Our Text this morning is
Psalm 32
As
we come down from the mount of transfiguration following Jesus as he sets his
face toward Jerusalem, we find ourselves on a journey, walking along a path,
traveling down a road. It is a road which has the glory of the transfiguration
behind us, which is a reminder of who Jesus is and gives us a glimpse of what
his purpose might be. It is also a road which leads us directly into darkness;
toward Jesus’ anguish in Gethsemane, his betrayal, his trail and ultimately the
cross. We journey along this path as we follow Jesus, but who in their right
mind would walk so directly, so resolutely, so defiantly into the oppressive,
swirling maelstrom which obscures this journey’s end. We travel down this road because we are following Christ; because
he has turned to us and said, ‘Take up your cross and follow me.” And so we
follow, not always knowing what that might mean, not entirely realizing what
our cross might be.
This
week as we have moved from the Season of Epiphany into the season of Lent
several of us participated in an Ash Wednesday service in which we took the
mark of the cross upon our foreheads, thus allowing ourselves to be marked by
Christ, by Christ’s cross. We allowed ourselves to be physically marked,
symbolically aligning ourselves with Christ and his cross. The cross on our
heads, marked as belonging to Christ. Humbly bearing his cross, we go into the
Lent, marked as belonging to Jesus.
In
a world which is so hung up on identity. In which who we are is labeled and
defined, so carefully. We, in this country, are labelled this week as
Democrats, or Republicans, liberals or conservatives. In this days in
particular, we define ourselves by who we want to vote for. But at others time
and more frequently, we are labeled by our skin color black or white; by our place
of origin Asian, Central American, Caribbean, West Indian; a mid-west boy or an
East Coast gal. In lent as we follow Christ we are reminded as followers of
Christ, as disciples of Jesus, our identity is not found in our political
party, or where we are from or in any of the myriad of other things in which
our culture claims we find our identity. As Christians we find our identity in
Christ.
As
we walked out of the services we attended on Wednesday, we came out marked with
the cross of Christ, a physical sign to all the world that our ultimate
identity is found in Christ – crucified. We were labeled, marked with the sign
of Christ, as Christ-ians.
So
with our crosses and our identities firmly in mind we follow, we journey
together with Jesus Christ our Lord into this Lenten season. This season I want
you to imagine our Lenten journey as an actual road on which we will travel
with Christ toward his cross. This road intersects several other roads along
the way, crossroads. Each of these crossroads we encounter bear the words and
themes of a Psalm. Each Psalm a reminder of what it means to follow the One who
leads us on this road. This Sunday we come to our first crossroad, and it is
the crossroad of confession and forgiveness.
Lent
is a season of confession, of repentance, penance and ultimately forgiveness.
As Nazarenes we do not talk very much about our need for confession. It is easy
to conclude that those of us who live holy lives reflecting the character of
God, who live in sinless perfection, are people with nothing to confess and
therefore no need to for confession. Yet, here in this passage the Psalmist
describes holiness of heart and life here for us. To be holy is to live in God’s
forgiveness. To be holy as the Psalmist here is holy, is to be washed clean of
our iniquity, because we confessed our sins to the Lord, and God has in turn
forgiven us. The Lord finds not deceit, no sin in us, because we have come to
God, confessed, repented of our sin and have been forgiven.
Part
of living a life of holiness or Christian perfection is recognizing when we
have fallen short of the glory of God, when we have not loved as we are called
to love by Jesus when he instructed us about the greatest commandments; to love
God with all of who we are, as well as others in the world around us. Even the
most sanctified among us turns to a loved one with a sharp tone or an
unforgiving manner; our leaders who teach and preach holiness of heart and
life, say things which are hurtful or dismissive, even our pastors sometimes fail
to always show the love and gentleness of Christ in all our actions.
When
we do these things, when we fail to reflect the heart of Christ, or live out
the will of the Father in all things, at all times, there is but one thing to
be done, confess. The Psalmist tells us this. Any attempt to keep silent
results in only our own pain. Ignoring our failings, denying our shortcomings
and dismissing ours sins not only does harm to others who are affected by them,
but in doing so, we are doing harm to ourselves. Studies have actually shown
that pent up shame and guilt physically hurts us, our muscles tighten up, our
backs, necks and joints hurt, our stomachs cramp, we lose energy and some
people can actually feel sick from the harm guilt and shame brings upon their
bodies. The Psalmist says, “my strength was dried up.” Sin affects every part
of our being.
