What Kind of God is This?

What Kind of God is This?
A Sermon preached at St. Luke's Church
by Ms. Peach McDouall
on Ash Wednesday, 01 March 2006

The best Ash Wednesday sermon I ever heard was preached by a priest at seminary who’d had way more fun than he meant to at the Mardi Gras party the night before, and had been last seen losing his jambalaya over a balcony. When we gathered the next morning, his face was the color of wet newspaper. His hands shook. He preached on human frailty and limitation, and neediness of grace, and embodied everything he preached. We loved him, so we forgave him, and knew God might just forgive us, too. It was very moving.

For the next 40 days, we, as a Church, are invited to meditate on all the nasty parts of ourselves God loves in spite of. It’s not much fun, and for some, 40 days out of 365 seems like too much time to spend dwelling on something so unpleasant. But consider – if we’re perfect and God loves us for our perfection, what are we doing here? What purpose did Jesus’ Incarnation serve? Let alone His life, crucifixion, and resurrection? What are we doing when we celebrate Eucharist?

On the other hand, if we devote some time and energy to discovering and considering all the ways we fall short, the more ways we find, the more miraculous it becomes that our perfect God loves us ANYWAY and wills to heal us. As St Theresa of Avila said, “Humility is accuracy.”

Seen in this way, our Isaiah text is wonderful news! Isaiah reminds us that human failing and need for mercy isn’t restricted to our individual peccadilloes and shortcomings – as depressing as they are to enumerate….

No, Isaiah, like most biblical prophets, doesn’t spend much time addressing individuals. Sure, maybe the odd king, but in general, Isaiah (like Amos, Jeremiah, and the rest) is addressing a nation… a culture… that makes a claim to be especially beloved of God while behaving very badly.

When we open our minds to the possibility of collective… systemic sin & guilt… to a cultural need for mercy & healing… Now that’s REALLY depressing. Any God who could love us despite that…& have the will & power to redeem & heal that… that’s more amazing than we can conceive.

So, in a puny attempt to comprehend a little more of God’s goodness, and become just this much more accurate… let’s explore this painful text from Isaiah. It cuts to the bone. “Day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness…” “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers…”

This isn’t a matter of partisan affiliation. If only it were that easy.

I don’t believe anyone here present is delighted by the fact that our way of life is polluting the air, water, & soil we will leave to our children. I don’t believe any one of us is thrilled to think that all their clothing is produced in sweatshops, or that the cropworkers who make it possible for us to eat every day are living and working in conditions we wouldn’t wish on any of our sons and daughters. I DO believe each of you would join me in a prayer for the babies who will be born today in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Iran, North Korea, and the Sudan… in the poorest parts of Durham, Detroit, and the Dakotas. For babies born into famine and plague, ancient hatreds and toxic waste.

No, this isn’t a partisan problem. Israel had factions too. Isaiah isn’t crying out for a change of administration. He’s accusing an entire nation of hard-heartedness toward the poor, pride, hypocrisy, greed, lust, injustice, usury, and idolatry.

The prescription Isaiah offers the people of Israel cannot be carried out by individuals, any more than my buying lunch for some homeless guy fixes the systemic problems of poverty and homelessness. The healing required by Israel, like the healing required by our nation & culture and the healing required by any sin-sick soul, is beyond anyone’s individual ability. I’d argue it’s even beyond our collective human ability.

Imagine if we all, as a nation, changed our minds tomorrow about doing things the way we’ve been doing them (this, by the way, is the definition of “repentance.” Changing our mind… thinking again….). So imagine we all look up tomorrow morning and say, “We want to do it different. We want to get it right from now on, by gumby!” Could we? Could we overcome our own momentum and inertia? Our habits, upbringing, and addiction to comfort? Could we, any more than an individual human being can? The bad news is, I don’t think we could.

That’s too depressing to even think about, so we don’t. We know it in our guts, but we can’t think about it or talk about it. It hurts too much. It would be reason to despair, if not for the Good News.

The Good News is the kind of God Who awaits our individual and collective repentance. A God Who is not only capable of healing & redeeming any stupidity human beings can dream up, but is already doing it.

What kind of God is this??

The kind of God Who, on the night he would be betrayed and abandoned by his friends, gave those friends the means to heal a breach they didn’t yet suspect would exist. “Here is my Body. Here is my Blood. Here is my Life that cannot die. I give it to you. It will be yours now.” This is the Fore-Giving God we worship in Jesus Christ. A God Who is already giving us the way to health and wholeness, before we even admit we’re sick.

When will we finally drop our defensive denial & delusion & pride that boasts, “I’m FINE! We’re just DANDY! Better than THEM, anyway…” Join me this Lent in thinking again and turning our minds together toward yearning for the wholeness God has prepared for us from before time existed. The same Fore-Giving God Who hears our cry for mercy IS A LOVE that has, in Itself, all the power required to raise us up from our own ashes ((hallelujah)) Amen.