I Lent 2014

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity Sermon I Lent Sunday March 9, 2014 The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11 Today we have the story of the Garden of Eden in our Scriptures. A classic theological story of God’s will, humanity’s will, of covenants made and broken, of choices and consequences, of sin and God’s beginning again or Redemption. There is an ancient welsh Celtic Christian garden story that dates back to the 7th century that invites us anew into the garden story. It tells of young pilgrims set out to find the mind of God. They land on a lush green island that is filled with beauty and has on it everything they need. There God himself greets them and welcomes them to this idyllic Oasis far away from the cries, the pains, and challenges of the world. “Yes, it is ideal, they said, here they can pray, eat, sleep, and work the land and need live perfectly”. God shows them all there is to enjoy of this special place and points there to three small habitats with doors in front of each. “These two doors God says, you may enter at anytime and for any reason, but this third door you must not enter.” The story goes that the men lived there for many years enjoying the gifts that God had bestowed upon them and never going near that third door, until one day, curiosity got hold of one of the men. He made his case for wanting to open the door and though the other men were uncertain, nothing in them rose up to stop the man, instead deep inside them, they too were curious. Temptation would have its way. Then a fateful choice, the door was opened. It was said then, that the men upon opening the door, were suddenly overwhelmed and shaken from the idyllic world in which they were gifted to live. For the door they opened was the door that revealed them to the harshness, the brokenness, the suffering, and the evils endured by all of humanity. It was said then that the men were so overwhelmed with the knowledge they possessed of sin and brokenness of the world, that the consequence of their choosing to open the door was that they were forced to leave their idyllic Island, and their broken open hearts would have them live a life “in the brokenness” sharing and taking on others pains and suffering. They had become mindful of every loss they had ever sustained, of every relationship that they longed for and missed, and of every ill that had come upon them and those who they loved. They became present to sin. The story of Lent is a story of us. A story of our dreams of God’s preferred future for HIS creation and our innate desire to both live into that preferred future and humanity’s limitations and brokenness in pursuing it. It is a story of how we oft hope to live into the “deals” we make and how sometimes we fall short in keeping the deals we make AND the consequences of those failures. It is a story then of sin, that is as our prayerbook says it, finding ourselves in distorted relatinships with our God, with ourselves and with others. It is also a story if we read and listen carefully, of redemption, for God as the main character in the story (not us) there is always a beginning again. In this beginning again, there is again always opportunity, to get it right as it were. This is true for Adam and Eve, who are given new clothes for a new day and a new world to understand and to live in; this is true for our young men. The consequence of their choice is they can no longer live separated from the “sin and brokenness of the world” but now in full knowledge of it, the ancient story reveals to us; they are given new hearts for new ministries of compassion especially reaching out to the suffering; and its true for us, who are given over and over again, new opportunities for new life as we embrace anew our relationship with our God and with our “neighbors”, WHEN we name and recognize our sin and hand it to God for redemption. This as St. Paul tells his listeners in Rome comes in “the free gift” we seek to know in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We take again a Lenten journey together. Examine again through your own time of prayer, fasting, reflection, those places in your live where this story of “sin” and “redemption”, is told. Perhaps there is an opportunity given the brokenness and suffering of the world and of those you know or even of your own brokenness and suffering to “begin again with God” and ask God to fashion some new clothing a new heart if you will. An opportunity to practice receiving a gift of new start, a “free gift” as St. Paul tells us, a gift that only comes when we surrender our sin to Christ’s redemptive power. Try these simple disciplines suggested by Priest and author Mary Earle perhaps as fabric and string, the beginnings of some new clothing for you this Lent. 1. Make a list of five people whose tending to things in your life has deepened your life as a follower of Christ. Thank God for each person. Write them a note. 2. Quietly offer an act of support to someone you know is in need of compassion and a little support. (a prayer, an anonymous card, a small anonymous gift). Choose a person who is struggling with a problem or a relationship, someone who is ill or suffering in some way, someone who is lonely or even lost. 3. Believe that some small act of yours can make a difference in the world! Pick a charity or ministry to support this lent. Send a contribution and if you can give a little bit of your time to it. 4. Finally, believe that wherever you go, Jesus goes, wherever you are Jesus is. In true Celtic tradition- welcome Jesus to your rising, to your meetings, to your struggles with yourself and with others. Invite Jesus to have breakfast with you, to lunch and to sup with you. Invite Jesus to your commute, to your conference with parents, or meetings with your clients. To your cleaning the house, to your jog around the block, To your serving the homeless, to your argument with your spouse. Invite Jesus into your temptations, for surely as we read in the Gospel today, Jesus knows temptation. Invite Jesus into your contradictions, the places inside yourself that just don’t add up. Invite Jesus into your reconciling, your new heart. Caed mille failte rohoat- yosa. Yosa. These the Gaelic words to a hymn of invitation taught to those of us who journeyed these past 10 weeks in our Celtic spirituality class entitled “The Bardsey Initiative. Caed mille failte rohat Yosa Yosa, means Welcome Jesus, 100,000 welcomes Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus. Welcome Jesus to your journey this Lent. Amen