Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Go to iTunes or SoundCloud for Audio Podcast
Original Manuscript:
There's a British show that many of my priest friends over in England love called Rev. It follows the exploits of a parish priest, Adam Smallbone, in small inner-city church in London. He struggles quite a bit along the way to try and grow the church and thus reach more people while, at the same time, trying to keep the church stable and running. He's a well-meaning person and generally tries to do what he thinks it is that God wants him to do.
I became aware of this show from a review of the episode I want to share with you. In it, Adam gains a curate, that is, a young priest in training who will be working under him. This young curate is brilliant. She comes in and cleans out the office and files in one day (something that would take most of us weeks, if not years)! She is social media savvy and kindly gets all of her followers online to follow Adam. Most of all, she's just a very kind and sweet person.
Adam does what I think many of us would do. He gets jealous. He makes it clear to his superiors that she would be a better fit in another parish, which of course is a mistake, but nobody's perfect.
It turns out, this young priest isn't perfect either. While she doesn't say it, she looks clearly upset with Adam during her final service. Clearly, she's harboring a grudge.
On some level, we all want to be perfect. We all want to be worthy. This is a conversation I have found comes up for many people. I hear it most from people who are near death, and I can't think of one who has expressed concern who isn't just a sweet and wonderful person. We all want to make sure we are okay in the end.
The desire for perfection can be all more cumbersome when faced with our readings this morning. Next Sunday will be the last Sunday in Lent. We feel that end coming as we read of the woman (in John's version it's Mary) who anointed Jesus' feet. It is a preparation for His death, which we will mark next week in the Passion reading. But the end is not just coming for Jesus, it is coming to this season of Lent as well. The question we might even be asking ourselves at this point is "are we ready?"
We are told in Isaiah that God is working something new. We know that new thing is the Resurrection at Easter. Last week, we heard how we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. The Psalm tells us of the joy we have at the restoration of our fortunes.
I don't know about you, but I find this part of Lent a difficult one where I have to face the reality that when it comes to being made new, being made perfect in Christ, I'm not there yet. This is the first year in a long time I am, more than less, where I want to be on my Lent disciplines, but it most has to do with my saying to myself "I want to do this and that and this, but these two things, writing and sharing my prayers, are what I have to do." It's less that I've got things down and more that I now, after many years of trying, know where my shortcomings are.
It can be discouraging to realize that Easter is coming, but we are not fully ready. Paul has something to say to us about that.
Paul, in Philippians, speaks of obtaining the resurrection of the dead, and then he states, "Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own." Some translations, instead of "reached the goal" say "been made perfect," and that seems to get at what Paul is saying a little bit more.
Our recreation in this world does not mean that we are already perfect in this life as we know and remind ourselves of in Lent. That doesn't mean we give up trying, though. Jesus loved us first, and we love Him for it. Out of love, we want to be made more fully His. Yes, we mess up and fall, more often than not. But what Paul is saying is that out of love, we keep getting back up so we can try to be more fully Christ's. We keep getting back up, and we keep trying to be those who love our Lord Jesus Christ.
This verse captures the reality of the Lenten Life so well. We live in a world of sin, and we ourselves still sin. As Paul points out, thank goodness that Jesus has done the work for us so that we don't have to be perfect, and so we can rely on Him.
This passage in Philippians is one of my favorites in Scripture because while it tells us the reality of the Lenten Life, it also gives us hope. There is hope that we can do better. There is hope that we can love Jesus better.
We don't have to be perfect now, but we will be. While we don't have to be perfect now, we do need to move forward and strive towards loving Jesus with all our heart.
The sorrow of Lent is that we live in sin, but the joy is that we won't have to do so forever. The joy is that we don't do the work to beat sin; God does that for us. The Lenten Life is the hope, despite our sorrow, of the Resurrected Life just as the hope of this time of Lent is in the Easter that is soon to come.