When
we find that we have failed to be the people God is calling us to be, when we
find that we are improperly reflecting the image of God, misrepresenting
Christ’s character and who he is in our words or in our actions, when we find
our sins affecting our mind and our bodies, there are three steps which must be
taken to bring us healing. The first two are to be taken by us and the third
can only be taken by another. They are confession, penance and forgiveness.
To
relieve ourselves of the burden of sin we must begin with confession; that is
admitting our wrong, owning up to the ways in which we have failed God, the
ways we have done harm to others. Actually say it, put words how you have
fallen short, to the things you have done, the ways you have hurt others and
skirted the call of God on your everyday life. Confess to God the ways you have
failed God and others. This is the first step toward what the Psalmist would
call happiness or joy.
Confession
does not come easy to us. We do not like to admit to ourselves much less to
others when we are wrong or when we have done wrong. Often it takes more
humility than many of us have to say to say to another “I am wrong.” “I have
failed you.” “I see my actions, my words, my doings have harmed you.” Sometimes
it is too much for us to say, “I am sorry.” Whenever we fall short of loving
God with all of who we are, or in not loving our neighbor with the love which
God has shown to us, we need to confess our failing to God and to whomever we
have hurt.
As
we journey to be the people God is calling us to be God will show us how we are
falling short. God will reveal to us the ways we could be more like Jesus, how
we can better reflect the love of Christ in our lives, and often God will do so
by showing us where we have gone wrong, how we have failed, and where we are in
need of correction. When God does this, we need to confess to these
shortcomings, to these failings, to the wrong we have committed. to refuse to
confess is to refuse to be forgiven. What is not confessed is not forgiven.
Confession
is not something we as Protestants excel. Luther’s glorious ideal of the
priesthood of all believers allowed us to understand, we do not need a priest
to hear our sins, in order for them to be forgiven. But in coming to this
understanding, we not only rid ourselves of the need of a priest, but we inadvertently
forgot our need for confession. When we took away the designated confessor, we
took away confession. This was not the plan, but it has far too often been the result.
It is true, we do not need to go to a member of the clergy with our confession
in order to be forgiven by God, but we do need to be willing and ready to
confess our sins, our failings, all the ways fail to be the people God calls us
to be to one another, as well as to God.
Next
we need to take the step of penance; that is doing what needs to be done to
make things right, to work to fix the wrong which has been done and partner
with God to do better as we continue our journey of holiness of heart and life.
If we have harmed another person in our sin, part of making things right with God
is making things right that person. This means we must admit to them that we
realize we have hurt them. Confess our failing, apologize, and ask what we can
do to attempt to fix what we have done. Sometimes the answer is nothing, the
only restitution, the only penance which can be done is the act of admitting
our negligence or cruelty. The fact of the matter is sometimes things cannot be
undone and the harm cannot be repaired. Other times there may be things which
will need to be done to make things right; steps we can take to restore
relationship with the one we have harmed, to undo the wrongs we have committed.
Sometime there are ways we can fix what we have broken. And it is our
responsibility to do what needs to be done this is how we begin to mend the
relationship our sin has cause to be broken. As God works with us to mend relationship
with others, God is also working with us to mend relationship with us. Breaking half of the two greatest
commandments of loving God and loving others, breaks the whole. In penance we do the work which needs to be
done to mend our relationship with God and with us others, thus allowing
forgiveness to do its work in us.
The
final step of forgiveness, is not ours to take, it can only be done by someone
else. We come to God humbly and we confess the ways we have fallen short of
being who God has called us to be, what then does God do? When we repent, when
we confess, what is God’s response to our sin, our failings, our wrongdoings?
