Rector's Sermon - Sunday, March 23, 2003

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Exodus 20:1-17	19:1-4, 7-11	1 Corinthians 1:18-25	John 2:13-23

     The majority of the Ten Commandments were not about properly pleasing or worshipping God but about right relationships with one another. The commandments given at Mount Sinai were the basics. God never intended people of faith to stay out in the desert, but to travel on and learn more. God had plans and much more to teach. Hence, generations of prophets and teachers amplified and built on the foundation the commandments provided.

     The Lord’s Prayer, the prayer given by Jesus to the disciples, follows in this tradition. Jesus knew that temples claimed to be built to God often turn out to be warehouses for our own idols. Jesus didn’t expect his followers to build monuments to God’s greatness, as much as to construct bridges across humanity’s borders. Hence, his prayer does not direct our gaze to the heavens to honor God’s majesty, but encourages us to ask for the simple, yet necessary worldly provision of food. “Give us today our daily bread”. It recognizes that all of us need sustenance. It reminds us of our neighbor’s need, and not just our own. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others”, directly connects the awareness of our own sense of forgiveness with the process of forgiving others. Our relationship with God is defined, not by an individual piety disconnected from the world around us, but precisely in terms of our relationship with others. If we are to love God, we must care for others. Recipients of God’s grace are invariably sharers of God’s grace. To ask, how is it between God and us, involves exploring how it is between others and us.

     Less than a month ago, Rowan Williams became the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. In his sermon he said, “Once we recognize…that we are all made to be God’s sons and daughters, we can’t avoid the call to see one another differently...No one can be written off: no group, no nation, no minority can just be a scapegoat to resolve our fears and uncertainties…and this is what unsettles our loyalties, conservative or liberal, right wing or left wing, national or international. We have to learn to be human alongside all sorts of others, the ones whose company we don’t greatly like, the ones we didn’t choose, because Jesus is drawing us together into his place, into his company."

     Lent is not a season of self-denial so that we may impress God with an opulent display at Easter. Lent is not a series of practices and rehearsals before we blare out the alleluias of the resurrection. Rather Lent is a season of reconciliation, in our world, in our time, among us in this place. It directs us to reflect on everyday interaction. For the victory of life over death, and the spirit of the risen Christ is revealed in restored, renewed and deeper relationships. That is why genuine peace is not simply the absence of conflict. Peace involves a new earth, a society of people with new hearts.

     We are still learning the implications of the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. We are still learning to resist building monuments to our own selfish idols. We are on a continuing search to understand what it means to be human. It’s hard work and we have a long way to go. Nonetheless, people of faith are those who keep hope alive, hope for a changed and different world. For most of us this doesn’t involve heroics as much as everyday caring and willingness to learn more, to be more sensitive, to broaden our vision. We usually do our best work in the place where we are, yet God isn’t going to leave us stuck in any one place. In some sense God is always calling us forward. People of faith know that God still has great plans for us all.

     And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen