Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 2/25/2024
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
May your will be done,
through me.
Every year when I wear my black boots in the snow and the salt - and I watch them dry - there's this line of salt - like this salt stain - that appears - and 's really ugly.
And so for years and years I'd get a washcloth -
Soak it with water -
And I'd scrub my boots and try to get rid of that salt stain -
And it would disappear immediately - because the boot was wet -
Only to come back again when the boot dried -
Which didn't really matter because I had to put my boots back on again to go back into the salty snow and stain it all over again...
This has been going on for 40 years.
Then this 12-year-old comes into my life -
My daughter-
Who I notice one day, wiping the salt stains from her boots.
And she's doing it with a baby wipe -
I asked her - what are you doing?
And she explained that she had seen this on social media and it works.
Like you, I give social media a rather low credibility rating -
As I also do with the advice of 12 year olds...
But nonetheless -
After some time -
I get over myself-
I get over my preconceptions and doubts -
I get humble - I get curious -
And try it.
Yep, it works.
It works a lot better than the washcloth!
And it makes me wonder what preconceptions and doubts I have about other things ...
And what preconceptions and doubts you have!?
I'm wondering what you need to get humble and curious about?
Because this is Lent -
And Lent is about change -
We embrace disciplines of fasting, Bible reading, almsgiving, and prayer -
So that when we celebrate Christ's resurrection in a few weeks -
We are changed for the better!
We're calmer -
Less anxious -
More forgiving -
Kinder -
and more willing to help others.
Lent wants to call these things out of you -
To make you all you can be,
Someone who is more in touch with themselves -
More in touch with those around them -
And more committed to helping heal the world around us.
And to do this - we meet a couple of fellow travelers names Abraham and Peter - people who wrestled with their angels and demons just as we do -
And we find that their stories intersect with all that we brought into church this morning -
Our doubts - or pain - our unbelief - but also - our belief - our faithfulness - and the ways we HAVE been a good partner with God!
By virtue of the fact that you are in this building -
Or tuned in online -
You are a person of faith - at least faith the size of a mustard seed.
Which means there's a part of you that suspects God is doing something -
in you - with you - for you - through you.
And like Abraham and Peter - we are far from 100% faithful in all we say or do -
Knowing that our faithfulness falls way short of God's faithfulness
And like Abraham and Peter -
God is determined to do something -
in you - with you - for you - through you -
The question is:
Can you believe it?
------
Let's start out with Abraham.
He's the founder of all three Abrahamic, faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
He was a descendant of Noah - through his son Shem - and the first person in the Bible to be called a Hebrew.
All Jews trace their heritage to Abraham - as Isaiah 51 puts it:
"Look to the rock from whom you've been cut... your father Abraham."
In the Christian Scriptures St. Paul teaches that all Christians find their spiritual origins in Abraham, Galatians 3:29 says, "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed."
And what was so important about him?
What distinguished Abraham from everyone else?
Abraham believed!
At least - at some important points along the way...
He believed God when he was told to leave his hometown for a better place.
He believed God when he was told to take his only son Isaac to the holy mount for a sacrifice.
He believed God that, even though 99 years old, he would have a baby.
However, this wonderful faithfulness, as I say, is only half the story -
Henry Ford had great success as a wonderkind building cars.
But he also had a shadow side of racism and control, flaws not unlike Abraham.
You may remember when famine had struck the land and Abraham and his wife Sarah were forced to travel to Egypt - Fearing that Abraham would be killed and his wife taken from him -
He told Sarah to lie - and say she was Abraham's sister.
He did this not just once, but twice, when, later, he moved to the land of the Philistines and feared King Abimilech.
And then, when Abraham was frustrated because pregnancy had not come immediately to Sarah, Abraham slept with his maid Hagar instead.
All this makes me think of your journey and my journey -
Two steps forward, one step back.
That's always what it is, isn't it?
Ever been on a diet and when you weigh yourself every week, there's that one week where you actually gained a pound-
While you're on a diet?
Two steps forward, one step back -
That's the case with faith,
Two steps forward, one step back.
The steps backward are the ones filled with doubt -
The steps forward are when we believe!
God is asking each one of us to take steps forward that draw us closer to God - closer to goodness:
What's that next, right thing in your life?
It's a step of believing God!
It's believing that you'll be cared for-
That your financial, relational, and health worries don't need to sink you-
That your kids, grandkids, and biggest worries will somehow find resolution -
That our nation's politics, Israel, Russia, and the plethora of world problems that keep us up at night - might find their ends beyond our worry!
Believing God for these things - then - frees us up to work on the bigger things -
Like that vision, that dream, that hope, that possibility - that God gave you - not to simply luxuriate in - but to grab hold of - and live into - that's why everyone here has been given the gift of faith - to believe!
-------
That's what happened with Abraham - that's what happened with Peter -
We heard about him in our Gospel reading this morning -
But not included was the first part of this famous conversation that you know well -
When Jesus turned to the disciples and asked, 'Who do you say that I am?'
Someone said John the Baptist, another said, Elijah the prophet -
But it was Peter who spoke up and said, "You are the Messiah!"
Peter gets it right!
Get's an A+
Moves to the head of the class!
But moments later - Jesus explains how he will suffer and die and rise again!
Peter, clearly didn't understanding, and was certainly not happy with this news -
So he decides to object!
He's not humble - he's not curious -
He's judgmental and controlling
And he, the disciple, rebukes the Master -
Jesus, famously says, 'Get behind me Satan!'
I know that's a line some of you use when the Dessert Waiter comes around...
Peter goes from first to worst in a matter of moments -
Takes that one step back almost immediately after taking those two steps forward.
And Peter will go on to repeat this pattern!
He'll be with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration-
In the Garden of Gethsemane -
He will walk with him to Jerusalem knowing that peril awaits him!
But then, Peter will famously deny Jesus 3 times in his hour of need -
He will flee for his own safety.
He'll be nowhere at the empty tomb.
But then Peter will move forward again, and he'll found the Church in Rome and eventually be martyred for the faith!
I'm wondering how your journey and my journey look like Peter's journey?
And I'm wondering if you're in your time of denial or absence -
OR
Your time of drawing closer than you've ever been?
And if today you might be debating about leaving the past behind you - and taking one step closer -wondering: "What does that look like?"
Coming up you'll hear an anthem from our choir called 'Order my steps' -
It's about surrendering to that urge to leave behind the past -
And have God take over.
And as our music ministers lead us - you may want to think of the ways God is asking us to surrender and order your steps.
In the mean time, I've got a poem.
I've annotated the words of poet David Whyte and I'd like to invite you to feel free to close your eyes as I read -
THE TRUE LOVE
by David Whyte - annotated by Chris Yaw
There is a faith in loving fiercely -
In surrendering to the voice that calls -
especially if you have
fallen hard and often -
and part of you never believed
you deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.
Years ago in the Hebrides,
I remember an old man
who walked every morning
on the grey stones
to the shore of baying seals,
who would press his hat
to his chest in the blustering
salt wind and say his prayer
to the turbulent Jesus
hidden in the water,
and I think of the story
of the storm and everyone
waking and seeing
the distant
yet familiar figure
far across the water
calling to them
and how we are all
preparing for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly,
so Biblically,
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love
so that when
we finally step out of the boat
toward them, we find
everything holds
us, and everything confirms
our courage,
and if you wanted
to drown you could,
but you don’t
because finally
after all this struggle
and all these years
you simply don’t want to
any more
you’ve simply had enough
of drowning
and you want to live and you
want to love and you will
walk across any territory
and any darkness
however fluid and however
dangerous to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours.
Amen.