Because I Live

(preached 5-29-2011)

Acts 17:22-31

John 14:15-21

Grace and Peace to you this morning. Grace and Peace.

This morning we have testimonies about God and about who Jesus is and what he is doing. Paul is standing in the midst of the pagan world, in Athens, on the Hill of Mars, dedicated to the god of war. He has seen all of their statues and idols and temples. They have gods for everything. For fertility, for war, for luck, for business; state temples dedicated to their leaders who have been deified; both the indigenous gods and the gods of their conquerors; house gods that they pray to for their families, for their children.

Offerings are made to the appropriate gods depending on what is needed or wanted. Tribute is brought depending on what good has happened. And sacrifices are made to assuage the gods when something bad has happened.

Paul sees all of this, and he sees an altar marked, “to an unknown god.” This was the ultimate insurance policy. Just in case they missed one.

And he says to the people, “Let me tell you about the God you don’t know.” And he uses their language: “In him we live and move and have our being…” This is the language of the pagan poets, but he uses it to speak of Yahweh, God of creation, the Lord.

He borrows another phrase: “For we are indeed his offspring….” And if we are his offspring, we ought to observe the duties of children to their parent. God does not live in shrines made by hands, nor does God need anything from us, as if we would feed God. (Paul knew his psalms, for those of you paying attention.) God requires justice and mercy in how we treat one another, not more sacrifices.

Jesus is speaking to a different crowd: insiders, his disciples. He tells them how he will be present to them following the crucifixion, after the resurrection. The Holy Spirit, Spirit of truth, the Counselor, will dwell with his followers who keep his commandments, will be with them and within them. And because Jesus lives in them by the Holy Spirit, they will live.

I do not claim status with Paul or Jesus except by my baptism and by the love freely given by God. But I want to add my testimony to theirs this morning.

I love the United Church of Christ statement of faith. But one line in particular catches me “You seek in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.”

“God seeks in holy love” – which is not the judgmental ways in which I am prone to think. I would make a fabulous Pharisee. I am an incredibly judgmental person. But I have encountered the ways in which being judged by others is damning. And in how Jesus saw people, I have seen a more excellent way.

So one of the ways Jesus saves me is from my own judgmental nature.

My introduction to the depth of Christian compassion came from my pastor, Boyd Carter. This was after college when I was waiting tables and tending bar and trying to figure life out. I had been working with him for a while, and I got to the point where I was ready to unburden a heavy load of stuff I had been carrying around for a long time. He recognized this was a tough moment for me, and he said, “Whatever you are about to tell me will not change how much I love and respect you.” And I believed him. And it was true.

From that moment came two things: acceptance and calling. I felt accepted. Flaws and all. Warts and all. Mistakes and past history and all. And I felt called. I wanted to be able to help others the way he had helped me.

“God seeks in holy love” – this is so different from the ways the world wants to stack everybody into right or wrong, winner or loser, us or them. Holy love sees beyond the categories we use. Like my pastor, not knowing what I was about to say, telling me that whatever it is, I was still loved. And it was true.

So one of the ways Jesus saves me is from shame and guilt and feelings of not being worth the space I take up, of being less than a child of God.

“God seeks in holy love to save all people.” I believe that this means that categories of race, or religion, or gender, or wealth, or status, or sexual orientation, or nationality, or whatever else we use to mark differences, these don’t matter so much to God.

“God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.” “Aimlessness.” How did that get in there? The word never appears in the Bible. The original writers of the Statement of Faith discussed it a long time, and wanted to keep the word “aimlessness” in there, because it spoke of the way so many people experience lostness.

If aimlessness is part of the problem, what then does salvation from aimlessness look like? Meaning. Purpose. Hope. A path to follow. Work to do that makes a difference, both for the worker and for others.

So one of the ways Jesus saves me is by calling me to meaningful work; but also calling me to pay attention even when doing things like washing the dishes or feeding Mira. The opposite of aimlessness is not simply being busy. The opposite of aimlessness is seeing life as a sacrament, as the physical and visible ways of God being at work within us.

And sin. Mistakes made. Opportunities for doing good that were missed or squandered. Hurts inflicted or returned. Judgmentalism. Using or seeing others as simply the means to my own good or my own enjoyment. I can hit most of these before my second cup of coffee.

But not only do I have examples of how to do better than these – found both in scripture and in the community of faith; and not only do I have a conscience within me that knows right from wrong most of the time – which does a lovely job of jabbing me in the soul when I do something I know I ought not do, or leave undone some good I know I ought to have done; but the Holy Spirit keeps giving me reminders and hints and guidance. Sometimes through you, in our conversations during Bible study, or in the Bess Fulton Room, or in a hospital waiting room. Sometimes through reading scripture or prayer.

And there is grace. When I confess and let go, I find forgiveness. Making a mess and getting forgiven still means I need to clean up the mess. I may still need to fix it with you if that particular sin hurt you as well. But that fix is made possible because we are both held in a love greater than ourselves.

So one of the ways Jesus saves me is by hounding me with the hounds of heaven. And when my sin is confessed, there is also forgiveness.

The difference being a Christian finally makes for me is that reconciliation, resurrection, some answer other than fighting or running away, is possible. Not automatic. But possible. And in that possibility I work out my salvation with fear and trembling, as Paul would say.

And I worship God, because in worship I remember and giving thanks for the ways Jesus saves me, in holy love, from aimlessness and sin.

As Jesus told his disciples, so I say to you. Because he lives – in the resurrection, present in the Holy Spirit – I live. That is my testimony.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.