A Pretty Good Offer

a sermon on letting go

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
    according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
    which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
    and for glory to your people Israel.’

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ -Luke Chapter 2

(If you’d like to listen to this sermon (highly recommended - preaching is a spoken art form) then click above. Sermon starts at 20:50.

Let Go

I didn’t check exactly how today’s feast is celebrated here at the cathedral. But I do know how we celebrated our first Candlemas back in the day at House For All Sinners & Saints, just a few blocks from here. I had thought it would be a good idea, since we met at night, to end the liturgy outside by lighting some sky lanterns and releasing them into the night sky. The open flame at the bottom of each paper lantern both lights them and fills them with hot air so they float.

You may have seen videos of dozens of these glowing orbs being released into the dark sky over an ocean. It’s quite moving.

I now know there’s a reason there aren’t videos of sky lanterns being released over crowded, historic neighborhoods like Capital hill – because several of ours got stuck in old trees and tangled in power lines and one even landed on the roof of a 150 year synagogue.

That was also quite moving but in a very different and much more panicky way. One of my parishioners, a retired fire chief put her hand on my shoulder leaned in and gently, but firmly said “This will not be happening again”.

All that is to say, I wish us all a blessed and safe Candlemas.

I do love this story from Luke about the prophets Simeon and Anna and the infant Jesus.

And I’ve spent the last few days thinking about how when the Christ child was in his arms that Simeon said he was destined to be a sign that will be opposed so that the thoughts of the hearts of many will be revealed. As far as prophesies goes, it was spot on … because Jesus was and is certainly opposed by many and it for sure reveals the thoughts of their hearts…like the ones who accused him of being a drunkard and glutton and friend of sinners, because they personally disliked the company he kept.

So it’s ironic that this is what I was writing about the very moment I got a very suspicious text message Wednesday from a number I didn’t recognize. The sender was asking me for the contact info for Asher, a former parishioner of mine who happens to be transgender.

The text read “I’m trying to reach Asher to obey God”.

Now, the less mature part of me wanted to text back, “look moron, if you have an problem with Asher don’t pawn it off on God. Deal with your sad little issues and leave Asher out of it.”

But miraculously, more mature instincts prevailed so I simply took a screen shot of the text, and sent it to Asher telling him to be warned and then satisfied, I blocked the unfamiliar number.

And thought, yes. Jesus is a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed and there’s no doubt in my mind that when that stranger texted me for Asher’s number it was about their own transphobia and not at all about anyone “obeying God”.

And those were the thoughts of my own heart that were interrupted when I got a text back from Asher.

Hey! Thanks for the heads up, he wrote, but that was Kate C (mutual friend) joking around..she got ahold of me hoping I had a few minutes for a queer person she knows who needed someone to talk to. Anyhow, hope you’re well.

And that is the moment the Collect For Purity came to mind, and it’s basically all I have thought about for days. That prayer that Christians have used in worship since at least the 8^th century.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name.

…to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts…

When we pray the Collect For Purity I’ve always assumed it’s about like, our pride and envy our evil schemes and desires.  It’s about the corrupt parts of us we prefer to keep hidden under our good works and smiling faces.  And it is, I’m not saying it’s not. But this week I was forced to consider that maybe another benefit of praying the Collect For Purity is the opportunity to admit, even though I hate to – that no matter how sure I am about what the real motivations of others are, it is Almighty God and not almighty me – to whom the inner thoughts and true desires and hidden secrets of others are known. In other words, as we like to say in the 12-step world, the main difference between me and God is that God never thinks they are Nadia.

It feels a bit disappointing at first, but quickly becomes the greatest relief in the world.

Because if it is to Almighty God and not almighty us that the truth of other people is revealed, it means we can stop telling ourselves stories about the inner thoughts and hidden motivations of our friends and our siblings, and other drivers on the road  and even our general contractors. And I don’t know about you, but that frees up a lot of time for me. Which sounds exciting.

But it also means that our God can free us from thinking we know what is in the hearts of our enemies, those who have harmed us, even those with whom we have justifiable grievances. And if you are anything like me, that doesn’t sound very exciting.

This is one reason why I’ve been known to say that the Gospel is like, the worst good news I’ve ever heard.

If you’re with me on that, at least we are not alone. Because, as Simeon prophesied, Jesus faced opposition from folks because of who he ate with, and how pious he was or was not being, true. But if you look back, the one thing that got him in the most trouble was really that whole forgiveness of sins thing. Forgiveness of sins was the sign most passionately opposed. Forgiveness – Jesus’ insistence that no one’s value can be calculated by the sum total of their worst moments, Jesus’ insistence that there are streams of mercy never ceasing that flow from the heart of God. Well, the opposition to Jesus message about the forgiveness of sins was fierce and it was immediate. Because we can’t just let people off the hook, like that Jesus. We have protocols for these kinds of things. I mean think about how angry people got about forgiveness of student loan debt. And borrowing money for college isn't even a sin.

As a Lutheran, I thought OF COURSE I wholeheartedly believed in the forgiveness of sins, or else I’d never be able to volunteer as a prison chaplain. I mean, this week at Denver Women’s prison, I had zero problem looking a woman in the eye who had committed murder and saying to her: you are loved and wanted and totally forgiven by our mighty God. Zero problem with this.

But here’s the kicker – I do have a problem saying that exact same thing about someone who has hurt me personally. Maybe because my resentments are special. They are precious and justified. And when something feels that valuable it’s hard to pry it from my fingers.

But to stay in a place of unforgiveness is to believe that the value of the people I resent can be calculated by the sum total of their supposed crimes against me. I only see them through a grimy lens of my own wounds and not in the light of Christ, in these moments, Jesus is a “sign opposed”.

Man, I feel for the disciples when they say, “Jesus, this teaching is hard”

Let God

So, my sweet friends, here we are. Standing in the need of prayer. With an absolute treasury of freedom right in front of us, so much healing right in front of us. I can only hope you need it as much as I do.

Because right here, in this moment, in this very place Jesus the great forgiveness peddler is saying come to me you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Which means we can lay these burdens down. Jesus invites you to leave them here when you come to his table, exchange them all for bread and wine. …Because there is no wrongdoing to you or by you that is a match for God’s mighty mercy. There is no resentment that is too heavy to lay in his arms. There are no prideful assumptions about other people that cannot be washed in the blood of the lamb. Because this God, this burden-taking God, has cleansing power…enough to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts from all fear, cleanse from all resentment, cleanse even from all self-loathing and self-pity.

It’s a pretty good offer.

So, in the words of the great Isaac Watts

Why do we then indulge our fears, suspicions and complaints

Is he a God …and shall his grace grow weary of his saints.

God’s grace shall not ever grow weary of doing that for which it is intended and there is no shame in availing ourselves of it basically all the time.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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