SERMON FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

TEXT: Romans 10: 8b - 13

“The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame. ”For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

TITLE: "On Your Lips and In Your Heart"

PREACHED BY: the Rev. Caroline B. Edge at Carter Memorial United Methodist Church, Needham, MA on Feb. 25, 2007.

In a recent confirmation class I asked the youth to think about the most important question that I will be asking them on behalf of the whole church at the Easter Vigil when they are to be confirmed. The question is "Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?" To simplify: "Do you confess Jesus Christ as Lord?"

At that confirmation service we will expect to hear the youth make this confession with their lips, "I do!" We all are praying that they will also be making this confession in their hearts. Lips: Public profession of faith; heart: deep seeded commitment to be a life-long follower of Christ.

Each of us who has ever joined a Christian church has made the same confession. All of us who have made that a heart-commitment, not just a lip announcement, remember the tremor we felt within our soul. We knew we were doing something very important. We truly wanted to be faithful followers of Jesus. Yet, there have been times since we confessed Jesus as Lord when we have not been quite so faithful. We have backslid to use a good United Methodist term. What are we to do? How do we regain that first wonderful sense of love for Christ? That is the reason the church gives us Lent. It is a season – not forever – just 40 days – just the weekdays between these six Sundays for us to reflect on our sin, for us to repent and ask forgiveness, for us to practice being more holy – not sanctimonious, but holy.

One of the Oscar nominees for best actor is Peter O’Toole in the movie "Venus". There is a poignant scene in that movie when Peter O’Toole’s character – very old and obviously approaching death – visits his wife with whom he had had a non-traditional relationship and apologizes for ways that he had let her down. We don’t know what those sins were although some can be imagined, but as the movie-goer we are allowed to watch a beautiful scene of reconciliation between two old lovers. Amending our ways with God and with others is what Lent is all about. We are invited to renew our original confession of faith and to cozy into God’s everlasting arms again and be one.

One of the ways we do that is by practicing spiritual disciplines that we may have fallen away from or which we have never practiced. When we experience a person whom we feel is especially God-like, he or she makes that relationship look easy. It is like a dancer on a stage – a ballet dancer leaping and twirling in complicated movements. It looks so easy. Yet it has taken that dancer years of practicing, of stretching and repeating movements over and over again to mold her muscles and bones and brain so that the dance is performed effortlessly. That is the reason we do spiritual disciplines such as praying, reading the Bible, practicing acts of social justice over and over again until we are trained to leap in unison with our partner God across the stage of life.

When we discussed with the confirmands this question about confessing Jesus as Lord, we asked them how did they experience God’s salvation. Hands flew up and one after another stated confidently, "We are good; we do good. That is the reason Jesus saves us." I kept nodding my head, "Wrong!" Finally, one youth tentatively said almost questioningly, "all we have to do is to accept God’s love for us, acknowledge that God is already loving us." "Yes!" That’s it. Then I asked, How do we respond to God’s loving us already? We respond by being good, doing good. We thank God by living Christ-like lives. We do not earn salvation by good works is how the Protestants have traditionally talked about this idea. We are saved by faith. When we decide to follow Jesus, to accept God’s reconciliation of us, then we seek to live like Jesus – to serve others, to pray, to know the scriptures better, all of that good stuff.

Paul says in today’s lesson that we must believe in our heart. During Lent we are invited to reflect on this simple question, "What does it mean to believe in one’s heart?" Or we might ask the question theologically, "what does it mean to have faith?"

Lisa Stenmark at the Center for Theology of the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley in a theological reflection on goodpreacher.com reminds us of the great Danish theologian Soren Kiekegaard who explores this question of what does it mean to have faith deeply. In his book Fear and Trembling "he lifts up Abraham as a true example of faith….Using the sacrifice of Isaac as a framework, he spins different versions of the story, each based on a different understanding of faith." Remember God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. His son Isaac was finally born when Abraham and Sarah were old. There would not be another child. Then God commands Abraham to take Isaac to a high mountain, build an altar, and sacrifice him.

"In the first version, faith is the unswerving belief that God will deliver us from our tribulations. Abraham believes that God will not ask this sacrifice. He approaches Moriah with eyes searching for the expected reprieve. With each step it becomes more difficult to suppress his growing doubt. At the final moment, he hesitates confused, hurt, anxious, hoping for the sign. The sign comes, but Isaac – with a son’s sensitivity – has felt Abraham’s anger and confusion. He leaves the mountain believing that God cannot be trusted.

In another version, faith is the unfailing acceptance of tribulation. Kierkegaard describes an Abraham resigned to sacrificing Isaac. He is God’s faithful servant, and whatever God asks of him he will do. He gives up all hope of being a father to a great nation. Approaching the mountain with "infinite resignation," he gives up Isaac. When in the final moment he gets Isaac back, Abraham becomes bitter and angry. His sacrifice was for nothing. Worse, because he had become "the man who sacrificed Isaac," he no longer knows who he is, or what it means to have faith. Having given Isaac up, he finds he cannot take Isaac back.

Neither of these stories is right. Faith is not believing that God will fix everything, although this is often mistaken for faith. Taken in by this view of faith, it is hard not to start ‘second guessing" God, looking for how and when God is going to fix things." We can imagine all the ways that God is going to make things right and miss the path that God would lead us down.

"Just as Abraham approaches the mountain knowing that God is asking this sacrifice of him, it is sometimes necessary to face hopelessness." I have been there. It was ten years ago this month that my husband was diagnosed with an incurable cancer. After a lot of reading and consultations with experts, we realized there was not going to be a silver bullet discovered during Bill’s lifetime. People who always think God is going to fix things miss the opportunity to grieve, to make amends, to say good bye. I remember one man in a bereavement group which I attended after Bill had died saying that he and his late wife never talked about the fact that she might die. They never talked about it! Their denial blocked the things that each of them needed to do to prepare for her death.

"Yet faith is not simple resignation. This too is often mistaken for faith: "This is my cross to bear. I must accept the Will of God." Such folk "of infinite Resignation risk getting caught up in the nobility of their own suffering." Thus they miss resurrection happening in their lives. For Kierkegaard, it is great to give up hope; it is greater still to have hope once you have given it up. "Abraham, despite knowing that God was asking him to sacrifice Isaac, believed the promise of God. He believed – without knowing how – that he would have Isaac." When Bill and I realized that basically there was no hope of survival for him, we began to have hope in the peace that God would give us in Bill’s last years and in his dying. "For Kierkegaard, faith is believing that what is impossible is what God has in store for you." I am here today to testify that our prayers were answered; yes, Bill died, but his living provided many wonderful surprises for us both, and his dying was quick and relatively painless.

So on this first Sunday in Lent I invite you to revisit that question asked of you when you joined the church. Do you confess Jesus Christ as your savior? I invite you to practice spiritual disciplines that will help you return to that first love you had for Christ. May you have a blessed Lent. Amen.