Sermon: "Making Choices"

February 13 Making Choices Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Matthew 5:21-37

How is it that some people seem to live under a cloud—a perpetual curse, and others have angels hovering round them bringing blessing after blessing. It’s not that one person is better than another or lives a more spiritual life. What Jesus helps us to see is how it works in the universe—that those who are well-off and well-fed and well-clothed cannot experience God’s blessing, because they already have so many material things, and that somehow those who are suffering in poverty, in hunger, in deep spiritual crisis, (whom he calls "the poor in spirit") are the ones who can be open to God’s blessings. They are certainly the ones who are asking the deep spiritual questions of life, and therefore the only ones likely to get answers.

Clearly the universe is alive with blessing. But only those whose hands are empty can receive them. When we learn the art of making choices, what to do and what not to do, we can open our lives to blessing. On the other hand, if we make the aim of our life gaining wealth or fame or even happiness, we miss out on the real blessings which God has to offer.

In his farewell address to the people of Israel, Moses challenges his community:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today
that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him;
for that means life to you and length of days…

What’s peculiar about this question of making choices between life and death, blessings and curses, is that blessing and curse has nothing to do with the amount of pain or suffering in one’s life. As Dr. Bernie Siegel’s patients often tell him, “My cancer was the biggest blessing that ever happened in my life. It was a wake-up call that changed my life.” Out of the painful experience, that person made changes in their life that have made all the difference for them. In that sense, cancer might be a blessing. And someone who has received all kinds of material blessings may be the most unhappy person on earth, because they don’t have time for themselves or the people they love, or to enjoy the things that the have received.

So blessing and curse are not to be found in externals, but rather in an attitude of spirit, in the state of our soul, whether we are attuned to God, attuned to the world of spirit. I am convinced that part of the spiritual blessing we receive at PCMK is the knowledge that we are not alone. When we share deeply the journey of our souls, we find that deep connection which unites us to God and to each other.

The interpreters of Moses, who report his final words, seem to think that it's simply a matter of obeying the rules. Keep the commandments, follow the 613 decrees and ordinances, and you'll be rewarded with long life, prosperity, and lots of grandchildren. But no amount of reinterpretation can turn Jesus' teachings on the commandments into a calculus of obedience. The "Wonderful Words of Life" are not a set of laws that we must obey, or else. The words of life are a proclamation of the gospel of grace: God loves you and there's nothing you can (or need) to do about it! Life is a precious gift from God, and your only choice is to accept it, or not.

Like Moses, Jesus wants to provoke a crisis. To challenge his hearers to decision. I’m not preaching a Billy Graham message here, but a challenge to choose. To open ourselves to taking Jesus at his word. Deciding to live more deeply the way that we believe God calls us.

I want to quote several paragraphs from the Presbyterian Church's Confession of 1967 concerning "The New Life," which for me express perfectly what this choice is all about:

The reconciling work of Jesus was the supreme crisis in the life of humankind. His cross and resurrection become personal crisis and present hope for women and men when the gospel is proclaimed and believed. In this experience, the Spirit brings God’s forgiveness to all, moves people to respond in faith, repentance, and obedience, and initiates the new life in Christ.
The new life takes shape in a community in which people know that God loves and accepts them in spite of what they are. They therefore accept themselves and love others, knowing that no one has any ground on which to stand, except God’s grace.
The new life does not release people from conflict with unbelief, pride, lust, and fear. They still have to struggle with disheartening difficulties and problems. Nevertheless, as they mature in love and faithfulness in their life with Christ, they live in freedom and good cheer, bearing witness on good days and evil days, confident that the new life is pleasing to God and helpful to others.
The new life finds its direction in the life of Jesus, his deeds and words, his struggles against temptation, his compassion, his anger, and his willingness to suffer death. The teaching of apostles and prophets guides men and women in living this life, and the Christian community nurtures and equips them for their ministries.
The members of the church are emissaries of peace and seek the good of all in cooperation with powers and authorities in politics, culture, and economics. But they have to fight against pretensions and injustices when these same powers endanger human welfare. Their strength is in their confidence that God’s purpose rather than human schemes will finally prevail.
Life in Christ is life eternal. The resurrection of Jesus is the sign that God will consummate the work of creation and reconciliation beyond death and bring to fulfillment the new life begun in Christ.

The message in the call to making choices it to keep our focus on life. It’s easy to get caught up in rules. But as Jesus tells us in the Gospel lesson today: "You know what the rule is. You’ve heard it said, but I tell you this." It’s a message that is both more and less than a set of rules. We know that Jesus freely broke the rules when the demands of love and the call of life required it. Even the Apostle Paul affirmed this when he said, “The letter kills, but the spirit brings life.” (2 Cor. 3: 6)

For many years now, I have been living out a commitment in the “Five Mindfulness Trainings" of Thich Nhat Hanh’s community. Traditionally called the "Five Precepts," they involve an intention to practice reverence for life, generosity, sexual fidelity, loving speech, and mindful consumption. These trainings are not rules or laws, they are invitations to a deeper mindfulness. So when I make a commitment to protect the life of people, animals, plants and our earth, I do so with an awreness that I live by killing. What matters is being conscious.

Each Sunday in the Christian faith is a little Easter, when we celebrate the victory of God’s life-giving power over the power of death. Each Sunday we rejoice in the resurrection. Will we choose life in our world today, or will we side with death? If we understand the challenge of making choices for life, we will never imagine that religion involves a set of laws which we could perfectly obey and claim to be rightoues based on our choices. That way leads to self-righteousness and a readiness to choose reaction and revenge when we feel wronged by others. Making choices for life means that we join the first witnesses in following the spirit of Jesus, alive in the world, always ready to set aside the rules for the sake of a more inclusive practice of love and life. I pray that today we will choose life, that we and our planet may live.

Let us pray. God, we thank you for the gift of life, and for teachers like Moses and Jesus who show us the blessing in making choices. May we choose a life of courage, compassion, faithfulness, and concern for those who suffer. As we face life’s daily choices, we thank you for the blessing of belonging to a community of disciples, where our gifts and viewpoints are welcomed and affirmed. May we bring the difficult choices we face into this community, to receive the benefit of the larger wisdom and perspective availble here. Give us the courage, O God, to choose life in all its fullness. To choose service rather than apathy, freedom rather than dependence, fellowship rather than going it alone. In the name of Jesus Christ, we thank you, and we choose you. Amen.