Sermon 03.21.10
“Mary of Bethany”
I didn’t realize that I had used the whole jar. The perfume that is. And the furor that it caused – well, it’s not like I had planned that for the evening. I really wanted to just show my love for Jesus.
Oh, forgive me – I’ve been so rude to you, without introducing myself. My name is Mary and I’m one of Jesus’ followers. I live with my sister Martha and my brother Lazarus in a small town called Bethany. We’re all of his followers and several months ago, we witnessed one of the Master’s miracles.
My dear brother Lazarus had been very ill and we sent word to Jesus, who was out traveling and preaching to the crowds in the countryside. We wanted Jesus to heal my brother because we knew about his healing of lepers and other injured and sick people. But he didn’t get here in time. Lazarus had already died and had been buried for three days before Jesus arrived. I was so angry. But it was Martha who ended up getting into it with Jesus. He told her about the resurrection of the dead. We talked about that for many nights thereafter and we came to believe in it.
But that story had a happy ending – Jesus brought my brother back to life. I almost couldn’t believe it when I saw Lazarus walking out of the tomb. More than ever, I became a fervent disciple, determined to be part of those who were in Jesus’ inner circle.
Which is why I ended up at this dinner. Simon the Leper, another of Jesus’ followers, was hosting. And so Martha and Lazarus and I went over to his house. It was six days before the Passover, when we head into Jerusalem and Simon wanted to honor Jesus. All of the other apostles were there.
My sister Martha was serving. I swear that she never sits down. Always bustling about, never still.
Anyway, as I said, we were going to dinner and I told her that I was going to bring a small portion of nard – perfume – to anoint Jesus. It was the sort of thing that was done XXXXXX. The perfume had been given to me by my mother to be used as a my dowry, should I ever get married. I knew that it was expensive – it was to be my brideprice. But I felt that I could use just a little bit on Jesus as a way of showing thanks for bringing my brother back to life.
Let me tell you, it was hard to walk and carry that jar without spilling some of it along the way. Martha was just beside herself because it took so long to get to Simon Peter’s house and she wanted to get busy with the cooking and serving.
The dinner was just an ordinary event for us – friends eating with friends, and sometimes Jesus would speak and tell us of the kingdom that awaited us. He told us stories and gave us hope. We believed that he was the Messiah that the prophets had written about – he was the one to bring light to the peoples XXXXXX.
Oh, but I still haven’t told you about the perfume incident. As the meal was ending, I went over to Jesus with my container and removed the stopper. It was our custom to put oil on one’s hair as a sign of gladness. It had been a wonderful meal with a wonderful teacher. It was the proper thing to do.
But before I knew it, I was pouring out the whole container – all of the perfume was flowing out onto Jesus’ head, dripping down his beard, onto his clothes and fee. The whole pot of perfume, suddenly gone. I just loved our Master that much. I was embarrassed at first, ashamed of my impulsiveness, and tried to wipe up Jesus’ feet with my hair. I was so clumsy at first and then the firestorm descended.
Judas jumped up from where he was reclining and started in on me. “Why in the world did you do this, woman?” He was screaming at me in front of all of the others. The whole house smelled of the perfume that I had put on Jesus and I was suddenly afraid when Judas confronted me. He was the one who controlled the common purse, where we all pooled our money. And a scary fellow at times – dark and moody. I tried to slink into the kitchen with my empty perfume jar, but he was right in my face.
“Don’t you have any sense?”, he roared. “We could have sold that container for 300 denarii and given the money to the poor!” I honestly think he said that to impress Jesus, who had such love and compassion for the poor. I was now just shaking and standing there in front of Jesus, waiting for him to agree with Judas and to chastise me. All of the apostles were staring at me, wondering what would happen.
Now, here comes the surprise, at least for me. Judas was right in my face. Jesus suddenly got up and stood between us, defiantly facing Judas and indicating for him to step aside. I silently waited for Jesus to condemn me for wasting the perfume. Silly me – I had been way too extravagant and there was no way to take it all back.
