In the Name of the Living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Every single one of us, by “thought, word and deed,” are like sheep who have gone astray. And, without the gift of forgiveness, at the end of our crooked paths await judgement and hell. Welcome to Lent, folks! Hold that thought; we’ll come back to it later.
I was in Texas this week working, and when I’m traveling, one of my favorite things to do is to find a radio station that has a lot of interaction with the locals.
I don’t have proof, but it seems like the small town country music stations have the most interesting locals with the most peculiar little segments.
My hometown, in rural Alabama, is no exception. When I was a kid, the big daily event (at noon sharp) was tuning into “Win 98.5,” the local country station, for the funeral home announcements. It was and remains the oddest daily habit of which I’ve ever taken part, and I’ll never forget how it worked.
At 11:59 we all tuned in, wherever we were. And right at noon sharp the funeral home began with a few seconds of country music on a harp (I guess that’s supposed to sound heavenly to some?), and then the DJ, Larry Grant, – I still remember his name because he was also the local pest control man…
Anyway, Larry handed the mic over to the funeral home director, and he would go live. Now you need to realize the whole county only had a few thousand people, so there were often days without any deaths to report. But, the air time was purchased in advance, so most days the funeral director was left to say, and I quote, “The announcements for today are: there are no announcements for today.” And then we’d go back to our business! I love small town radio stations!
I had a similar experience this week. I was in a traffic jam on the way to the airport in San Antonio, so I asked my Uber driver to find that same kind of special local station for me, and, sure enough, we landed on a classic country station doing an interview with an old country preacher in a small town about 50 miles north of San Antonio.
The DJ asked the preacher, “So, Pastor, What is Lent all about?” Pastor Jim, we’ll call him, said, “Well, Lent is a time to focus exclusively on sin.” And then he went on for a few minutes, explaining some of the things he does each week to focus on particular sins going on in his community. I can’t remember all of it, but he sounded like a pretty tough guy, a real party pooper. I don’t think you’d want him around these parts.
As a footnote, later on in the interview, he also bemoaned a decrease in attendance during Lent. Being an eternal optimist and a salesman at heart makes me wonder if I was the only listener to sense a possible connection between focusing solely on sin and a decline in attendance?!?
I was dying to call in, because I wanted to say, “Pastor, you’re leaving out the most important part. Lent isn’t when we focus on sin. Lent is when we focus on the forgiveness of sins!” Sadly, it turns out that the interview was prerecorded.
In “steps” the collect for the Second Sunday in Lent:
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son.
Did you hear that first bit–“whose glory is always to have mercy?” Always to have mercy!
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about Billy Graham, as I suppose you have, too. I’ve been watching reruns of some of his crusades on You Tube. I suppose it’s my own way of honoring his legacy. What a remarkable man.
Of all his crusades, my favourite one is his legendary London crusade, which took place in 1966. Over the course of 39 days, more than 1 million people heard him preach. On the final night, with over 100,000 people present at Wembley Stadium, he stood on stage and in his North Carolina drawl said, “I’m here today to tell you that I can do something that Almighty God cannot do.” The throng of Londoners got really quiet. They were probably thinking, “Only an American would come over here and say something so bold!” And then Mr. Graham repeated himself: “I can do something that Almighty God cannot. I can remember your sins, and you can remember mine. God cannot.”
Whose glory it is always to have mercy!
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more,” as the author of the letter to the Hebrews puts it.
But I meet a lot of people who don’t live like God can put way their sins. Sometimes I am one of them. Many of us live as if God is more like Santa–always checking a list to see who’s been naughty or nice.
Thankfully, God isn’t Santa! And He can put away our sins!
And He’s going all in this Lent by placing a cross in the middle of whatever list of sins you and I could create or imagine, and He’s offering the very blood of His own Son so that you and I can experience reconciliation with Him and one another.
Let me go back to where I began.
I didn’t sugar coat it with you today when I began this little homily: wretchedness invites wrath, and there is no escaping it. The wages of sin, after all, is death.
But what we deserve and what God gives are as far apart as the east is from the west.
Deserving wrath we have instead received WELCOME this (evening/morning). Com home today with me. Come home to the Father today and feast on the Bread of forgiveness that lives beyond the tomb!
You are all aware, in study after study, that children who sense that they are genuinely loved and cared for, in their early years, are more secure, achieve higher marks and generally play well with other children. And we go to great lengths around here, thanks to over a hundred of dedicated volunteers, to make every child feel and know God’s love.
But what about adults? I don’t have any peer reviewed studies to show you, but I have a heart that can guarantee you one thing: adults who know they are loved, and who realize that their Sins are put away through the Cross of Jesus Christ, have the grace to put down the gun, give up the grudges and walk humbly with their God.
Speaking at his final rally, at Flushing Meadows in New York in June 2005, billy graham ended by saying: “I have one message: that Jesus Christ came, he died on a cross, he rose again, and he asked us to repent of our sins and receive him as Lord and Saviour, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all of our sins.” Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Graham, thank you. May you Rest In Peace and rise in glory.
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy!
Sermon preached by the Rev. Charleston D. Wilson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
2nd Sunday of Lent
25 February 2018