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Sermon: The Third Sunday in Lent (C) - 7th March 2010
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping 7, 8 & 10 am & 6pm
Readings: Isaiah 55:1-9, Psalm 63:1-9, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:31-35
I found this story as I was researching this morning’s sermon.
The sign said, "Pray for revival!" It was standing on the front lawn of a well established church I was driving by in Southern California. Below the bright red letters of that plea, came the following words in bold black letters: "Preach Repentance, Urge Conversion, Commit to Christ, Embrace New Life!" Although I was in Orange County California, one of the centres of conservative Christianity in this country, what surprised me about all of this was the church itself: St. Mark's Episcopal Church!
Obviously, it was not the Diocese of Sydney. The story continues.
Driving on, I found myself wondering what would happen if such a sign were to be found hanging over the doors of (our church) the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church? "Pray for revival". He is that church’s minister. Continuing.
I didn't think much more about it until several weeks later, when driving past that same church, I saw the sign was still there. "Well," I thought to myself, "this revival is going on a bit longer than most; this priest is really serious." Two weeks later, ... I passed the church again, and yes, you already know what I'm going to say, the sign was still there. This, I thought, is the longest revival I've ever seen! And then, did it dawn on me: "Of course, this is Lent." That sneaky priest is appropriating old religious language to make his point: Lent is a time of revival: a time for repentance, a time for conversion, a time for renewed commitment to Jesus Christ, a time to embrace the new life he brings.
Last Tuesday, at our ecumenical service at the West Epping UCA, their minister, the Reverend Rick Dacey, said something like “we in this church have really benefited from these Lent Ecumenical services because we have discovered the benefit of Lent! Anglicans and Catholics do Lent well but we here are only just learning how to benefit from it.”
Isaiah asks the eternal question, a question as appropriate for us today in Epping as it was when he asked it of the children of Israel during their exile in Babylon some 2,600 years ago: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?" It is the eternal question.
You and I don't have to be a hard charging, work obsessed masters of the Universe financial types to have it address us. Why is it we spend so much time absorbed by things that mean so little? Lent is a time for us to reflect on what we are thinking, on how we are spending our time, or more correctly still, on how we are spending our lives.
"Spending our lives” is an interesting phrase when you think about it. When we spend money, we give it away; we exchange it for something else we think of equal value. Is it the same with how you and I spend our lives? What are we giving them away for, money, power, fame, prestige, security? Is it worth it? How useful will those things be thirty seconds after we are gone; will we look back and ask, "Why did I spend so much of my life on that?" Why do you spend your life on that which does not satisfy?
Isaiah's eternal question is accompanied by an eternal invitation: "Come!" Come without money and without price." Isaiah is telling the captives that God's invitation to life is free. God gives it away to any who will receive it. It is as simple as, "Seeking the Lord where he may be found, calling upon him while he is near." The offer is universal; good, bad, indifferent, even the "wicked" and the 'unrighteous" are invited. All that is required is action on our part, action that refocuses our priorities, action that redirects our resources, action that changes the way we "spend our lives."
That is not always easy, is it? There are so many other invitations things shouting for our attention, promising us life, imploring us to spend our lives on them. That's why we need things like that sign the priest put on the church's lawn. "Seek the Lord where he may be found”. That is why we are here, or is it? Never mind; Jesus makes it clear even in our distractions, that those life-spending-sprees that ultimately leave us running on "empty", the Lord is always seeking us.
This is the point in the gospel today. For the entire previous chapter, Jesus has been calling for repentance; lives turned around to embrace God's mercy and gift of life. However, those listening to him think he is talking about someone else; the Galileans Pilate had slaughtered as they worshiped, or the eighteen killed in Siloam when that tower fell on them. Like most of us, they are trying to avoid Jesus' challenging words about repentance by playing the "But look; we are not bad as them" game. You know that game. Most of us are expert at it, but Jesus will have none of it and makes the point that this is not about comparisons between ourselves and others. This is about living lives in response to God's gracious and patient invitation. One does not need to be wicked to repent. It is enough to be empty, confused, overwhelmed, barren, aimless, or simply out of touch with the source of life. The good news is, even then, like the gardener in the parable, God is patient, gracious and merciful, cultivating contexts in our lives so that you and I can turn around.
The owner of the barren fig tree is fed up; the tree is taking up good soil and producing nothing. He tells the gardener to cut it down, but the gardener objects. "Just one more year of cultivation; this time with an abundance of manure. Give it one last chance to produce fruit worthy of the ground it is taking up."
There is an earthiness about this parable; especially Jesus' image of manure being spread over the roots of our lives to help us grow into who we are called to be. The parable says that God will do anything and everything, is able to use anything and everything in our lives to give us opportunity to redirect them so they are rooted and grounded in him, and produce good fruit. Therefore, part of the eternal question is this: How much manure is enough? What does it take to turn you around?
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which does not satisfy?" It's the eternal question. On this third Sunday of Lent, where do you need revival? Where is some repentance in order? Where do you need to turn around to embrace God's love and offer of life? Where do your commitments to Christ need to be made or renewed, so that you can know the new life that comes in him?
"Seek the Lord where he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Come, take wine and bread without money or price."
This sermon composed using one by The Rev. Dr. Fred R. Anderson, www.map.com