Jesus words, however, were not directed at me, but to Judas.
He said, “Leave her alone.” I breathed a sigh of relief. At least there would be no more verbal abuse from this apostles.
Jesus then explained to the others that I had brought it for the day of his burial. I was a little confused at that notion. Perfume was used as part of preparing the corpse, along with other spices, but Jesus was alive, not dead. Was he going to die, I wondered, and shuddered at the thought.
Jesus then told Lazarus that the poor were going to be around for a long time and that I had honored him for the moment while he was at the dinner.
The party dissolved after this little incident, I’m happy to say. Judas stalked out of the room and Mary and I made our way to the kitchen to clean up. I washed out the remains of the perfume jar and we said very little to one another. But on the walk home we remembered Jesus’ words when he raised Lazarus from the dead.
NRS John 11:24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
NRS John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,
NRS John 11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
NRS John 11:27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."
I surely hope that Jesus will not be dying anytime soon. His work is just beginning – I believe that there are still many more miracle to be performed and people to be healed. There are still many unbelievers. His words at dinner comforted me and yet disturbed me. How could the Messiah, they one who came to deliver us, be vulnerable. Why was he concerned about the present moment and not about the future of his ministry?
When we arrived home, I placed the perfume bottle high on a shelf in the bedroom, and a little chill went through me. I shrugged it off as just the cool night air. The next day I would buy a small amount of perfume from the vendor down in the marketplace, just in case.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
"I Love You Anyway"
Sermon 03.14.10
“I Love You Anyway”
The parable of the prodigal son, found only in the gospel of Luke, is so rich a passage that it is almost difficult to find one element in it to preach about in a twelve minute sermon. Much of our fascination with this parable lies in its ability to resonate with everyone, with a story line that reads like a soap opera. There are multiple life experiences to be examined: adolescent rebellion, family estrangement, the appeal of greener grass, the consequences of foolish living, the dynamics of brotherly love, the joy of reunion and the power of forgiveness. It’s got all the Oprah stuff. But we would be here all afternoon if I decided to work through the entire passage in depth to make up for all those snow sermons that you missed. But my guess is that doing so would create a mutiny in the pews or we’d have to order in lunch, so I have chosen to base my sermon on how our lives are affected by the life, death and the unconditional grace of parental love. Please pray with me now.
Gracious God, give us the courage to face up to our failings. Give us the strength to know when we are breaking your heart through our sins. Give us the audacity to approach your throne of grace. Help us to remember the depth of your love. And may the truth of your word be found in the hearing and proclamation of the good news of the gospel message.
If we were retelling this story in modern language, we would say that a man had two sons, one who was a loser, a louse, a rat and the other who was a responsible, decent hard-working young man. The younger son is rude, takes money from his father when it isn’t his right and spends it in the next town on drugs, liquor, lottery tickets and fast women. The older son remains at home, respects his dad and helps with the household chores. He’s not the trouble-maker. He probably goes to church, too.
The younger son runs out of money, and realizes that he’s hit rock bottom. He decides to come home, and beg for a place to stay, even if he has to crash on his father’s front porch. He knows that he’s disgraced himself and is ready to make amends and suck it up.
The father celebrates the son’s return rather than beat him up. There’s a big party, with lots of food, and even new clothes. The festivities are so outrageous that Big Bob’s Beef Smokehouse is hired to cater it. The elder brother gets wind of the celebration, isn’t thrilled with the situation and has it out with the father about the fairness of it all, and says you didn’t give me the time of day, much less a backyard BBQ. The father tells the brother that he loves both children. It doesn’t have a neat ending, with lots of man-hugs and a big thumbs up from Dr. Phil. Life is still complicated. But the father in essence says to the two children, “I love you anyway.”
