Ollie, Ollie, All In Free!
Sermon
Sermons on the Gospel Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
It is probably not theologically advisable to begin a sermon with a complaint, but I am going to defy that advice. I have a complaint, and it is this: Nobody plays the good, old, childhood games anymore! When leaves turn color, and temperatures turn cool, my thoughts turn to outdoor games we played as children. Remember those days? All the children in the neighborhood would gather in an empty field somewhere, and we would choose up sides, or decide who was "it" and then the game would begin. It might have been "Capture the Flag" or "Kick the Can" or "Steal the Bacon" or "Ghost in the Graveyard" or "Flashlight Tag" or "Worm." Now those were games! Didn't need a computer or Xbox or Wii! But you tell that to children today and they think you're crazy! "Kick the Can? You played Kick the Can in the olden days? What fun was that?" They just don't get it!
I can remember one autumn weekend when I worked with Young Life, we took a few busloads of children up to Castaway Club in northern Minnesota. By Saturday afternoon, the children were all revved up but the leaders were bushed, so we gathered everyone on the field for a game of "Foxes and Chickens." The children were in a giant circle, and these were the rules: "We will come around the circle and whisper in your ear what you are -- a fox or a chicken. Then we will blow the whistle twice. On the first whistle, all the chickens should run and hide. On the second whistle, all the foxes should chase the chickens and bring them back to the coop." Then we began: whistle! whistle! Immediately, everybody took off. It was bedlam! What we didn't tell them was that none of them were foxes. Oops! Two hundred children hiding and nobody chasing. Then the leaders went in and took a nap!
There is a common thread running through all these backyard games that children don't play anymore; the common thread is "hiding." Whether the game is played on an empty neighborhood field, at a Christian camp, or in a darkened church, the goal is always the same -- hide so that nobody can find you. And yet, I find it interesting that the most exciting part of these games is not in the hiding, but rather, in being found. No matter how great your hiding place is, the laughter and the joy come when someone finds you.
It seems to me that our lives on this earth bear a strange resemblance to those childhood games, because many of us spend our days hiding. We have secrets about our lives that we reveal to no one. We have certain habits, or character flaws, or certain events in our past that are shameful or embarrassing, so we keep those things hidden. We have private thoughts that must never see the light of day, so we do whatever we can to deny them, or run away from them, or cover them up so that people will not know what we're really like. Because, if they really knew us -- if they really knew the kind of people we really are -- they would reject us. That's the fear, and that's why we hide.
I once invited a friend of mine to preach in our church in Salem, Oregon, because he is a dynamic speaker and a brilliant theologian. And this is how my friend began his sermon: "The best thing about cows is that they know they are cows." And I sat there thinking, "I paid $1,000 and brought him 2,000 miles to say that?" But my friend wasn't done yet. "The best thing about cows is that they know they are cows. They eat and they poop and they don't try to conceal that from one another." In human terms, what he was saying is that cows are honest with one another about who they are and what they do. They don't try to hide it. They don't try to pretend that good cows don't do that sort of thing. It's cow nature! And yet, our prideful human nature is to conceal our sins and our shortcoming so that people will think more highly of us. That is dishonest.
Of course, the best example of hiding in human history is the story of Adam and Eve. They had sinned, no doubt about that. They heard the expectation of God, and they blatantly disobeyed it. As soon as they realized what they had done, they hid themselves. How foolish to think that they could hide from God! How foolish to think that God would allow them to stay hidden. God enters the Garden of Eden and calls out to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" And they respond "We heard you coming and we were afraid, so we hid from you." And that is the human condition, you see; we know we have messed up, we know we have sinned, and so we hide.
On Reformation Day, pastors like me love to recount the story of Martin Luther boldly nailing his 95 complaints to the door of the church at Wittenburg, Germany. I think it gives us a perverse sense of pride when we suggest that Lutherans get it and Catholics don't. I have made that error and I have hurt some feelings along the way, so I'm not going to do that anymore. This year I'm just going to offend everybody! I am going to do this by saying this: "None of us really gets it!" It's not just the Catholics. It's not just the Baptists. It's all of us. How does the second lesson say it? "For there is no distinction to made, since all have sinned, all have fallen short of the glory of God."
We can't hide the sinful condition of our lives -- not from God. We can fool one another for a while with our piety and our good deeds and our righteousness. We can keep the unsavory parts of our lives stuffed deep down within ourselves, and maybe no one will ever discover them. But God knows; God knows every lie, and every lustful fantasy, and every hateful thought, and all our hurtful pride. And he calls that "sin." Every one of us has fallen short of pleasing God because of our sin.
And that is precisely why Jesus died; so that the final verdict would not be "guilty" but rather "forgiven." He died so that we would know better than to be afraid of God and try to hide from him. He died so that we would never again be sent from the Garden because of our sin, but rather, be welcomed back home in spite of our sin. This is a radical thought, especially for those of us who love the game ... the ones who are the best at hiding. We have become so accustomed to hiding our sin that we don't even see it ourselves anymore, and then when we compare ourselves to others, we look great! For us, it seems, it's Halloween all year long, and we keep those religious masks firmly fixed on our faces so that nobody knows what our warts and flaws really are.
