Sermon Numero Dos

So after the success and acceptance of the first sermon, the second effort could only go downhill. Not only was I not impressed with this one, but neither was my supervisor. I still think I faithfully pulled something out of the text without putting too much crap into it, but it just wasn't fully developed:

I can’t speak for you, but I’ll be the first to say that having someone watch my every move gets on my nerve. Have you ever had that boss or that supervisor (look?) that looked over your shoulder and wanted to make sure you got everything right? Or maybe one of your parents, when you were growing up always made sure that you brushed your teeth before you went to bed, and washed your hands before every meal.
When we have someone that close to us, it makes us feel a bit uncomfortable. We feel the pressure of every action we perform as if the entire world depended on it. Every minute little detail becomes the most important detail ever, even if it isn’t the reality of the situation; and if we mess up, it’ll be the end.
There’s a piece of that that shines through in our reading today. “For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him”. God has established with us a relationship so close, that not only does God see the same things we see, but God sees them the same way that we see them. This God is always looking over our shoulder, always checking not only our actions, but our intentions behind the actions that others around us can’t see. When I think back about that boss looking over our shoulder, I imagine making even the slightest mistake, or even doing something correctly, but not in the manner that it is usually done. And I hear the voice hit my ears, and it makes me wince to even think about it. “Hmm, now why’d you do that?” And before you can even think to explain it, you have to try and figure out in your head a good explanation for why you figured it out the way you did, sometimes even lying in the process to make yourself to look better. But God doesn’t buy those excuses.
There is a benefit to having a God that is so intimate with us that our inmost thoughts are known, and that is, God won’t let us get into a hole so deep that we can’t get out. Much like the parent who corrects their child when wrong, God guides us down the path we should be on. But there’s another side to having someone that close, and often, I think we like to glaze over that fact.
It’s a little less glamorous than God always coming to the rescue. Even in today’s reading from Deuteronomy it is skipped. If you read verse 3, one of the verses left out of the lectionary reading, you’ll see the other side. Let me read verse 3 for you….(at lectern) “Deuteronomy 4:3-4 You have seen for yourselves what the LORD did with regard to the Baal of Peor-- how the LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,” You see, that flip side, is that we are accountable for every action we take, every thought that passes through our mind, every feeling that passes through our heart. This is that anxiety and fear that comes from having someone so close to us, that every mistake that we make is going to be noticed, and every slip up is going to need an answer.
Barbara Brown Taylor made a good notice of this twp sided relationship “The God who created the heavens and earth also created the flood, and the God who parted the Red Sea is the same one who ordered Abraham to slit Isaac’s throat.” We have not been granted a free ticket excusing us from everything we have ever done, or every thing that we will do, there will be a judgment, where God will ask, “hmm, now why did you do that?”
Before you get the idea that cleaning up your act is the answer, consider the path of Jesus. He that knew no sin, he who was servant to all. Our savior. And where did his life lead him? To hang on a tree, to die for the very people he served and empowered and healed.
That is our path, that is our call. We have no good answer for why we act the way we do, for why we commit the sins we do, we have no good answer for “Why did you do that?” God knows this, and the cost for ours sins is death. God holds us accountable for our actions. But if you recall, there is another part of having someone so close to us. That no matter how big of a hole we dig ourselves into, God will not let us get in so deep that we cannot be dug out. You see, death, is the last hole that you will ever be in, and it is so deep, that you cannot dig yourself out of it. But God, the God who not only sees what we see but sees how we see, does not leave us in the hole of death. Rather, when we have done all that we can do, and we are buried as deep as we can go, God does not leave us. God responds by extending a compassionate hand, and a loving tear and asks “Why did you do that?” and makes sure that what seemed to be the end, the biggest hole we could possibly end up in, is the beginning of a life that has no end and no fear.
We are recipients of this gift, as Christ has made known to us by his work on the cross and his ascension. We are a people that have been promised by a God that is so close we cannot hide even what we think. And so we hear the words of Deuteronomy 4:9 in a new light. “Deuteronomy 4:9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children—“ Never forget that you are God’s, not because you have elected to be, but because God has claimed you as his own. And because of that, you are accountable to everything you have done and will do. And remember that above all else, God has your best interest at heart, even if sometimes it seems just the opposite is true. The mark of this is the cross, that the God who watches our every move would be willing to be humbled to such an extent that even in the deepest hole, there is new life. Never let that slip your mind, for it is who you are, and be sure to tell your children and your children’s children of the Good News of our always watching God. Amen.