“New Year, New Direction: Being a Covenant”
January 8, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
You know the expression, “time flies when you’re having fun”? Well, I can honestly tell all of you that’s been the case with me. It’s been six years since I first arrived, and, even though there have certainly been a lot of challenges we’ve faced and, with God’s help, have overcome together, it’s really honestly been a fun time, and I’m looking forward, especially now, to all other wonderful things we’re going to experience together as we move forward.
So, since my life has also really gone through a lot of ups and downs in the past few years, I’ve been thinking back to when I first got here, actually, to shortly before I arrived. A lot of other adventures had happened in the couple of years before, which I’ll talk some more about in next week’s sermon. But, at any rate, it was about this time six years ago I started the whole process of unpacking my boxes of belongings which had been sitting in my parents’ garage for two years, to prep for repacking them to load on the UHaul truck to make the trek out here. Strange as it sounds, I really had no idea how much stuff I had until I started going through it, and some things I wondered why I still had them in the first place. But as I sorted through everything, there were some of my possessions, a good number of them, actually, which I had to leave behind in Southern California because I either didn’t have room for them on the truck, or didn’t need them in my life any more. For example, I left behind a lot of my personal books, which ended up going in my mom’s Little Free Library, and ultimately to different homes. There were a few things I still needed to figure out what to do with, which I pretty much ended up throwing in one bigger box, to plan on sorting through once I got here. Okay, I’m kind of ashamed to admit it – a lot of that stuff kind of actually still ended up sitting in the box on the floor in the study at the Parsonage until just before Tish and I got married, when Tish insisted I had to go through the box to make room in the study. But while doing that, I was finally able to let go of some things I’d been hanging on to, which I just didn’t need because they were taking up space. They weren’t even really doing anything useful, and all hanging on to them was doing was keeping me from moving forward with reclaiming the study for its true purpose.
And actually, that process has still been going on for the past few years. I’ve still been working on going through what I own, and trying to figure out what to keep and what to let go of. But not just with my personal items, also with a lot of other things, mainly ideas and opinions, I’ve realized I’ve been carrying around with me for the past few years, that I’ve now come to recognize have only kept me from carrying out my true purpose, even the reason why I’m here. There are a lot of things I’ve had to unpack, figure out what good they really serve, and then let go of them, throwing them away. I’ve had to do that because they were just taking up space in my life, and preventing me from moving to where God really wanted me to be, and, because the clutter they caused was keeping me from having the peace in my life God wanted me to have. In the same way, there have been a lot of things I’ve realized have just been cluttering up my mind and heart, and have been keeping me from having peace in life at times, which I’ve needed to throw out.
One of the biggest of those has been trying to measure myself up to what I’ve thought God has expected of me as a Christian and a pastor. And one thing I’ve finally come to realize, even after everything that’s happened, is it’s all about Jesus. Very often we make being a Christian, being part of the church, or even being a church family, all about what we do; what we have to do to survive; what we think our requirements or expectations are; what rules we have to follow; what we expect each other and others to agree with; or what we assume we have to do to do our best for God. When in reality, nothing could be farther from the truth: it’s not about us and who we think we ought to be, it’s all about Jesus and who He is. On this day when we remember Jesus’ Baptism, we see once again who Jesus is, because God points out exactly who He is: the Son of God, who is the true God Himself. We are also reminded that being a Christian is not mainly about what we promise to do for God: it’s entirely about what God promises to do for us. And once we’re able to look at everything this way again, and believe it, our lives as Christians, even how we see ourselves as a church, become a lot easier. We are also reminded that we too are baptized, and that, in our Baptism, God makes promises to us: the promise that we are saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection; that we are destined for eternal life after death; and that He is always with us to love and care for us at all times. God also wants us to have peace in our hearts and minds, which comes from believing this is true.
But for us to accept this, and have this peace, there are some major things we have to let go of. And the largest one of this that for too long Jesus has been made out to be someone we have to be afraid of. Whether we realize it or not, there have been certain ideas or images which have been ingrained in us. We’ve also been trained to see Jesus as a sort of stern judge, who tolerates no rule breaking, or He’ll punish everyone who breaks His commandments. We’ve also, because this is how we’ve thought Jesus is, come to believe that our purpose is to impose rules on others and on society, and insist that those rules must be followed or God will wreak divine vengeance on everyone who breaks them. And yet, nothing could be farther from the truth. This is not the Jesus we hear about in today’s Bible readings, nor is it the Jesus who really is. His rule is a different kind of rule, because He does not He does not exercise His power and control through dominance or force, but through gentleness and being helpful. He also has special love and compassion for those who are struggling, doubting or hurting: as God promises through Isaiah, verse 3, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” Some of you here today may even be feeling broken or burned out because of what you’ve had to hang on to: today God promises to heal you, make you whole again, and re-light the passion and enthusiasm you may have lost. Anything which tries to convince us that Jesus gets angry with us and threatens us with punishment whenever we do something that we think is against what He wants, needs to be thrown in the trash.
Last week, I had us all take something we’ve been holding on to, which we’ve been struggling with or worried about, and give them up to Jesus by raising our hands to Him and letting go. And, just as I’ve been continuing to go through an unpacking process before I got here and since I arrived, we’re all working on unpacking and getting rid of different things in order to be able to move forward. Here’s another way we can do this: take a pad or pile of paper like this. Whenever you have a thought that God doesn’t like you; God’s punishing you for something you did; God’s making you deal with something without helping you; you need to do better in some area of your life; you haven’t followed any rules or commandments; you aren’t measuring up in certain ways; or you aren’t doing your best for God; write it down on a piece of paper. Then, fold or crumple up the paper, and stick it in a small box. At the end of the day, or at the end of the week, take the contents of that box, and throw them away in the trash. If you prefer, and have a way to do so, you can even burn them. Then, after you’ve done that, take another piece of paper, and write these words in big letters: God loves me.
Then stick the piece of paper somewhere where you can see it all the time, or carry it with you. Look at those words often, and believe them because they’re true: God loves you. Your true purpose is not to try to impress God, or prove that you’re fulfilling all the requirements necessary for being a good enough Christian: it’s instead to be loved by God. Hear and remember what Peter recognizes in today’s Second Reading: that Jesus does good to you, heals you, and frees you from whatever oppresses you. Most of all, remind yourself of the promise which makes God’s love for you real and concrete:
I am baptized! When I was baptized, God promised me that He was always going to love me and accept me just as I am. He’s always kept that promise, and nothing, not even anything I do or don’t do, is going to make Him stop loving me just as He promised. And Jesus makes that promise even more real: He’s my friend, companion, guide, leader, protector, champion, source of strength at all times. He’s the same for me, and everyone, just as He’s always been, He will never change. Nothing I do will change it either.
Having said all that, as we are still at the beginning of this new year, we are also called back to the fact that Jesus has made all these promises to us, and, at the same time, we are the means, the people, by which He makes His promises to everyone real. We are still the hands and feet of Jesus by which He carries out His healing, freeing, and doing good to others. And, again, what is that promise? He loves and wants to help everyone. We can live out this promise to everyone because we believe it ourselves: if we feel loved by God, then we will show love to everyone we come in contact with. This is God’s promise, and this is our true purpose.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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