Now there is one verse in this text that really spoke to the parent’s heart in me and I hope that you will see its significance in the passage. When the younger son asks for his inheritance in verse 12, the response is that the father “divided his property between them.” This is the translation that we have in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. But surprisingly, the word that is translated as “property” is actually the word bios in the Greek, from which we get our word biology. Bios means life. He divided his life between them. And part of his life went out the door when his son traveled to a distant country. While the son was lost in a world of dissolute living, a part of the father also died.
Many of the losses in our lives are traumatic. When a loved one dies, people often say that something of themselves has also gone into the grave, and that life isn’t worth living without a partner. Less dramatic losses – the loss of health, the loss of a job, the loss of a friendship are small deaths along the way. I’m sure that each and every one of you has been touched by a loss that has sapped your inner strength, tested your faith, and taken a piece of life from you.
The younger son also dies, figuratively speaking. After the inheritance is gone, he is reduced to working in a swine pen, a task that was forbidden by his Jewish religion, and which added to his estrangement. He was lost to his family and his faith until he came to himself. What a beautiful phrase – came to himself. The younger son had to face himself in a pig sty of his own making before he could begin to live again.
We do not know much about the elder son’s situation while the younger son was away. Perhaps he also felt the loss, but in a different way. He might have had to take over the younger son’s chores or had to console his father. Maybe he was missing the camaraderie of having a sibling around.
Unfortunately, he becomes the party-pooper in the story, the one who seemingly spoils the ending. Instead of being the perfect child, he becomes the whiner who stubbornly refuses to celebrate the return of his brother. It is the joy in him that dies, as well as the sense of belonging to the family. He is now the lost child, looking on at a party that he chooses not to attend. Surely, he broke his father’s heart just as much as the younger son. He wasn’t chastised or punished for not coming in. His father said, “I love you anyway”, even if you don’t want to participate in the homecoming ceremony.
Some of us identify with the younger son. We’ve done things we are ashamed of and had to face our sins and failures. We’ve been down and out, have tasted misery, lost hope and tried to return home. We have run out of time and money and finally have come to ourselves, even at the last minute. And sometimes we lose ourselves and end up in the mud of the pig pen time and again.
Some of us identity with the elder son. We’ve lived a good life, made a decent living, raised up a God-fearing family, done community work and been proud of our accomplishments. We’ve pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, darn it, and made our own way, a way that we are proud of. We’re indignantly virtuous about what’s right and wrong, and as satisfied as a pig in the mud with our manner of life
Most likely, many of us fall somewhere in between the boys. We are made mistakes along the way, but most of the time we have come to ourselves in order to make it right. And it is God who is the model parent for us. No matter what we do, we are still God’s children and God is ready to take us back to life through grace, sheer grace.
When the father in the story sees the younger son in the distance, he runs out to meet him, without even hearing the boy’s confession or remorse. It is enough to see him on the road home. It is enough to know that he is in the right direction. The model of unconditional parental love requires no condemnation and no restitution. It is the grace of the father that restores him to life.
To the elder son, the father also offer grace – “all that I have is yours. My love for you has not changed even if you are upset at your brother’s homecoming. I love you even as you are spiteful and mean-spirited. I love you even as you refuse to share in the joy of the homecoming. You’ve not addressed me as father and you don’t even acknowledge your brother, but you are still in the family. Parental love means that you are still my son, in all your stubbornness and nasty attitude.”
“I love you anyway. I love you anyway” – what a powerful statement to God’s forgiveness and mercy!
The father’s love, God’s love remains the same for us. God is the waiting father, the model of parental love. God is the father that watches out the door for the return of his younger boy, and the father who leaves the party in search of the older son. God has never stopped being a parent to us, even when God’s heart is broken by our sins. “I love you no matter what you’ve done”, God says. “I love you anyway”.
