Debt-free

I suppose the first question one might have is whether Paul's advice in today's Second Lesson applies to our current national and international financial mess.

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves the other has fulfilled the law.

Those who lost so much in the Great Depression, including the savings of this congregation, would resonate with the first four words: Owe no one anything.

And ever after, persons who were caught in that crisis tended to buy only with cash, after a careful examination of needs versus wants.

And we would do well to re-adopt that policy both personally and nationally, because we have become addicted to easy credit and instant gratification of any desire that pops into our heads.

That is a good observation, as far as it goes, but that is looking at only the first four words, and the sentence continues: except to love one another....

At once we have stepped into an arena bigger than only finances: the realm of all of our relationships, first of all with Jesus, and then also with everyone else through Jesus.

There is a basic question floating around: What do we owe to Jesus?

And there are two possible answers:

Everything, or nothing.

Our hedonistic, materialistic society answers “Nothing,” nothing at all...Jesus was a nice guy who may or may not have lived a long time ago, but who has nothing to say to the present time, whose life has no bearing on the problems we need to handle today.

A faithful Christian, on the other hand, will answer “everything” to the question of what we owe Jesus.

As Dr. Harry Wendt says in the Divine Drama Bible studies, we need to confess that God is both creator and owner of all that is, and he has never relinquished ownership.

He has entrusted us with management, or our church-word stewardship, but not ownership.

We are to be using everything that surrounds us to the best advantage for the owner of all that is.

Each day, each hour, each thing, each personal relationship....all of them are to be in some way honoring God and being a manifestation of Good News for others around us.

With all of this in mind, I need to tell you about a man who was thinking about quiet days and rest.

He was already 65 years old.

In that era, that made him an old man indeed.

He had already seen more of the world than most people.

--He had been born in Tarsus, Paul's home-town, a Greek.

--He had studied in Athens, the great center of classical learning.

--His life's work to this point had been in a monastery in Italy.

--It was a good and satisfying life.

But in his 65^th year, the abbot of his monastery brought him to the attention of Pope Vitalian.

Strange and unexpected are the workings of the Holy Spirit!

Theodore was ordained a priest, and shortly thereafter as archbishop, and sent to practically the edge of the world, to Canterbury, England.

At age 67 he arrived in England to take charge of this work in his golden retirement years...and things there are not easy.

We know that there is no politics quite like church politics, and things were definitely rough and tumble in England in those days.

England was not unified:

there were a number of local kings, often jealous of each others' territories and churches.

The church was all divided also:

some followed leaders from Ireland, others from Gaul, still more from Rome.

Here is what Theodore did in his first five years there:

--appointed bishops to replace those killed by the plague.

--established a school at Canterbury to teach Greek, Latin, theology, law, medicine, music, etc.

--held the first-ever synod in England.

--created new dioceses

--unified the church and gave it a renewed organization.

It makes us tired just to hear it all!

Was everything always easy? No.

He made some serious blunders and a group of enemies.

--This or that political or church leader was often unhappy.

--And yet he continued to reach out and be reconciled with Wilfrid, one of those foes.

What a career he had after he thought his work was done!

He died on September 19 in the year 690. at the age of 87!, an amazing age when the average life-span was about 50.

He knew that his life was not his own possession, that it first of all belonged to the Lord God who made it.

And so it was his charge to use that life to the best advantage of the Lord Jesus, even long past supposed retirement time.

To be quite smart about it, we could say that we have a fantastic retirement plan, but one that is fully implemented only on God's schedule and not ours!

In the meantime...there is much to do for all of us, of whatever age.

I'll tell you also about a lady well up in age, who has accomplished a number of things over the years.

She was looking to live rather quietly as she had been doing,

but the Holy Spirit continues to nudge her just as he had done with Theodore centuries ago.

The Spirit has not sent her to England, but to many other places.

She has assisted Bette McCrandall in Liberia.

She has sent stacks of quilts to needy persons all over the world.

She has welcomed into her company new members.

She provides opportunities for study by youth and adults.

She took the lead in helping to establish Family Promise in this community.

She re-organizes her work and must discern the way through arguments old and new.

It is interesting how the life of this lady of 159, this congregation of St. Mark's parallels that of Theodore of Canterbury.

If you thought that we might just coast into retirement – surprise!

The Spirit has given us a whole world of things to do, and has not ceased to open up new avenues of activity for us.

The lessons we hear this morning may seem rather stern, and yet they point to the very thing that makes possible every new twist and turn in our life together in this parish, as well as persistence at old tasks.

It is grace, 100% chance of grace, the gift of the Lord Jesus, something that cannot be “paid-off” no matter how hard we try.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be.

Let that grace now like a fetter

Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

LBW#499.3

The debt is so great that it cannot be paid; therefore Christ Jesus has simply forgiven it, washed it away!

We are in this sense, then, debt-free!

Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise.

LBW#499.2

I have listened to interviews of adults who had just been baptized, speaking of the joy they felt at a fresh start in life.

--Sins forgiven,

--time given for the amendment of life,

--recognizing a place in the body of Christ

--and in a fellowship of the Gospel.

It is that gift of the love by God which makes it possible to reconcile old hurts and to begin new tasks.

It is that gift of the love by God which we can love our neighbors as ourselves.

It is that gift of the love by God which is active wherever two or three are gathered in his name.

Come, Thou fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing thy grace.

LBW#499.1

It is in that joyful, debt-free life that Theodore started a new career at age 65.

It is in that joyful, debt-free life that we step out into a new fall season in the 159^th year of this parish, not knowing what surprises the Spirit may have in mind for us, but confident that whenever we gather in Jesus' name, he is here in our midst,

to correct us, admonish us, guide and direct us,; to love us.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.