work. Their pastor, Dave, went to college with Jeff and I and we were all in Lutheran Campus Ministries together.
They are the Church. Not the future, the now.
Last night, they stayed at our house. They ate, hung out, laughed, and ate some more.
Jesus may have been wondering how he could “account for this generation” and we may have heard it as a negative comment, but in this reading from The Message, I wonder if we can see it a bit differently. That these young people are striving to be more in tune with the rhythms of grace. That there is a balance between fun and work, family and rest, and how to prioritize God first.
What I experienced last night and what I see so very often, is that there are many young people who seem to recognize all of that. And they act on their convictions and beliefs.
I want each of you to know that I see you and your willingness to go into the world, showing how much God loves you, by offering that love through your service to those you will be helping. You might whine to your parents sometimes, but what I see here are young people making a difference for the world.
Your experience over the next week will be difficult, and you might get homesick, or not like the food, or find yourselves angry or upset, but I promise you that this experience will stick with you for the rest of your lives. I have faith in this generation because of your willingness to take this trip and make an impact on so many lives.
Pay attention to what you feel. Journal if that’s your thing. Know that what you are doing will likely impact your future selves. Do good things. Be nice. Be kind. It will be so worth it.
And if you don’t hear it often enough this week: thank you for taking this risk of faith, for being the hands and feet of Jesus. You are the Church.
Now, you may have noticed that the Gospel sounded a bit different than usual. We read it from The Message today, which is a transliteration, written more like a story, to make it more accessible for some people who struggle with some of the ways scripture is presented in other versions.
We chose to read from it today because it felt a little more clear, a bit more emotional, and that made it more real and accessible today. And it is nice to know that we have the permission to share the Word of God from multiple sources when we worship.
If you didn’t know from what you heard from the Message, this is the place in the Gospel when Jesus said, ‘Come unto me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
We are each invited here to walk with Jesus, to learn from Jesus, and to act in ways that express God’s love.
What I love about the end of this Gospel, the part I just read, is that in walking with Jesus, we learn that Jesus isn’t going to burden us—he is going protect us like farmers protecting their oxen, by placing a yoke on our shoulders. When a yoke is crafted, it is designed for specific animals, carved to match their bodies so that when working with another ox, the load is balanced, is shared, designed especially for bodies to work in tandem without hurting backs or harming skin. Jesus is teaching us that when we share the load as equitably as possible, we will not be overburdened.
And that’s not just about physical labor. It is about emotional and spiritual work. We are all here to walk each other home, to help to carry the load, to be willing to make sacrifices for others. Knowing that Jesus is with us along the way, protecting us, guiding us, loving us, is a gift to remember. Especially when we remember what Paul taught us in today’s lesson.
We will find that doing God’s work has its own rhythm, its own pattern, its own pace. Jesus, again, is our answer when we are weary, tired, worn out. When we go to him, we will find rest, refreshment, forgiveness, and grace.
Isn’t that the truth? When we trust in God, when we follow Jesus, we have what we need to be faithful. And we should remember that Jesus will always be there to help carry our burden and make it light.
Let us pray.
O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. BCP 832
Leave a Comment