Liking St. Paul
The Rev. Dr. Harold Weicker
March 28, 2004
Readings:Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:8-14
Luke 20:9-19
Psalm 126
There are many things I like about our patron saint, Paul, but the one aspect of his personality that I appreciate the most is the total sincerity of his directness, and his in your face honesty. Paul calls the shots as he sees them, and he is not afraid to apply the same rigorous honesty to himself. Having lived a highly structured spirituality for much of his life (as expressed in laws), Paul came to realize that in Christ faith was the key to life and faith was a matter of taking major, personal risks for high purposes.
Realizing the totality of Jesus' commitment to him, Paul knew that half measures, half-way responses, just would not cut it. It was like the foolishness of thinking you are half pregnant or commuting half way to your job, or all the other failures inherent in half-hearted measures. Unless you follow thru, you don't get very far in life. And so it is with faith. Unless one makes a major, personal commitment to Christ, Paul knew that you don't get the blessings offered in a full measure of faith.
So, in effect, Paul said, "To heck with it," jumped into the pool of faith, and started swimming. Years later, looking back on his life in which he made what I am sure were many strong commitments to Christ, Paul's testimony is plain and powerful. He tells us this morning, "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him."
It is interesting how the churches have cleaned up the raw quality of this statement. "Rubbish" was not the word Paul had in mind. Describing all of what he supposedly had "lost," the Apostle actually used a four letter word that starts with "c" and ends in "p."Paul wrote a lot of what would later become "church talk," but he, too, could become frustrated with pious words.
Now, on this lovely morning, when life offers us so much, and we are feeling good about being in church together, I do not want to rain on anyone's parade by scolding you- or even pushing penance on you in a traditional Lenten sermon- but isn't it amazing how far each of us has come in our Christian faith and life in spite of our less-than-complete commitments to Jesus? Talk about grace! If anyone needs proof that the love of God, or the strength of the Holy Spirit, carries us,. despite our short-comings, just look at what we deposit in our spiritual accounts versus what we withdraw. Sometimes our spirit gets an "overdrawn" notice, and even a penalty, to get our attention. But think of the times God has said, "Don't worry. I'll cover the check. We can square away later."
How many of us today can say, "For his Christ's sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as (blank), in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him."
Thank heavens for the great souls over the years who have made the 100% commitment to the love and service of God, and have reported back to us - by their testimonies and life - that what they gained was so wonderful, they actually were grateful for losing everything else. Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he promised us that "those who lose their life for my sake and my teachings will find it."
Well, let's not lose heart if our commitment to Christ is less than total. We just have to keep trying to raise the level of our faith. When we think of it, everything truly worthwhile in life calls for a 100% commitment, but we can only take on a few of these life quests. There is only so much room in our hearts, minds and life for full commitments, even though high callings expand our core and vision of the possible. We have to prioritize.
What worries me is not that most of us have yet to reach a total commitment to living Jesus' teachings, but that user-friendly churches, in their desire to appeal to as many as possible, water down Christ's claim on our life. Paul's message today of the comparative "rubbish" of a life not centered in God will bother us - if we take it seriously - but God willing I hope his clarity stretches our spirit and resolve to become more of the child of God that we have been made to be. When Paul prays that, by focusing on faith, he might "gain" Christ and be "found" in Him, holding Jesus as the model and purpose of his life, he means it. Paul wanted a Godly, transformed life, and one of the questions facing us today is, "Do we?" I pray that, in our hearts, we do- or we will never understand what Paul is talking about.
When I studied some years ago with Clarissa Pinkola Estes, the well-known Jungian analyst and story-teller who wrote Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa said that we are made up of mind and body, spirit and soul- not just mind, body and spirit. Our soul, she claimed, is the divine essence from which we came and is an integral part of our being. For the most part, we can not corrupt our soul by wrongdoing as we can our spirit. Concerned with the horrible depth of evil in the mass murderers of this world, Clarissa makes allowance for the possibility of tainting the soul, but she says, for the vast majority of us, our soul remains pure and loving- no matter what we think, do, or don't do- because it is the soul of God.