For each son, and for all of us, God offers life through grace alone and with grace comes the gift of life. We never cease being the beloved children of God, despite all of the actions that we do to distance ourselves from the Almighty. We can get lost a gazillion times and still come home. We can stay home and sulk and refuse to join in the celebration. We are not punished but welcomed back, at any time and in any place. Even when we are dead in sin, the gift of life is still waiting for us. The father gives us all that he has including his own life, his bios, in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
“I love you anyway.” As we continue on our Lenten journey, consider the significance of these words, and remember that the unconditional love of our father will not let us go, despite what we have already done and no matter what we plan to do. As we make our way to the cross, let us come to ourselves and recognize the grace that is available to us as children of God. May we receive the gift of life, rather than loss, as we return home. May we remember that grace gives us more than we could ever imagine and much more than we deserve. Amen.
“I Love You Anyway”
The parable of the prodigal son, found only in the gospel of Luke, is so rich a passage that it is almost difficult to find one element in it to preach about in a twelve minute sermon. Much of our fascination with this parable lies in its ability to resonate with everyone, with a story line that reads like a soap opera. There are multiple life experiences to be examined: adolescent rebellion, family estrangement, the appeal of greener grass, the consequences of foolish living, the dynamics of brotherly love, the joy of reunion and the power of forgiveness. It’s got all the Oprah stuff. But we would be here all afternoon if I decided to work through the entire passage in depth to make up for all those snow sermons that you missed. But my guess is that doing so would create a mutiny in the pews or we’d have to order in lunch, so I have chosen to base my sermon on how our lives are affected by the life, death and the unconditional grace of parental love. Please pray with me now.
Gracious God, give us the courage to face up to our failings. Give us the strength to know when we are breaking your heart through our sins. Give us the audacity to approach your throne of grace. Help us to remember the depth of your love. And may the truth of your word be found in the hearing and proclamation of the good news of the gospel message.
If we were retelling this story in modern language, we would say that a man had two sons, one who was a loser, a louse, a rat and the other who was a responsible, decent hard-working young man. The younger son is rude, takes money from his father when it isn’t his right and spends it in the next town on drugs, liquor, lottery tickets and fast women. The older son remains at home, respects his dad and helps with the household chores. He’s not the trouble-maker. He probably goes to church, too.
The younger son runs out of money, and realizes that he’s hit rock bottom. He decides to come home, and beg for a place to stay, even if he has to crash on his father’s front porch. He knows that he’s disgraced himself and is ready to make amends and suck it up.
The father celebrates the son’s return rather than beat him up. There’s a big party, with lots of food, and even new clothes. The festivities are so outrageous that Big Bob’s Beef Smokehouse is hired to cater it. The elder brother gets wind of the celebration, isn’t thrilled with the situation and has it out with the father about the fairness of it all, and says you didn’t give me the time of day, much less a backyard BBQ. The father tells the brother that he loves both children. It doesn’t have a neat ending, with lots of man-hugs and a big thumbs up from Dr. Phil. Life is still complicated. But the father in essence says to the two children, “I love you anyway.”
Now there is one verse in this text that really spoke to the parent’s heart in me and I hope that you will see its significance in the passage. When the younger son asks for his inheritance in verse 12, the response is that the father “divided his property between them.” This is the translation that we have in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. But surprisingly, the word that is translated as “property” is actually the word bios in the Greek, from which we get our word biology. Bios means life. He divided his life between them. And part of his life went out the door when his son traveled to a distant country. While the son was lost in a world of dissolute living, a part of the father also died.
Many of the losses in our lives are traumatic. When a loved one dies, people often say that something of themselves has also gone into the grave, and that life isn’t worth living without a partner. Less dramatic losses – the loss of health, the loss of a job, the loss of a friendship are small deaths along the way. I’m sure that each and every one of you has been touched by a loss that has sapped your inner strength, tested your faith, and taken a piece of life from you.
The younger son also dies, figuratively speaking. After the inheritance is gone, he is reduced to working in a swine pen, a task that was forbidden by his Jewish religion, and which added to his estrangement. He was lost to his family and his faith until he came to himself. What a beautiful phrase – came to himself. The younger son had to face himself in a pig sty of his own making before he could begin to live again.
