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Sermon March 29, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Lent/ALent5_RCL.html#nt1
Delivered via online service due to Coronavirus
Recording of Sunday Service: https://zoom.us/rec/share/ 2ut1AZf- 2VtOT6vNz3jSRpR9RqjIaaa8hykX_ PsIzR3loR3Pr_19NEOKaxmTYWQO
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Romans 8:9
During Lent I have been reading the booklet, A Way Other Than Our Own by Walter Brueggemann. Professor Brueggemann is known for his scholarship in the Old Testament and taught at Columbia Theological Seminary. He is ordained in the United Church of Christ.
Each meditation begins with a Bible verse, then the meditation and ends with a prayer. This past Thursday’s entry immediately caught my attention, because the Bible verse chosen, Isaiah 43:1, is from a passage of the Bible I memorized many years ago. I call it God’s valentine to us and have even given it out to parishioners around Valentine’s Day. The passage, Isaiah 43:1-4 goes like this:
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
4 Because you are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you,
Professor Brueggeman begins his meditation with this powerful sentence:
“Being unafraid is an odd vocation; but it is the vocation of all those who have been baptized.” (p. 60).
Isaiah writes: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
But what about now with this tiny virus we cannot even see that is forcing us to upend our lives. Shouldn’t we be afraid?
Well, yes, we certainly have times of fearing this virus and our concern or fear helps us do what we are told as far as staying apart physically from each other.
Yet, in many ways, we as Christians are not living in fear. Brueggeman says, “The truth is that frightened people will never turn the world, because they use too much energy on protection of self.” (p. 60)
That’s what Paul means by living in the flesh. When we live in the flesh, we are self-centered and concerned only for our own well-being. We are at the center of our world.
Yet, when we live in the spirit, we are connected to God and live life differently. We are not afraid. Listen to how Brueggeman talks about people living in the spirit, who are unafraid:
- The unafraid are open to the neighbor, while the frightened are defending themselves from the neighbor.
- The unafraid are generous in the community, while the frightened, in their anxiety, must keep and store and accumulate, to make themselves safe.
- The unafraid commit acts of compassion and mercy, while the frightened do not notice those in need.
- The unafraid are committed to justice for the weak and the poor, while the frightened see them only as threats.
- The unafraid pray in the morning, care through the day, and rejoice at night in thanks and praise, while the frightened are endlessly restless and dissatisfied.
Yes, we are living in uncertain times and as followers of Jesus Christ, we are in the spirit and can live unafraid.
Hear this prayer that ends the meditation:
In a world of fear and anxiety, you empower us to live lives of wholeness, lives that make the world whole and turn it right side up. Embolden us as those who know that they are called by your name.
As we live differently through the next months, may we live unafraid and in the spirit.
Amen
