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The Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 25, 2007
Delivered by Reverend Sandra Stayner
Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:8-14
Luke 20:9-19
Keep your eyes on the prize!
When I was a child I took piano lessons. I loved to play but I wasn't too keen on practicing. My teacher told me I had a wonderful touch but I had to work harder to learn the fundamentals of piano playing. Unfortunately I was too busy with other things like field hockey and netball and girl scouts. When I did sit down to practice I would spend the first half hour messing around with music I had already learnt, leaving little time to practice the new things I was supposed to be learning. Later on in life I had a friend who was a piano teacher. She helped me make up for the hours of practice time I'd wasted during my childhood and I experienced the joy of playing music with a more perfect technique. The other night I was watching a master class on television. A master pianist whose name I never got, was teaching a brilliant young man to play a piece of music by Beethoven. This master would pick out a few bars of the music and explain how the brilliant young man could play even better by changing his technique a little here or there. It was incredible to watch the young man play this beautiful piece with ever more depth and meaning as he began to understand what the master was saying to him - a little more crescendo here, firmer hands there - I was transfixed by the whole process, as was the audience attending the class. I could see the satisfaction the young man gained from his ability to reach new heights in his ability to express the exquisite music that was now coming through his fingers and hands. The many, many hours this young man had obviously spent mastering the intricacies of piano playing were now paying off, as he experienced the great satisfaction of being able to perfect his piano playing at the hands of this great master.
Like that young man we are invited by the Christ, the master life-giver, into a deeper, fuller experience of the exquisite joy that comes from living lives that have been deeply informed by Christ's love. St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, expresses enormous respect for the way that community has allowed its life to be formed in the context of Christ.s love, a sentiment I feel often with regards to this community also. As Paul experienced among the Philippians, there is a deeply settled desire in this place to express Christ's love for one another. But Paul firmly encourages the Philippians as he might encourage us today, not to become complacent or self-satisfied with the life they have but to press forward in their goal to become ever more closely identified with the deep, compassionate love of Christ. "Press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" he says.
But the prize for which we must strive is not always as clear for us as it seems to be for Paul. Prizes are usually something you want to get. They're a reward for being extra good at something. St. Paul tells us that the prize for which he strove throughout his life was the prize of knowing the power of Christ.s resurrection, the conquering power of love over evil in all things. Now that is something worth striving for! Don't we all long for the day when there is no more evil or pain or suffering around us? Of course we do. But Paul goes on to say that he wants to know Christ and the power of his resurrection by sharing in his sufferings, and therein lies the rub. We are happy to share in the joy of the resurrection but we're not sure we are ready to walk the walk, because there is always that big wooden cross looming on the horizon, seeming to cause the very kind of suffering we want to avoid whenever possible...until we encounter the power of the resurrection.
You see, the wonderful thing about the gospel story is that in Jesus, God chose to become a part of all that it means to be human, to live on earth in human form which means that through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with us through all the joys and struggles of life. And that means that there is nothing we will ever face without the loving presence of God. Now we can all enjoy life, or to refer back to my first metaphor, we can all play the piano as well as that young man at the master class.
But Christ the master life-giver like the master pianist, calls us to an even greater mastery of the principles of living a godly life. The prize that is laid before us is not only the peace that comes from knowing Christ to be with us in the suffering of our lives, but the even greater joy of offering our lives to relieve the suffering of others as we stand with them in their suffering.
The call to love may come in the middle of the night when a sick child cries out for help. It may come from a neighbor down the road who is exhausted from caring for his sick wife. Simply preparing a home cooked meal and leaving it for his family may be the most caring thing you can do for that family during their experience of suffering. There was a student at seminary when I was there who baked cookies whenever she found out that another student was struggling with work, or illness, or news from home - comfort food when people most needed it! These little kindnesses are the way we practice love for one another. But there is an even greater love to which we are all called, and that is the willingness to seek out the poor and the outcast in this world, people we may never have to encounter face to face without going out of our way to find them.
At their annual spring retreat this past this past week the bishops of our church adopted a resolution in which it states the following. "It is incumbent upon us as disciples to do our best to follow Jesus in the increasing experience of the leading of the Holy Spirit. We proclaim the Gospel of what God has done and is doing in Christ, of the dignity of every human being, and of justice, compassion, and peace. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including women, are full and equal participants in the life of God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that stands against any violence, including violence done to women and children as well as those who are persecuted because of their differences, often in the name of God. And, contrary to the way the Anglican Communion Network and the American Anglican Council have represented us, we proclaim a Gospel that welcomes diversity of thought and encourages free and open theological debate as a way of seeking God's truth. If that means that others reject us and communion with us, as some have already done, we must with great regret and sorrow accept their decision." That is the good news, the prize for which I am willing to strive.
The real prize God offers us in Christ is a deep, compassionate love that will fill us with the desire to enter into the suffering of those without a voice, those who are not able to help themselves, and the grace and courage to work alongside them as they seek to find healing and release. It is in working for freedom from the oppression such people experience daily that we will experience the exquisite joy and freedom of a life filled with God's love, a life filled with passion and the ability to rejoice in the exquisite music of the master pianist, the one who brings together the whole of life into one wonderful symphony. Rejoice in his love always. Again I say, rejoice.
In Christ's name
Amen
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