We do not know much about the elder son’s situation while the younger son was away. Perhaps he also felt the loss, but in a different way. He might have had to take over the younger son’s chores or had to console his father. Maybe he was missing the camaraderie of having a sibling around.
Unfortunately, he becomes the party-pooper in the story, the one who seemingly spoils the ending. Instead of being the perfect child, he becomes the whiner who stubbornly refuses to celebrate the return of his brother. It is the joy in him that dies, as well as the sense of belonging to the family. He is now the lost child, looking on at a party that he chooses not to attend. Surely, he broke his father’s heart just as much as the younger son. He wasn’t chastised or punished for not coming in. His father said, “I love you anyway”, even if you don’t want to participate in the homecoming ceremony.
Some of us identify with the younger son. We’ve done things we are ashamed of and had to face our sins and failures. We’ve been down and out, have tasted misery, lost hope and tried to return home. We have run out of time and money and finally have come to ourselves, even at the last minute. And sometimes we lose ourselves and end up in the mud of the pig pen time and again.
Some of us identity with the elder son. We’ve lived a good life, made a decent living, raised up a God-fearing family, done community work and been proud of our accomplishments. We’ve pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, darn it, and made our own way, a way that we are proud of. We’re indignantly virtuous about what’s right and wrong, and as satisfied as a pig in the mud with our manner of life
Most likely, many of us fall somewhere in between the boys. We are made mistakes along the way, but most of the time we have come to ourselves in order to make it right. And it is God who is the model parent for us. No matter what we do, we are still God’s children and God is ready to take us back to life through grace, sheer grace.
When the father in the story sees the younger son in the distance, he runs out to meet him, without even hearing the boy’s confession or remorse. It is enough to see him on the road home. It is enough to know that he is in the right direction. The model of unconditional parental love requires no condemnation and no restitution. It is the grace of the father that restores him to life.
To the elder son, the father also offer grace – “all that I have is yours. My love for you has not changed even if you are upset at your brother’s homecoming. I love you even as you are spiteful and mean-spirited. I love you even as you refuse to share in the joy of the homecoming. You’ve not addressed me as father and you don’t even acknowledge your brother, but you are still in the family. Parental love means that you are still my son, in all your stubbornness and nasty attitude.”
“I love you anyway. I love you anyway” – what a powerful statement to God’s forgiveness and mercy!
The father’s love, God’s love remains the same for us. God is the waiting father, the model of parental love. God is the father that watches out the door for the return of his younger boy, and the father who leaves the party in search of the older son. God has never stopped being a parent to us, even when God’s heart is broken by our sins. “I love you no matter what you’ve done”, God says. “I love you anyway”.
For each son, and for all of us, God offers life through grace alone and with grace comes the gift of life. We never cease being the beloved children of God, despite all of the actions that we do to distance ourselves from the Almighty. We can get lost a gazillion times and still come home. We can stay home and sulk and refuse to join in the celebration. We are not punished but welcomed back, at any time and in any place. Even when we are dead in sin, the gift of life is still waiting for us. The father gives us all that he has including his own life, his bios, in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
“I love you anyway.” As we continue on our Lenten journey, consider the significance of these words, and remember that the unconditional love of our father will not let us go, despite what we have already done and no matter what we plan to do. As we make our way to the cross, let us come to ourselves and recognize the grace that is available to us as children of God. May we receive the gift of life, rather than loss, as we return home. May we remember that grace gives us more than we could ever imagine and much more than we deserve. Amen.
Monday, March 8, 2010
"Isaiah's 7-Step Plan"
Sermon 03.07.10
“Isaiah’s 7-Step Plan”
It is not often that we preach from the Old Testament Scriptures, but this morning we turn to Isaiah because it is a text that has a strong Lenten tone, with reminders to repent and return to God during this holy season. So please pray with me now: Holy One, help us to listen to the clear voices of the prophets. Help us to listen to seek the mind of Christ in our hearing. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to Jesus, our strength and our redeemer.