Each and everything time, no matter the sin, no matter how deep the wrong, no
matter how far we have strayed, God’s response always and forever is to turn to
us with forgiveness. No matter what, each and every time, always and forever,
when we reach toward God in confession and repentance God reaches back in love
and mercy with the outstretched arm of forgiveness. The Psalmist says, “I will
confess my sin to the Lord” and you forgave the guild to my sin. Selah! Praise
be to the Lord God! Forgiveness is always God’s first response to us when we
confess. And we stand pure and holy, washed clean, before God.
When
we live in holy relationship with God, God is always reaching to us loving us
and forgiving us, bringing us closer and closer, daily transforming us into God’s
own image. Each time this is done, we look a little more like God, each time we
come away better reflecting the character of God in our heart and in our life.
We are holy as God is holy, in our confession because even as we confess, we are once again being remade into the
image of God. God makes us holy through forgiveness, in our greatest weakness
the glory of God shines most clearly. In the moment of our confession and
forgiveness, when God’s grace surrounds us, the holiness of God is seen in us
and through us. When we confess and are forgiven we, God’s mercy and grace is
revealed in us.
The
Psalmist says rejoice with me, we hear this same sentiment in the parable of
the lost sheep, coin and son, when each one is found, friends and neighbors are
called together to rejoice together, because one who was lost has been found.
When we fail, when we sin, our first inclination, (and I think this is
especially so for us “holiness folk” – since we are not “suppose to” sin in our
everyday lives) to hide our sin, and even though we may confess and find
forgiveness with God, we do not share our failings and therefore our
forgiveness with others. But here in this Psalm (and also in Jesus’ parable) we
see that forgiveness is declared, the happiness which the forgiven one finds in
being forgiven is shared, others are called to join in to share the joy so that
everyone may rejoice with the one who have found God’s grace and mercy.
When
we are forgiven we declare to the world God is holy and in God’s holiness God
forgives. Our lives become a testimony to the goodness, the grace and the mercy
of God. Our lives become a witness to the very fact that God forgives. When we
are forgiven, we should not be ashamed that we stood in need of forgiveness but
should give testimony to the grace of God in our lives. By humbly allowing
others to see that we have failed to be who God has called us to be, we are
reflecting God’s holiness by revealing God’s forgiveness to the world.
Holiness
folk claim to live in the “sinless perfection” we reflect God’s image by living
out God’s holiness in our hearts and in our lives and we do his because we
allow God to align our will, to that of God’s, through sanctification our
desires become God’s desire, our hearts become the very heart of God. This is
done by God in an instant and over the course of our lifetime. Daily we move
closer and closer to God. Each day we look more and like God, our character is,
overtime, remade over so that it resembles the very character of God, it is a
process that is begun in an instance.
Holiness
is a process that is done and redone, made and remade. Re-done and re-made
because in our moving closer to God, in our becoming to be more like Christ, we
are able to more and more clearly see in what way we could be more like Christ.
As our holiness increases we can see how much we are like a cracked mirror,
improperly reflecting who Christ is to the world around us. When we realize our
shortcomings when it comes to how much we are and are not like Christ in all that
we are, when we see the crack for what it is, we then, in our holiness, come to
God and confess that we are not as holy as we could be and in asking for God’s
forgiveness become a little more holy, we come to look more like Christ, in the
very act of confession we are living out holiness of heart and life.
So
as we encounter this Psalm today, let us hear the voice of God calling us to
holiness, calling us to be like Jesus in all things. Let us see our lives as
they truly are, see how very much we like Christ, see all the ways God is
allowing us to reflect God’s image in all that we are, in all that we so and in
all that we say. But let us also see ourselves in all honestly, and in a very
holy way, see in what ways our failings need to be un-made, so that we can be
re-made to closer resemble Christ-like perfection.
Let
us today be the holy people God is calling us to be and thus allow God to show
us our failings, our shortcomings, nae even our sins, so that we may confess
them to God, allow God to show us to whom we need to go to make restitution,
apologize and work to make things right, so that we can continue to be just a
little more holy today than we were yesterday. And let us turn to one another
to day and say, without shame in our failing, but in the joy we have in knowing
God’s mercy, “I am forgiven!” “Rejoice with me, God has washed away my sin, and
allowing me to be Holy as God is holy.” And let us go from here filled with God’s
spirit, reflecting God’s image, holy as Christ is holy, living Christ-like
perfection in our everyday lives
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