Our spirit is a different matter. It is impacted by our minds and how we live our life. We can attest to the truth of Clarissa's insight. We know that one's spirit can become toxic by harmful deeds and attitudes.
The secret of life, says Clarissa, is to align your spirit with your soul, by intention and practice. I like this very much. For me, our soul is the child of God that we are and will return to. Since it is of God, it should be inviolable and pristine. The use of our minds to allow our spirit to be conformed by the soul gives us a strong measure of responsibility in life, but, even though we might deny God as the ground of our being and purpose in life, we can never alter the Godly nature of our creation and calling.
I really feel desperately sorry for those who, at the end of their years, realize that- by not being serious about God and not following through in Godly living- they have blown it. To end life with the realization that so many of one's worldly priorities were based on comparative rubbish, must be heart-breaking. I sure do not want to be in this group
I am reminded of Carl Jung's saying and epitaph, "Bidden or unbidden, God is present." No matter how we live, God is there. Do our minds and spirit know that they always stand before God and rest on the foundation of our Godly soul?
Now, a brief additional word from Paul this morning and then we will wrap up this meditation with the Great Apostle's own conclusion.
In God's word for us this morning, Paul says: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead." By this, Paul calls us to share in an experience of the total Jesus, the Master's good times as well as his suffering. How many of us really want a faith that saves us from suffering? By not wanting to share in Jesus' hard times, we rob ourselves of at least half of the Christ experience, and we leave ourselves vulnerable when we enter into anxiety and, sometimes, despair. My beloved friend and mentor, Fr. Sam Shoemaker, liked to say, "Faith in Christ does not guarantee us freedom from problems, but it always guarantees us freedom from defeat." How true this is.
Can we know this freedom from defeat if we have not known the suffering Christ? Indeed, you just heard Paul say, if you do not know Jesus in his sufferings, you do not know Christ. And if you do not really know Jesus intimately in his sufferings, you do not know the resurrecting power of Christ in your life.
If we can not bottom out with Jesus how can we rise with Him? I mean this literally. If, in our despairs, we do not find solidarity with God in Jesus' despair, how can we experience resurrection? You need darkness to see the light. You need death to value life. You need despair to fully know resurrection.
So, in our sadness let us not curse the darkness. There are deep blessings that can only be found in suffering. When the lights go out, or dim, we, too, grope for God as Jesus also groped for God in his darkness. To use the metaphor of marriage, think of this: Can we truly know, and fully love, our beloved, if our commitment to our loved one is not for better or for worse… for richer or poorer… in sickness and in health? Do we really want to be parted from our beloved by death… or darkness? I don't think so.
Paraphrasing Paul again: You and I "want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death [that we too] may attain the resurrection from the dead."
When all the temporary Lenten disciplines are said and done, the most important challenge of Lent is this: On Easter morning, when you arise, what kind of person will you be? Will your mind and spirit be dedicated to your Godly soul? Will you have embraced Jesus in his suffering and yours, so that you can know the Easter power of God? The answer to this depends on how much of Jesus you love and follow. Paul knew this, and we must too. It is the whole Jesus, living and crucified, who has to be our teacher and redeemer. So stay happy- but love Lent. This is the perfect time to come to know the suffering Christ. The light is coming. May it be brighter because you have found God in your darkness.
Is all this very difficult? You bet! But let me conclude by urging you to take heart! The Christian life is a matter of honest, personal efforts made in the knowledge that if we are faithful to our quest for a full life in Christ, God will perfect our efforts by grace in love. If we are sincere in our efforts, God will provide the success. This is where faith comes in. Remember the practical hope of St. Paul's final word this morning.
Reflecting on his desire to know and be found in Christ and receive the power of the Lord's resurrection through sharing in his suffering, Paul concludes: "Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." Let me repeat: "I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind (the past is past) and straining forward to what lies ahead (continuing a fulls effort), I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." To this we say -regardless of Lent - Hallelujah!
Amen
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