There are many 12-step meeting resources for people with different problems, but none for Christians. There are Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Over-Eaters Anonymous, and many more. But no one has developed a program where people can come in and say, “Hi, my name is Joanne, and I’m a slacker Christian. I’ve really screwed up when it comes to my faith, and I came to the realization that I need help.” At least, that doesn’t happen publicly in the Protestant tradition. Even the Catholics who invented the confessional kept it private. I’m willing to bet that there isn’t anyone in this sanctuary who is dying to stand up and tell the entire congregation about their sins and how they have failed in their faith journey from time to time.
And so we have the Prophet Isaiah offering us seven steps to getting right with God, and I’d say that that was a bargain – just about half of the steps that the other 12-steps groups require. So let’s all sign up together.
What is striking about the Isaiah’s program is that it is based on imperative verbs. Think back to your English classes in elementary school. Think way back to that lesson on verbs. I won’t ask you to think about the lesson on diagramming sentences, because that’s even too painful a memory for me. Imperative verbs are commands. The best example that I can give you is to talk about training a dog. You command the dog to Sit or to Stay or to Roll Over. An imperative verb instructs you to do something. Isaiah has 7 of these verbs that are the foundation of his plan.
In the first verse, he says Come. Come to the waters, the living waters that God provides. You must Come. Everyone who is spiritually thirsty is invited to the party. God sets the table, but we need to pull up the chair. We need to take action by showing up. Those of you in the sanctuary here this morning have got this step down pat already. You have taken the action this morning to get out of bed, and make your way to church.
The second command is to buy. Isaiah is not talking about consumerism here. He doesn’t tell us to buy a big screen tv, or tickets to the Orioles games or plane fare to Tahiti. He says buy into the program. Make a commitment. Get engaged with your church. Showing up for worship is wonderful, but your heart needs to be there as well. Don’t be making up your grocery list while I’m preaching. Save that task for the offertory collection. Just kidding. Isaiah wants us to buy into having a relationship with Christ that demands more than just a surface level faith. Buy into the grace that is so freely given by our Lord and Savior.
Third, he says eat. This does not mean pigging out on Lois’ fabulous cinnamon cake during the fellowship time after the service. When he uses the word eat, it is in the sense of partaking, experiencing, savoring. The psalmist says taste and see that the Lord is good. Eat and experience fellowship with other Christians. Eat and count the daily blessings that you have received. Eat and learn about the abundant life that Christ offers. We have a holy banquet set before us and it’s time to pick up the fork and dig in with gusto. As chef Emeril would say, “Kick it up a notch!”
Verse 2 gives us the third step of Isaiah’s program. Listen. Listen. It’s starting to get a little challenging here folks. Listen. How many times have we allowed the voices of others to sway us from hearing God’s truth? It’s difficult to tune out the competing voices in our society that want to be heard: the voices of power and greed, voices of selfishness and self-satisfaction, voices of coveting everything that our neighbor has and we don’t. We need to be discriminating in what we listen to, and tune out all of the noise of what our society offers us as the best, the greatest, the most materialistic. We need to listen to the small, still voice of the Holy Spirit, not the holy complex of television sports entertainment, the home shopping network, and the reality shows that exploit our human condition. Listen to the voice of God that comes without commercial interruption.
Once you have started to listen, Isaiah says, you then need to hear me, in verse 3. Stop putting your fingers in your ears and going lalalalalala. Dig out the spiritual earwax, if that’s the problem. Attune your listening so that you actually hear and comprehend the words that are being spoken. Now the tough, tough work is beginning in this recovery plan. Many of us call out to God in pain and anguish, listen for an answer, but fail to hear it, even when it’s as big and loud as a Mack truck. Hear me, God says. Pay attention to what I say. Learn to muffle the other sounds so that my voice comes in loud and clear.
