Doxology

But I can balance it off by chasing their garbage cans caught in the wind before they are struck by passing traffic, which gives me a little mark to the right side of the card.

This is quite inadequate, because sin is much more than doing a specified list of bad things.

It involves a basic attitude of being turned in upon oneself;

of being self-absorbed, concerned only about one's own feelings, wants, and desires.

Sin is an absence of positive relationships with other people and with God.

And that is definitely more than any one of us can handle alone.

1.One self-absorbed person was described to me this way:

the person was so full of self-importance, whose work was so significant, that there was no time to greet or talk with anyone perceived as lesser than he.

2.Another self-absorbed person was described as one caught in the woe-is-me syndrome.

“Nobody has it as hard as I do. I can't do this or that, I'm a victim. I hurt.”

This person was so busy complaining that there was no time to consider ways of working on the problems; there was a refusal to listen to those who were ready to help this person.

Even more sad was the fact that there was a 2 year old child sitting right there listening to all of this, sitting there with a vacant stare and never a smile.

The child was in training to be a victim also.

3.And we have all likely run into the manipulator-type of person, whose main job is to get as much out of other persons and situations as will bring immediate benefit, without regard for the feelings or needs of anyone else.

There are three different persons, with different situations, but all three of them are twisted and turned in upon themselves.

All of them are caught in the essence of sin, with faulty or missing relationships with family, friends, the community, and God!

Yes, I do mean that: both relationships with others and with God.

The two are closely linked; when one is twisted, so is the other.

When we are angry with God, we take it out on other people.

When we manipulate other persons for our advantage, we'll try the same thing with God.

When we look honestly at our lives, we see how this plays out.

It is not just someone else's problem, it plagues each one of us.

So what should happen next?

Ignoring it will not make it go away, and we cannot untwist ourselves.

The opposite of sin is not virtue, but faith...that is, to hear gladly what God has to say to us.

To put it in terms of our First Lesson today, to have faith is to look up, to look ahead.

What had the Hebrews been doing?

As they slowly made their way through the years of wandering in the wilderness, they:

--mumbled, grumbled, complained, and grouched;

--Ate the food provided, although it was not the variety they wanted;

--looked around and instead of seeing their freedom from slavery, all they saw was sand.

--complained, rather than giving thanks to God and looking out for each other.

They were in trouble long before the snake began to plague them.

It could be that the snakes are a strong sign that they had ceased to look our for and help one another, as well as being a sign that they were not trusting God.

And what is the cure for the Hebrews of old?

--look up, remember, and look ahead.

Look up at the brazen serpent on the pole in the middle of the camp,

not as magic, but as a reminder of what God had done for them in bringing them our of slavery and providing enough for them to survive.

Look ahead to the fulfillment of the promises God had made to Abraham.

--to give them place in the land,

--to give them many descendants,

--to make them into a blessing for all the nations

--to shape them into the prototype of the community God intends to finally have.

Instead of mumbling and grumbling, look up, remember, and look ahead.

That was the message to the Hebrews of old, and it is to us as well.

When we are twisted in self-absorbed sin, the cure is the same: look up, remember, look ahead.

Give up the futile game of look only at ourselves.

Hear and remember all that God has done for us in times past.

Stop trying to turn what God has entrusted to our care into possessions.

Remember our true origin and look ahead to our true goal.

We are to anticipate the fullness of community with God and other people in the body of Christ, the saints of all times and places, emphasizing what we hold in common, trusting in the promises of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are invited into the life of faith.

The opposite of sin is not virtue, but faith, hearing gladly what God's plans are, because we are included in them.

Our gladness will be shown in several different ways, in silence and in speech.

We noted last Sunday that the first thing is to be quiet and listen attentively.

That is what we learned from Moses on Mount Sinai.

Remember last week's little icon of Moses with his ear cupped.

In today's Gospel reading it is Nicodemus who needs to stop arguing and ponder deeply what the Lord is saying to him.

And here we are in the midst of the season of Lent, with our Lord's Passion story only two weeks away.

What can we do as we hear that story again?

The Son of God is lifted before us on that terrible cross.

How could one like him end up in that place?

How could this be the solution to the problems between us and God?

There are no quick and easy answers to these questions; perhaps we are meant to silently ponder them, allowing them to penetrate deeply into us, and thereby to be drawn to Christ.

One of the most memorable moments in our Holy Week services is the ending of the service on Good Friday night, when in complete silence we slowly walk around this room, gazing upon the Passion story once more in visible form, the Stations of the Cross hanging on the walls.

In silence we ponder the truth of our sin and God's mercy.

The silence is broken on Saturday evening at the Great Vigil of Easter, when we hear and see that there is even more to the story, and our joy soon overflows into song.

We discovered some of that this past Wednesday in exploring the canticle This is the Feast.

Is there ever a time or place when it would be inappropriate to sing or say “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.”?

We are called to engage in Doxology, literally “praise words”.

Doxology will keep filling our silence with the best kind of content.

That familiar hymn When Morning Gilds the Skies names all the entities that join the song, beginning with sun, moon, and stars, as well as the whole of creation with morning and evening; then humankind and its song, and it becomes very personal indeed, ...my heart awakening cries, May Jesus Christ be praised.

For a snake on a pole, for a Savior on the cross, for a promise made in Holy Baptism, for a lifetime of blessings of all sorts, we look up, remember, look ahead, ponder it all in silence, and then join in Doxology:

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever. 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.