Sermon for April 10, 2014
11:00 Rite 1 Service
The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse
St. Philip’s In The
Hills Parish, Tucson, AZ
For online access to
the readings click here.
I speak to you in the
name of One God:
Creator, Christ and
Holy Spirit. Amen
Today
we commemorate William Law,
a
priest in the Church of England in the 18th century.
What
do any of you know about him? Who was
this guy?
pause
In
the wonderful book Glorious Companions[1],
the
author calls William Law a
“commando
in the chapel of ease.”
We
might call him a bull in a china closet.
But
neither metaphor is completely accurate.
Law
took his faith seriously
and
challenged others to do so, as well.
His
work laid the foundation for the religious revival
of
the 18th century with one of his books entitled,
“A
Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.”
Published
in 1729, it has never been out of print since, which means that there is, even
today, a longing to learn
how
to take our Christian living seriously.
In
his time, this book shook up the
“…bland,
lethargic, and complacent tolerance”
of
his times and continues to do so today.
With
chapters on
·
the
nature of Christian devotion,
·
why,
in general, Christians fall so far short of holiness,
·
the
danger of not intending to practice all Christian virtues,
·
how,
in our employment we still are obliged to devote ourselves to God,
·
how
to make a wise and religious use of “estates and fortunes”,
and
other stark teachings.
The
main thrust of his work was:
“Christian
devotion concerns not merely
religious
exercises and good works,
but
the whole of life –
our
use of time and money, every relationship,
every
thought and deed.
It
is a life totally given to God and thereby transformed
into
the likeness of Jesus Christ.”[2]
When
Law wrote A Serious Call,
he
did so because he saw a society
whose
intentions to live a devout life seemed paralyzed.
In
Serious Call, he said this
about “intentions,”
(have someone read from
slips of paper)
[“It
may now be reasonably inquired,
how
it comes to pass,
that
the lives even of the better sort of people
are
thus strangely contrary to the principles of Christianity.
It
is because men have not so much as
the
intention to please God in all their actions…
And
if you will here stop, and ask yourselves,
why
are you not as pious as the primitive Christians were,
your
own heart will tell you,
that
it is neither through ignorance nor inability,
but
purely because you never thoroughly intended it.”
Law
directed his message to those whose religion
was
an “add on” to life already full of other concerns.
pause
In
our day, Bishop Gene Robinson
uses
the metaphor of “inoculation.”
In
The Eye of the Storm[3],
Robinson
describes how inoculation works:
“You
don’t want to get chicken pox, so you go to the doctor,
who
gives you just enough chicken pox
to
make your body form antibodies to it.
So
you never get a full blown case of chicken pox….”
Could
it be, Robinson (and perhaps Law) ask,
that
we actually go to church for such an inoculation?
“If
we took to heart what we read in scripture,” Robinson says, “…and hear in
church,
we
would set about changing our own lives
and
seeking to transform the world.”
What
would it look like to have a “full-blown” case of Christianity?
For
Robinson, it would result in
befriending
the oppressed,
working
for justice, and
offering
ourselves sacrificially
in
God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
For
Law, it would mean pure devotion.
In
many ways, Law invites us, today,
to
enliven our intentions .
He
invites us, you and me both, to reflect if – and for how much - our religion is
an inoculation
that
might be “paralyzing our intentions”?
Perhaps
Jesus’ words from the Gospel reading were meant to free the disciples from their
paralyzed intentions:
Three
times he alerts his disciples:
beware
how they practice their religion –
to
stay alert to their intentions:
are
they practicing religion to be seen by others or
for
the gifts that God has in mind?
"So whenever you give alms, do not do it…
so as to be praised
by others.
"And whenever you pray, do not do
it…
so as to be seen by
others.
"And whenever you fast, do not do
it …
so as to show others
that you are fasting.
Do these things (practicing your religion) for
God’s glory.
…For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also."
In this passage, Jesus emphasizes intentions
to the disciples – and to us.
This is how Law, in his time, and Robinson in
our time,
inspire our journey to follow Jesus as we do
this Lent.
Yet even our clear intentions and
all that we do are not the full story.
The good news is that God’s grace
infuses all our intentions, from God’s view.
pause
In the letter to the Philippians, Paul names
this infusion of grace when he contrasts
what he has gained through his own
efforts and intentions
to what he receives freely through Christ.
In his powerful opening lines, he states,
“I regard everything as loss
because of the surpassing value of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord,” -
that what he has earned or gained or created
through his own efforts are all a loss compared to what he gains through God in
Christ.
The good news today is that while we strive to
have good and devoted intentions in our spiritual practices,
God, in Christ, intends to love us even through
our paralyzed intentions.
God, in Christ, clarifies our intentions and
puts treasure in our heart.
God, in Christ, already dwells within our
hearts and empowers us to follow Jesus the best we can.
God, in Christ, wants to know us – yearns for
our relationship, and offers the power of resurrection.
And *that* is how we get a full-blown case of
Christianity.
Amen
