The New Story

The New Story

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, O.A., Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas

July 24, 2016;  Proper 12, Year C, Track 2

Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Genesis 18:20-32)  The Lord said to Abraham, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know."

So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" And the Lord said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake." Abraham answered, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." Again he spoke to him, "Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." Then he said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there." He answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." He said, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." Then he said, "Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."

(Luke 11:1-13)  Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say:

                Father, hallowed be your name.
                Your kingdom come.
                Give us each day our daily bread.
                And forgive us our sins,
                for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
                And do not bring us to the time of trial."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, `Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

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The folktales of Paul Bunyan the mighty lumberjack capture a part of the American frontier spirit. He is a figure of immense physical strength and wonderful skill, personifying the power of the pioneers who tamed the forested wilderness of the American west.

The stories of Sodom and Gomorrah teach a lesson about a core value of the desert—the law of hospitality. Like the frontier west, life is hard in the desert. If a stranger comes into your camp or village, the law of the desert demands that you graciously offer extravagant hospitality: water to wash the stranger's feet and to quench his thirst, the best available food, the choicest place of rest and shelter for traveler and flocks. We saw Abraham offer that desert hospitality to three strangers last week.

The people of Sodom and Gomorrah violated that sacred duty of hospitality. So God determined to punish them, according to the story.

Today we read of Abraham's engaging in Middle Eastern bargaining, talking God down from the immoral proposition of destroying the good in the process of punishing the evil. That is a classic dilemma of power, the problem of unintended consequences and collateral damage. In this story, it is Abraham who limits the wrath of God.

But human corruption is so endemic. There are not ten righteous men in the wicked cities. So, Abraham's nephew Lot and his family must flee as God destroys the cities. Alas, subsequently in the name of Sodom and Gomorrah, centuries of faithful people have practiced cruel inhospitality toward their gay neighbors, misusing power in a tragic misinterpretation of scripture. Human corruption is so endemic.

We misuse power. And just like the western pioneers projected their power into the stories of Paul Bunyan, we human beings often project our desire for ultimate power upon God. We humans are tempted to invoke God's wrath upon our enemies, or upon those we perceive as bring wrong or different. We humans will do terrible acts of violence in God's name. Stories like Sodom and Gomorrah sometimes offer Biblical cover for our human abuse of power.

Jesus is the antidote to the abuse of power and to the misinterpretation of God's nature. Christians see God through the lens of Jesus. Colossians speaks to us today:  "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition." Empty deceit is so endemic. Do not fall for it. Instead, we are to look to Christ, "For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority."

How does God in Christ deal with evil? Jesus is the story that reverses the evil story of Sodom and Gomorrah. How does God in Christ deal with evil? Colossians continues: "[H]e forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities, making a public example of them, triumphing over them in [the cross]."

Instead of using threatening, coercive power, Jesus overcame evil with love: a divine love that was willing to be crucified rather than to use violence, threat or coercive power. Instead of merely defeating his enemies with power against power, Jesus absorbed their evil into his vast loving heart, then he rose from the dead, bringing new life to all, the act of ultimate power. The early church called this the New Creation. Literally, a new way of being.

Some of you may have been brought up in churches that still live in the old creation, run by a god threatening Sodom and Gomorrah violence, a god intending to throw everyone who is not like us into fire and brimstone. That god is not the God of Jesus.

The God of Jesus chose to be one with us, all of us, fully experiencing human life. All of human life, including its suffering and evil and death; raising it all up into the New Creation. We are invited to participate in that New Creation by letting Christ live in us.

Thomas Keating puts very personally. "God seems to want to find out what it is like to live human life in us, and each of us is the only person who can ever give [God] that joy. Hence our dignity is incomparable. We are invited to give God the chance to experience God in our humanity, in our difficulties, in our weaknesses, in our addictions, in our sins. Jesus chose to be part of everyone's life experience, whatever that is, and to raise everyone up to divine union."[i]

You are loved. You are safe. So you are free, a new creation empowered to love as Christ has loved you. But that's hard. Richard Rohr puts it this way: "The cross is not the price that Jesus had to pay to convince God to love us. It is simply where love will lead us… If we love, if we give ourselves to feel the pain of the world, it will crucify us."[ii]

We see a life-giving pattern in Jesus. He works hard; he heals and teaches; he practices his active love. But afterward, he withdraws into prayer. That's where our gospel story starts today. Jesus retired to a certain place to pray, to renew his passionate union with God and to rediscover what is most real.

After withdrawing, he returns grounded, and tells his disciples how to pray. First, he says, connect with God's goodness and being; align yourself with God's good purpose. Then Jesus gets very practical. He says God's agenda includes our daily bread. Food, security, shelter. He tells us, accept your forgiveness and extend forgiveness. Then a he makes remarkable economic imperative: forgive debts. Finally, he tells us to pray, "save us from the time of trial."

Then Jesus renews the ancient law of hospitality with a new story. Can you imagine going to a friend at midnight to help feed a traveler and the one inside refuses? Of course not! How much more generous is God. Ask, seek, knock; you will receive, find, and be welcomed. Ask for love, and you receive divine love, the Holy Spirit. Receive love, and give it away. Hospitality in the New Creation.

The way of life in this New Creation is no longer the way of Paul Bunyan or of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is not the way of power or threat or violence or intimidation or control. The way of life in the New Creation is the way of love: to know yourself to be loved and accepted, and then to be willing to risk life's crosses in active love, including the practical love of daily bread, forgiveness, release of debts, and courage in the face of trial. That's our joy and our challenge.

"God seems to want to find out what it is like to live human life in [you], and each of us is the only person who can ever give [God] that joy."

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[i] Thomas Keating, Fruits and Gifts of the Spirit, New York: Lantern Books, 2007. p. 39

[ii] Richard Rohr, from his "Daily Meditation" email, The Third Way, June 28, 2016