Family Tree
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle A
The fence between Heaven and Hell was falling apart. It was badly in need of repair. Saint Peter consulted his records and saw that by the terms of an ancient agreement, it was Satan's turn to fix the fence. So he gritted his teeth and sought an audience with the Prince of Darkness.
He found him in the nether regions, cleaning his pitchfork. Peter did not sit down. The smell of brimstone was heavy in the hot air. "You need to fix the fence," he said.
The devil twitched his red tail. He scratched behind a horn. "Now, Pete," he said, "you could be a little more friendly, after all these years."
"I don't want to be here at all," Peter said. "I just came to tell you the fence needs fixing."
"My people are too busy to spend time on your lousy fence. Fix it yourself."
"See here, you devil; it's your turn to fix the fence. It's the right thing to do. And if you don't fix the fence, I'll sue."
The devil laughed his wickedest laugh. "Go ahead and sue! Where are you going to find a lawyer?"
This is the closest we come to having a Sunday for the devil. It asks what it means to be human and free before God; it shows the abuse of that humanity and freedom, the sharing of that humanity and freedom, the testing of that humanity and freedom.
Genesis tells the story of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity into sin. God gives the man paradise, but part of that is also work, a task to do and a law to obey. Notice that the serpent does not struggle with God, but with the two people. At least one lesson to be learned from temptation is that not everything that is attractive is good for you. All that glitters is not gold.
I think in today's world we have problems with this mythology about devils and righteousness, sin and evil. We've come through the "if it feels good, do it" generation and have no rules left. Somewhere along the line we got out of the habit of walking with God and talking to him, so we got out of relationship with him. The sad thing is, the prevailing attitude is that God was good for when humanity was a primitive, a baby, uncivilized. But here we are in the twenty--first century; we've got to grow up and put away that baby stuff.
Today most people will not be able to make much sense of these texts. They deal with an ancient understanding of how sin is transmitted, and with mythology which the modern mind finds confusing. We even have trouble coming up with a generally accepted definition of sin. But one thing is still true: We are all shocked by sin. Sin is the unexpected, the chaotic, the unthinkable. Who would have thought that someone would deliberately fly an airplane into a building in New York? It's unthinkable. But someone thought of it, and then thought of two, and three, and maybe more. On September 11, 2001, 4,000 people were killed in just that way. That's sin with a capital S. But we all have some pretty violent and weird stuff that surfaces now and then. So there is the shock of sin.
But there is also the surprise of grace. Grace happens to us, just like sin does ... not because we deserve it, but because God gives it. We are surprised by grace, by the good things that happen, and most especially by the offer of God's forgiveness and salvation in Christ.
The story of humankind's growth and maturity to this point could be described as "descending from the family tree" - if the tree is the one in paradise and we've gone downhill from there.
I think what we might have lost since the Garden of Eden is the idea that while Eve and Adam brought sin into the world, they took responsibility for their actions and the consequences of their actions. Look at the last verse in today's reading: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."
William Easum says (in Dancing with Dinosaurs) we're living in a crack in history between the time the church dominated our society and its values and the time when the society will be hostile to the church and religion. I wonder how Adam characterized his crack in history?
Nicolas Chamfort wrote in the late 1700s: "Had anyone told Adam, on the day following the death of Abel, that some centuries later there would be places where, in an enclosure of twelve square miles, seven or eight hundred thousand people would be concentrated, piled upon one another, do you imagine he would have believed it possible that such multitudes could ever live together? Would he not have conceived an idea of the crimes and monstrosities that would be committed under such conditions much more terrible than the reality has proved?" Chamfort is saying it could be worse, and Adam would imagine it worse, and that should be some consolation. But it isn't really.
It still comes down to the individual and his relationship or lack of relationship with God. The individual chooses a way to live, a lifestyle, a foundation on which to build a life. And you are responsible for the choice you make, because no one else chooses it for you.
Now you may be saying, sometimes there is no choice. Circumstances force bad choices on us. The only choice is the lesser of two evils.
Well, here's a quotation from World War II's best product, a book by a psychologist named Victor Frankl. He wrote several, but this one is Man's Search For Meaning: "We who lived in concentration camps can remember people who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from you but one thing: the freedom to choose meaning, attitude, valuing - to choose one's own way."