Step five of the program is found in verse six. The prophet tells us to “seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek and make the presence of God a priority in your life. Pursue a single-minded walk with God. Search diligently for times when you can chat, call out, rant against, discuss, mull over, and converse with your heavenly Father. Have the morning coffee hour with Jesus. Every day, each one of us has competing priorities – we all have the same 24 hours in which to accomplish our daily tasks. If we can make the time to get our hair cut, to get our nails done, to walk the dog, to pick up our dry cleaning, to shop for groceries and to mow the lawn (when it is not covered with 12 feet of snow), then we have the ability to set time to seek God. It’s a question of priorities.
There are two more steps that Isaiah lays out for us, both of which are particularly apt for our Lenten discipline. In the seventh verse, he uses the imperative verb Forsake. Forsake – get rid of, throw away, let go. Maybe it’s time for us to abandon whatever doesn’t work in our relationship with God. Decide what is holding you back, what is challenging your faith, and, as the 12-step programs say, “let go and let God. Forsake – leave behind. Unpack whatever you are carrying on your backs, lay your weary burdens down and forsake all the other gods in your life.
Lastly, we hear the verb Return. Once you have let go of the bad, then you need to grab the good. Come home to the loving arms of the father, as did the prodigal son. Turn to what is right, what is positive, what is faithful. Repent and turn to God for mercy and forgiveness. Returning can be hard if you’ve been away for awhile. The return could be a rough uphill climb, but the view at the top is great.
So here’s the wrap-up for our spiritual recovery; here is Isaiah’s 7-step process to a right relationship with the Holy One: Come up to the table, buy into a commitment with Christ, eat and taste the goodness of the Lord, listen to God with your mind and heart, hear the voice that is calling you home, see the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, forsake whatever calls you to the dark side, and return to the arms of your master. It’s time now to get with the program.
“Isaiah’s 7-Step Plan”
It is not often that we preach from the Old Testament Scriptures, but this morning we turn to Isaiah because it is a text that has a strong Lenten tone, with reminders to repent and return to God during this holy season. So please pray with me now: Holy One, help us to listen to the clear voices of the prophets. Help us to listen to seek the mind of Christ in our hearing. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to Jesus, our strength and our redeemer.
There are many 12-step meeting resources for people with different problems, but none for Christians. There are Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Over-Eaters Anonymous, and many more. But no one has developed a program where people can come in and say, “Hi, my name is Joanne, and I’m a slacker Christian. I’ve really screwed up when it comes to my faith, and I came to the realization that I need help.” At least, that doesn’t happen publicly in the Protestant tradition. Even the Catholics who invented the confessional kept it private. I’m willing to bet that there isn’t anyone in this sanctuary who is dying to stand up and tell the entire congregation about their sins and how they have failed in their faith journey from time to time.
And so we have the Prophet Isaiah offering us seven steps to getting right with God, and I’d say that that was a bargain – just about half of the steps that the other 12-steps groups require. So let’s all sign up together.
What is striking about the Isaiah’s program is that it is based on imperative verbs. Think back to your English classes in elementary school. Think way back to that lesson on verbs. I won’t ask you to think about the lesson on diagramming sentences, because that’s even too painful a memory for me. Imperative verbs are commands. The best example that I can give you is to talk about training a dog. You command the dog to Sit or to Stay or to Roll Over. An imperative verb instructs you to do something. Isaiah has 7 of these verbs that are the foundation of his plan.
In the first verse, he says Come. Come to the waters, the living waters that God provides. You must Come. Everyone who is spiritually thirsty is invited to the party. God sets the table, but we need to pull up the chair. We need to take action by showing up. Those of you in the sanctuary here this morning have got this step down pat already. You have taken the action this morning to get out of bed, and make your way to church.
