Saturday, September 10, 2011

Proper 19A 9-11-11

          God’s character includes liberty and justice, and justice includes forgiveness and reconciliation. God sent his pillar of fire and cloud of smoke to guide the people of Israel to liberty and to confound their enemies who sought to keep them slaves. God offers liberty of conscience to believers, liberty combined with responsibility under God’s perfect judgment. And Jesus by his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection offers God’s gift of forgiveness for us to enjoy and to share.

          The Pledge of Allegiance, composed in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress in 1942, expresses ideas valued from the beginning of our nation. A bitter and bloody Civil War determined that this country is one nation, indivisible. And in 1954 congress added “under God,” the national motto - from the Star Spangled Banner and coins since 1864.

          As a country we have worked for a very long time to make real “liberty and justice for all.” We aren’t finished, but liberty and justice are our goals, liberty and justice in the character of God, revealed to us in his holy word written.

     In the Sermon on the Mount (St. Matthew 5:14-16) Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  Puritan leader John Winthrop preached on this text in 1630 to the new colonists in Massachusetts and Presidents John Kennedy in 1961 and Ronald Reagan in 1989 referred to it. President Reagan said, “in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.”

We’ve heard and seen much in the last week or so of the smoke and destruction of the attack on the World Trade Center, and on the Pentagon, and of the heroism of those who prevented a further attack at the cost of their lives, attacking the attackers and crashing Flight 93 near Pittsburgh. Ten years ago on the Sunday after 9-11 our nation resolved that smoke of destruction would not overcome the light of the city of God shed forth from a land where liberty and justice are the goals.

It has been a rough 10 years As many have been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan as were killed on 9-11. The continuing conflict and other factors have stressed national economies all over the world. Our common resolve is not as evident now as it was 10 years ago.

But we continue to strive for liberty and justice for all. The struggle will not soon be over. The people of Israel escaped through the Red Sea waters and wandered 40 years in the desert. We learn today that “the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.” That did not keep them from complaining about the lack of water and yearning for the fleshpots of Egypt.” But they kept moving and God provided for them. To live in freedom requires some hard choices, but God provides when we trust in his provid-ence.

          Justice also requires some hard choices. Justice costs. St. Paul reminds us that we are called to live in fellowship with those whose choices are not ours. A big controversy in the early church was over eating meat that had been sacrificed to the false gods of the pagans. Some said that since these “gods” were not real one could accept the meat ration passed out since it was the only way to get meat. Others said that the meat had been tainted by the sacrifice and was not acceptable. Paul calls the Roman church to set this controversy aside and leave it to God and the Christian conscience.

          Justice includes forgiveness. Resentment over past injuries is “giving others rent-free space in your head.” For our own soul’s health, we have to let past events go. That’s hard to do. We have a natural right in justice to self-protection and self-preservation. There is no Christian duty always to put ourselves back in danger. We are normally called to stay out of danger and to live in peace. Jesus died for our sins so we don’t have to die for our sins or the sins of others. He did it for us.

          That said, for our own souls’ health, we have continually to forgive, to give up the desire to “get even” and to commend to God’s judgment those who have sinned against us. That includes the 9-11 terrorists and all our enemies. We don’t forget, but we do forgive. And we need to receive God’s forgiveness for our sins against others. Jesus died for our sins; continuing to nourish feelings of guilt dishonors his sacrifice. We don’t forget; we remember and seek in the truth and power of the Holy Spirit to amend our lives, but we do forgive .

God’s character includes liberty and justice, and justice includes forgiveness and reconciliation. God sent his pillar of fire and cloud of smoke to guide the people of Israel to liberty and to confound their enemies who sought to keep them slaves. God offers liberty of conscience to believers, liberty combined with responsibility under God’s perfect judgment. And Jesus by his sacrificial death and glorious resurrection offers God’s gift of forgiveness for us to enjoy and to share.

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