William Yagel

Grace Radford

August 7, 2022

Proper 14, Year C

Breathe into Me

O God, empty me of angry judgements,

and aching disappointments,

and anxious trying,

and breathe into me 

something like quietness

and confidence,

that the lion and the lamb in me

may lie down together

and be led by a trust 

as straightforward as a little child.

 

Catch my pride and doubt off guard

that, at least for the moment,

I may sense your presence

and you caring,

and be surprised

by a sudden joy

rising in me now

to sustain me in the coming then.

Amen

 

From Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder

 

God always knows what is on your heart.  God understands our motives.  God understands that sometimes we are kind to others because we need to be kind in the very core of our being, and sometimes we are kind to others because a voice is ringing in our ears, telling us to behave.  Sometimes we go through the motions of kindness, but really we aren’t feeling very kind.  God gets all that right?  We may think we are hiding it from the world, but our belief tells us that God knows not just our actions, but our motives as well.  

Some faith traditions or individuals might offer that God is keeping track of your rights and wrongs.  One could call it the Santa Claus model, where salvation is the gift we are all pining for, but only after of a lifetime of goodness can we “earn” God’s grace.  Guilt can become a primary motivator, and we can again begin to consider God as the cosmic vending machine who trades eternal love for merit badges.  This model may match many of our human interactions but that is not how God operates.

While I was in Seminary we reflected on the reason or the goal of our liturgies together.  The somewhat surprising answer from my professor, and Doctor and Priest who had spent his entire adult career officiating at the table and leading communities through services was… nothing. To be clear, he has a bit of a flare for the dramatic, so he loves contradictions like that.  But, in this case, he offers an essential truth.  Our time together is not one of doing.  It is one of being.

Have any of you ever have been involved in an instructed eucharist?  Well, your jaws may well be closest to the floor as you hear these words.  For those who haven’t, an instructed eucharist walks through our Eucharistic liturgy and explains all of the movements of the service.  Let me assure you, that there is not a single word of the Eucharist, or any of our liturgies, that is accidental.  The placement of the components; the deep order of the service; every element of that celebration has 2000 years of history translated into our context today, to arrive at the final product.  

And, of course, contrary to my Professor’s assertions, we are doing something.  We are doing something here this morning in our prayers and our reading of scripture and our responding with song, right!  But Dr. Farwell is speaking to that deeper truth, the one of which Isaiah speaks this morning.  That when we come together in common worship liturgy is both the ends and the means in itself.  We set aside this time to be profoundly un-productive.  Sure, we are bodies in motion, thinking and doing, but we as a community accomplish nothing if we are doing it right.  

There is no product, there is no quantifiable output from our time together.  We give thanks, we offer ourselves, but there is no transaction here.  This worship is not what gets us a route to God’s Love.  That is always offered.  It is our hope that over arc of our lives and worship together we find ourselves attentive to the presence of God in our lives.  That we find ourselves in relationship with the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all things.  But it is not a direct line to the boss upstairs.  It is a necessary tension that we are doing and that we are not doing when we are here.  This is a unique time, set aside from everything else in our lives, a time that is profoundly different in form and function.

But the people of Israel whose story we have been hearing through Amos, Hosea, and now Isaiah have been getting it wrong, and this morning we hear a clear indictment of their behavior.  God Says:

“What, to me, is the multitude of your sacrifices?”  

“I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity”

 

The worship of the people is hollow because it is intended to appease God, not to be in relationship with God.  Like, throw God a hamburger and then we can do whatever we like!  This is treating God like an Idol, or again, that cosmic vending machine.  They were keeping God at bay with a worship that was perfect, that was solemn, that was in accordance with tradition, but which missed the great tradition of the covenantal relationship with God.  The perfect liturgy is a failure if our hearts are not focused on justice in all our lives.  The beauty of this place is wasted if our hearts are not focused on God.  And we all know it is so easy to lose focus, to find a rabbit hole to get lost in, to believe the parts more essential than the whole.

The people of the Northern kingdom of Israel stand as an example of how one can get off track.  How in our hopes to “get it right” we can easily lose track of what it is.  We can begin to focus on the tasks in our midst and lose sight of the being we are called into with God.

Selah.

Again, if we are not careful, we can lose track of this call to being when we hear the passage from Luke this morning.  At lease for me, when I read this passage, I think of the “Jesus is coming, look busy” bumper sticker, and giggle at it all.  This notion of preparation that Luke conveys can easily be heard as a call to constant vigilance where we only “behave” because we hope to attain God’s salvation.  This is not how it works!  Salvation and Grace are always available, they are not subject to the rules of supply and demand!

So, when we hear Luke telling us to be ready, to be dressed for action, it is this action of being that we are called into.  It is into this tension of relationship with God who bestows grace and love freely and who desires our lives to be directed Godward, bent to justice, that we are called.  When we are together in worship we are reminded of this call, and of God’s abundant Love.

Remember the first line of our reading from Luke?   

“Do not be afraid little flock, for it is God’ good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” 

Hear in these words the part-God wants us to be happy.  God wants to be in relationship with us.  God is constantly seeking us.  This reading is not an effort to coerce us into behaving.  It is not a wish that we operate out of fear, or anxiety, or expectation, but rather an expectation that we inspired by God’s love of us.  

From that Love may we:

Cease to do evil, 

Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Rescue the oppressed,

Defend the orphan,

And plead for the widow.

May our time together bring us into closer being with God, and may we know that we are called to be God’s love in this world, and may we know that God working in us prepares us for the work in the weeks and months and years ahead.  May God’s love infect this church and makes her an example of God’s justice in each other, in Radford, and in the world.  

 

 

Amen