The second command is to buy. Isaiah is not talking about consumerism here. He doesn’t tell us to buy a big screen tv, or tickets to the Orioles games or plane fare to Tahiti. He says buy into the program. Make a commitment. Get engaged with your church. Showing up for worship is wonderful, but your heart needs to be there as well. Don’t be making up your grocery list while I’m preaching. Save that task for the offertory collection. Just kidding. Isaiah wants us to buy into having a relationship with Christ that demands more than just a surface level faith. Buy into the grace that is so freely given by our Lord and Savior.
Third, he says eat. This does not mean pigging out on Lois’ fabulous cinnamon cake during the fellowship time after the service. When he uses the word eat, it is in the sense of partaking, experiencing, savoring. The psalmist says taste and see that the Lord is good. Eat and experience fellowship with other Christians. Eat and count the daily blessings that you have received. Eat and learn about the abundant life that Christ offers. We have a holy banquet set before us and it’s time to pick up the fork and dig in with gusto. As chef Emeril would say, “Kick it up a notch!”
Verse 2 gives us the third step of Isaiah’s program. Listen. Listen. It’s starting to get a little challenging here folks. Listen. How many times have we allowed the voices of others to sway us from hearing God’s truth? It’s difficult to tune out the competing voices in our society that want to be heard: the voices of power and greed, voices of selfishness and self-satisfaction, voices of coveting everything that our neighbor has and we don’t. We need to be discriminating in what we listen to, and tune out all of the noise of what our society offers us as the best, the greatest, the most materialistic. We need to listen to the small, still voice of the Holy Spirit, not the holy complex of television sports entertainment, the home shopping network, and the reality shows that exploit our human condition. Listen to the voice of God that comes without commercial interruption.
Once you have started to listen, Isaiah says, you then need to hear me, in verse 3. Stop putting your fingers in your ears and going lalalalalala. Dig out the spiritual earwax, if that’s the problem. Attune your listening so that you actually hear and comprehend the words that are being spoken. Now the tough, tough work is beginning in this recovery plan. Many of us call out to God in pain and anguish, listen for an answer, but fail to hear it, even when it’s as big and loud as a Mack truck. Hear me, God says. Pay attention to what I say. Learn to muffle the other sounds so that my voice comes in loud and clear.
Step five of the program is found in verse six. The prophet tells us to “seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek and make the presence of God a priority in your life. Pursue a single-minded walk with God. Search diligently for times when you can chat, call out, rant against, discuss, mull over, and converse with your heavenly Father. Have the morning coffee hour with Jesus. Every day, each one of us has competing priorities – we all have the same 24 hours in which to accomplish our daily tasks. If we can make the time to get our hair cut, to get our nails done, to walk the dog, to pick up our dry cleaning, to shop for groceries and to mow the lawn (when it is not covered with 12 feet of snow), then we have the ability to set time to seek God. It’s a question of priorities.
There are two more steps that Isaiah lays out for us, both of which are particularly apt for our Lenten discipline. In the seventh verse, he uses the imperative verb Forsake. Forsake – get rid of, throw away, let go. Maybe it’s time for us to abandon whatever doesn’t work in our relationship with God. Decide what is holding you back, what is challenging your faith, and, as the 12-step programs say, “let go and let God. Forsake – leave behind. Unpack whatever you are carrying on your backs, lay your weary burdens down and forsake all the other gods in your life.
Lastly, we hear the verb Return. Once you have let go of the bad, then you need to grab the good. Come home to the loving arms of the father, as did the prodigal son. Turn to what is right, what is positive, what is faithful. Repent and turn to God for mercy and forgiveness. Returning can be hard if you’ve been away for awhile. The return could be a rough uphill climb, but the view at the top is great.
So here’s the wrap-up for our spiritual recovery; here is Isaiah’s 7-step process to a right relationship with the Holy One: Come up to the table, buy into a commitment with Christ, eat and taste the goodness of the Lord, listen to God with your mind and heart, hear the voice that is calling you home, see the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, forsake whatever calls you to the dark side, and return to the arms of your master. It’s time now to get with the program.
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