I remember those fall nights so long ago, when the leaves turned color and the temperatures turned cool, and we played those backyard games. Often, my hiding spot was so good, I was never found. Even when I wanted to be, I was never found. I would get tired of hiding, but my pride kept me there. Sooner or later, I would hear someone scream the words I wanted to hear from my hiding place: "Ollie, Ollie, all in free!" Game's over. You can come out now. There's no reason to hide anymore. And that's the message God wants to scream to you this day: "Ollie, Ollie, all in free!" The game's over. There is no penalty to pay. There are no secrets to hide. The truth is, your have been set free from your sins. And if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Thanks be to God. Amen.
I can remember one autumn weekend when I worked with Young Life, we took a few busloads of children up to Castaway Club in northern Minnesota. By Saturday afternoon, the children were all revved up but the leaders were bushed, so we gathered everyone on the field for a game of "Foxes and Chickens." The children were in a giant circle, and these were the rules: "We will come around the circle and whisper in your ear what you are -- a fox or a chicken. Then we will blow the whistle twice. On the first whistle, all the chickens should run and hide. On the second whistle, all the foxes should chase the chickens and bring them back to the coop." Then we began: whistle! whistle! Immediately, everybody took off. It was bedlam! What we didn't tell them was that none of them were foxes. Oops! Two hundred children hiding and nobody chasing. Then the leaders went in and took a nap!
There is a common thread running through all these backyard games that children don't play anymore; the common thread is "hiding." Whether the game is played on an empty neighborhood field, at a Christian camp, or in a darkened church, the goal is always the same -- hide so that nobody can find you. And yet, I find it interesting that the most exciting part of these games is not in the hiding, but rather, in being found. No matter how great your hiding place is, the laughter and the joy come when someone finds you.
It seems to me that our lives on this earth bear a strange resemblance to those childhood games, because many of us spend our days hiding. We have secrets about our lives that we reveal to no one. We have certain habits, or character flaws, or certain events in our past that are shameful or embarrassing, so we keep those things hidden. We have private thoughts that must never see the light of day, so we do whatever we can to deny them, or run away from them, or cover them up so that people will not know what we're really like. Because, if they really knew us -- if they really knew the kind of people we really are -- they would reject us. That's the fear, and that's why we hide.
I once invited a friend of mine to preach in our church in Salem, Oregon, because he is a dynamic speaker and a brilliant theologian. And this is how my friend began his sermon: "The best thing about cows is that they know they are cows." And I sat there thinking, "I paid $1,000 and brought him 2,000 miles to say that?" But my friend wasn't done yet. "The best thing about cows is that they know they are cows. They eat and they poop and they don't try to conceal that from one another." In human terms, what he was saying is that cows are honest with one another about who they are and what they do. They don't try to hide it. They don't try to pretend that good cows don't do that sort of thing. It's cow nature! And yet, our prideful human nature is to conceal our sins and our shortcoming so that people will think more highly of us. That is dishonest.
Of course, the best example of hiding in human history is the story of Adam and Eve. They had sinned, no doubt about that. They heard the expectation of God, and they blatantly disobeyed it. As soon as they realized what they had done, they hid themselves. How foolish to think that they could hide from God! How foolish to think that God would allow them to stay hidden. God enters the Garden of Eden and calls out to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" And they respond "We heard you coming and we were afraid, so we hid from you." And that is the human condition, you see; we know we have messed up, we know we have sinned, and so we hide.
On Reformation Day, pastors like me love to recount the story of Martin Luther boldly nailing his 95 complaints to the door of the church at Wittenburg, Germany. I think it gives us a perverse sense of pride when we suggest that Lutherans get it and Catholics don't. I have made that error and I have hurt some feelings along the way, so I'm not going to do that anymore. This year I'm just going to offend everybody! I am going to do this by saying this: "None of us really gets it!" It's not just the Catholics. It's not just the Baptists. It's all of us. How does the second lesson say it? "For there is no distinction to made, since all have sinned, all have fallen short of the glory of God."
We can't hide the sinful condition of our lives -- not from God. We can fool one another for a while with our piety and our good deeds and our righteousness. We can keep the unsavory parts of our lives stuffed deep down within ourselves, and maybe no one will ever discover them. But God knows; God knows every lie, and every lustful fantasy, and every hateful thought, and all our hurtful pride. And he calls that "sin." Every one of us has fallen short of pleasing God because of our sin.
And that is precisely why Jesus died; so that the final verdict would not be "guilty" but rather "forgiven." He died so that we would know better than to be afraid of God and try to hide from him. He died so that we would never again be sent from the Garden because of our sin, but rather, be welcomed back home in spite of our sin. This is a radical thought, especially for those of us who love the game ... the ones who are the best at hiding. We have become so accustomed to hiding our sin that we don't even see it ourselves anymore, and then when we compare ourselves to others, we look great! For us, it seems, it's Halloween all year long, and we keep those religious masks firmly fixed on our faces so that nobody knows what our warts and flaws really are.
I remember those fall nights so long ago, when the leaves turned color and the temperatures turned cool, and we played those backyard games. Often, my hiding spot was so good, I was never found. Even when I wanted to be, I was never found. I would get tired of hiding, but my pride kept me there. Sooner or later, I would hear someone scream the words I wanted to hear from my hiding place: "Ollie, Ollie, all in free!" Game's over. You can come out now. There's no reason to hide anymore. And that's the message God wants to scream to you this day: "Ollie, Ollie, all in free!" The game's over. There is no penalty to pay. There are no secrets to hide. The truth is, your have been set free from your sins. And if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Thanks be to God. Amen.