Since the garden, it's been one choice after another. We make those choices every day, and we have subtle serpents even now trying to keep our minds off the fact that we are making choices. Now that's nefarious!
The devil is at work today, and not only is he nefarious, he's insidious. Here's an example of choosing what looks good without taking responsibility for the choice:
Sam liked to eat his lunch in a park near his church. He'd eat his sandwich and watch the birds and people. Over time, he became acquainted with some of the homeless people who frequented the park. As they began to know and trust Sam, they started asking him to share his sandwich with them. Sometimes he'd give away half his sandwich, sometimes all of it. So he started bringing two sandwiches, so he'd have more to share. The two grew to three, and four, and five, and pretty soon he had members of his church involved in making and distributing sandwiches. The program grew until they were distributing hundreds of sandwiches every Tuesday to the homeless and destitute in the area.
The newspapers got hold of the story and published an article about Sam's sandwich ministry. Al read the story and was impressed. He sent Sam a letter telling him Al and his friends were praying for Sam's ministry and wanted to support it. He enclosed a check from the church for $250.
A few weeks later, Al received an answering letter from Sam. It read, "Dear Al. Thank you for your support and prayers. Make your own blank sandwiches." The $250 check was enclosed, uncashed.
See, this life with God's love is about your relationship with God and his world. You don't have responsibility for someone else's sin, but you also can't get them to do your righteousness for you. Make your own sandwiches. But the good news is, God gives us righteousness in and through Jesus Christ, and that is what we have to give to the world.
Here is what we should say about sin:
I can't get rid of it. I run from it the way one tries to lose a stray dog, but it catches up with me and bounds joyfully against my legs. I'm ashamed of being seen by you, Lord, for you loved me, and I forgot you. I forgot you because I was thinking of myself and one can't think of several persons at once. One must choose, and I chose.
And God says: Come, child, look up. Do you think there's a limit to God's love? Do you think that for a moment I stopped loving you? But you still rely on yourself, my child. You must rely only on me.
Ask my pardon and get up quickly. You see, it's not falling that is the worst, but staying on the ground.
He found him in the nether regions, cleaning his pitchfork. Peter did not sit down. The smell of brimstone was heavy in the hot air. "You need to fix the fence," he said.
The devil twitched his red tail. He scratched behind a horn. "Now, Pete," he said, "you could be a little more friendly, after all these years."
"I don't want to be here at all," Peter said. "I just came to tell you the fence needs fixing."
"My people are too busy to spend time on your lousy fence. Fix it yourself."
"See here, you devil; it's your turn to fix the fence. It's the right thing to do. And if you don't fix the fence, I'll sue."
The devil laughed his wickedest laugh. "Go ahead and sue! Where are you going to find a lawyer?"
This is the closest we come to having a Sunday for the devil. It asks what it means to be human and free before God; it shows the abuse of that humanity and freedom, the sharing of that humanity and freedom, the testing of that humanity and freedom.
Genesis tells the story of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity into sin. God gives the man paradise, but part of that is also work, a task to do and a law to obey. Notice that the serpent does not struggle with God, but with the two people. At least one lesson to be learned from temptation is that not everything that is attractive is good for you. All that glitters is not gold.
I think in today's world we have problems with this mythology about devils and righteousness, sin and evil. We've come through the "if it feels good, do it" generation and have no rules left. Somewhere along the line we got out of the habit of walking with God and talking to him, so we got out of relationship with him. The sad thing is, the prevailing attitude is that God was good for when humanity was a primitive, a baby, uncivilized. But here we are in the twenty--first century; we've got to grow up and put away that baby stuff.
Today most people will not be able to make much sense of these texts. They deal with an ancient understanding of how sin is transmitted, and with mythology which the modern mind finds confusing. We even have trouble coming up with a generally accepted definition of sin. But one thing is still true: We are all shocked by sin. Sin is the unexpected, the chaotic, the unthinkable. Who would have thought that someone would deliberately fly an airplane into a building in New York? It's unthinkable. But someone thought of it, and then thought of two, and three, and maybe more. On September 11, 2001, 4,000 people were killed in just that way. That's sin with a capital S. But we all have some pretty violent and weird stuff that surfaces now and then. So there is the shock of sin.
