Fourth of July weekend, 250th anniversary of our independence, I’ll bet as you rolled out of bed this morning you said, “Boy would I like to hear a sermon on sin.” Perhaps you should have stayed in bed.
Grace Coolidge was once reported to have asked her president-husband, as he returned to the White House after Sunday worship, “What did the preacher talk on today, Calvin?” The close-mouthed president replied, “Sin.” “Well, what did he say about sin,” she persisted. “Said he was against it.”
No, we don’t like talking about sin, do we. There was a time when preachers almost seemed to enjoy speaking about it, but not so much anymore. I’m not sure sin even makes the top ten list of best sermon topics. Today’s most popular preachers tend to avoid anything negative. Many mega churches not only hide their denominational affiliation, but they refuse to display the cross, because it is too offensive. Is it just me, or does it feel like we are trying to sanitize the Christian faith?
There has been a dramatic shift of emphasis in recent decades. I suppose much of it started with the “I’m Okay, You’re Okay” movement of the 1970s. Since then, religion and pop psychology have been driven with a positive self-awareness movement. If you don’t believe me, visit any bookstore and see the number of self-help books on the shelves aimed at self-realization. Preaching has tended to affirm people and make them feel better about themselves, even focusing on a gospel of prosperity. If you do the right things, God will love and bless you. Grace has become something we earn more than a gift freely given by God. We have turned the Christian faith into a get right with Jesus movement and an earn as you go style of piety. Fire and brimstone have been relegated to the dust bin of obsolesce.
Consequently, no one seems to take responsibility for their actions anymore. Have you noticed, the first member of a legal defense team to be hired after the lawyer is a good psychiatrist. I murdered because someone mistreated me as a kid. I’m a sexual predator because I was sexually abused. Nobody is held accountable. If a kid gets in trouble in school today, it’s the teacher’s fault. About the only time we use the word sin is to describe someone else’s behavior. Oh no, sin is not me, it may be you, but it certainly is not me. The curious thing is, all of this self-affirmation and self-esteem is being preached during a time when psychologists suggest that good old Paul may have been right: “The good that we would do, we can’t.” In our minds we can want to do right, but when it comes to action, we can’t quite get it done. Paul suggests that there is literally a war going on inside each of us.
Perhaps that Disney’s portrayal of Pluto’s struggle that I shared with the kids, nailed it. We all have a war of good and evil going on inside and all around us. There is tension between the flesh and spirit. Which is going to prevail? So, why talk about sin in the midst of such a glorious national celebration? Because such events are watershed moments, times to take stock of the reality of what we are versus what we long to become. As the nation celebrates, it is important that we not only acknowledge our accomplishments, but our shortfalls as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love our country and I am not here to bash America. I am not here to air a laundry list of faults and shortcomings. Afterall there is so much that is good about our country and much to affirm. The great American experiment with democracy has been an inspiration to humanity for these 250 years. For much of that time, we have stood like a beacon on a hill, a light to the nations inspiring the people of the world. However, let’s face it, nations are made up of people and human institutions. People are far from perfect, or as a casual over-reading of John Calvin might suggest, humans are fallen, sinful, reprobate. We are frail individuals and Paul reminds us that “…evil lies close at hand.”
Sometimes that evil is simply the temptation to believe that we are perfectly good and thus superior. Perhaps our greatest source of corporate sin is our inflated ego as a nation. In this day of rampant Christian nationalism, let us tread so very carefully. To paraphrase Lincoln, it is more important that we strive to be on God’s side than to ask God to be on ours.
Reinhold Niebuhr described our nature all too well, when he wrote in Nature and Destiny of Man, “One of the hazards of the Christian life is that the more successful you are at it, the more you will be subject to various forms of pride and exhibitionism. I give myself in one moment to a cause of the word of the Lord, and then I discover in the next moment, that I haven’t given myself at all, but that the self stands outside of this self-giving and asks, ‘Does anybody notice me in my virtues; will they give me proper credit?” These are challenging times for our country. There is conflict, there is division and there is discord. One of the reasons is so many of us believe that we alone are right and have all of the answers. Our egos are over inflated, we sin. So, this is a perfect time for a bit self-reflection and renewal.
Long ago, when the Babylonian exiles had returned to Jerusalem and the land of Judah, they were rebuilding under the guidance of Ezra and Nehemiah. As the people were getting settled, the two great leaders called them to come together for a time of renewal of the covenant. Gathering at the water gate of the city, the law was read and a recommitment to the covenant was shared. The two great leaders knew that the strength of the nation was tied to the faith of the people and their relationship with God and so they celebrated and renewed their faith.
So, on this 250th celebration of our nation’s birth, we have the perfect time to come together to celebrate, celebrate our freedom. We also have the opportunity to rededicate ourselves as citizens of both God’s kingdom and the nation of America. As disciples of Jesus Christ, as we strengthen our faith, we increase our ability to work together for a common good, and participate in a government, again to quote Lincoln, that is “of the people, for the people and by the people.” Let this celebration be a time of renewal. Together, let us assess who we want to be and how to get there. Guided by God’s Spirit, let us strive to mend our every flaw.
I find it fitting that this service affords us the opportunity to come to this table, because it is the table of renewal. Every time we come here, we renew our baptism, reaffirming our faith in Jesus Christ and reclaiming the new covenant he has offered us. May each of us use it as a time to renew ourselves so we can then help our nation renew itself.