But there is also the surprise of grace. Grace happens to us, just like sin does ... not because we deserve it, but because God gives it. We are surprised by grace, by the good things that happen, and most especially by the offer of God's forgiveness and salvation in Christ.
The story of humankind's growth and maturity to this point could be described as "descending from the family tree" - if the tree is the one in paradise and we've gone downhill from there.
I think what we might have lost since the Garden of Eden is the idea that while Eve and Adam brought sin into the world, they took responsibility for their actions and the consequences of their actions. Look at the last verse in today's reading: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."
William Easum says (in Dancing with Dinosaurs) we're living in a crack in history between the time the church dominated our society and its values and the time when the society will be hostile to the church and religion. I wonder how Adam characterized his crack in history?
Nicolas Chamfort wrote in the late 1700s: "Had anyone told Adam, on the day following the death of Abel, that some centuries later there would be places where, in an enclosure of twelve square miles, seven or eight hundred thousand people would be concentrated, piled upon one another, do you imagine he would have believed it possible that such multitudes could ever live together? Would he not have conceived an idea of the crimes and monstrosities that would be committed under such conditions much more terrible than the reality has proved?" Chamfort is saying it could be worse, and Adam would imagine it worse, and that should be some consolation. But it isn't really.
It still comes down to the individual and his relationship or lack of relationship with God. The individual chooses a way to live, a lifestyle, a foundation on which to build a life. And you are responsible for the choice you make, because no one else chooses it for you.
Now you may be saying, sometimes there is no choice. Circumstances force bad choices on us. The only choice is the lesser of two evils.
Well, here's a quotation from World War II's best product, a book by a psychologist named Victor Frankl. He wrote several, but this one is Man's Search For Meaning: "We who lived in concentration camps can remember people who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from you but one thing: the freedom to choose meaning, attitude, valuing - to choose one's own way."
Since the garden, it's been one choice after another. We make those choices every day, and we have subtle serpents even now trying to keep our minds off the fact that we are making choices. Now that's nefarious!
The devil is at work today, and not only is he nefarious, he's insidious. Here's an example of choosing what looks good without taking responsibility for the choice:
Sam liked to eat his lunch in a park near his church. He'd eat his sandwich and watch the birds and people. Over time, he became acquainted with some of the homeless people who frequented the park. As they began to know and trust Sam, they started asking him to share his sandwich with them. Sometimes he'd give away half his sandwich, sometimes all of it. So he started bringing two sandwiches, so he'd have more to share. The two grew to three, and four, and five, and pretty soon he had members of his church involved in making and distributing sandwiches. The program grew until they were distributing hundreds of sandwiches every Tuesday to the homeless and destitute in the area.
The newspapers got hold of the story and published an article about Sam's sandwich ministry. Al read the story and was impressed. He sent Sam a letter telling him Al and his friends were praying for Sam's ministry and wanted to support it. He enclosed a check from the church for $250.
A few weeks later, Al received an answering letter from Sam. It read, "Dear Al. Thank you for your support and prayers. Make your own blank sandwiches." The $250 check was enclosed, uncashed.
See, this life with God's love is about your relationship with God and his world. You don't have responsibility for someone else's sin, but you also can't get them to do your righteousness for you. Make your own sandwiches. But the good news is, God gives us righteousness in and through Jesus Christ, and that is what we have to give to the world.
Here is what we should say about sin:
I can't get rid of it. I run from it the way one tries to lose a stray dog, but it catches up with me and bounds joyfully against my legs. I'm ashamed of being seen by you, Lord, for you loved me, and I forgot you. I forgot you because I was thinking of myself and one can't think of several persons at once. One must choose, and I chose.
And God says: Come, child, look up. Do you think there's a limit to God's love? Do you think that for a moment I stopped loving you? But you still rely on yourself, my child. You must rely only on me.
Ask my pardon and get up quickly. You see, it's not falling that is the worst, but staying on the ground.
