Lent 1 -- Sermon "About Tough Questions"

March 13 Lent 1 "About Tough Questions" Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 John 7:53-8:11

About Tough Questions is the audio file of sermon as delivered.


I begin with a story that's too good not to be true:

In southern Africa, a group of people called the Babemba have a practice they use whenever someone behaves unjustly or irresponsibly and hurts other members of their community. The community ceases its business. Each woman, man, and child helps make a circle around that person. Then, every individual takes the time to tell that person about his or her good traits — in detail. All that person’s positive attributes, good deeds, strengths and kindness are recited.

The ceremony can take hours – even days. When everyone is finished, the villagers celebrate with great joy. The person is symbolically and literally welcomed back into the tribe.

What’s happening here? In the villagers’ minds, the person in question has forgotten who he or she really is, and must be reminded. Because when you know and appreciate yourself, the Babemba assume, you will have no need to harm anyone.

This Lent, we’ll do our preparation for Easter (practices of self-exploration, penitence, and return) with this assumption: Lent is a call for us to return to the truth of who we are.

Why else would we want to observe Lent? Only spiritual masochists enjoy feeling bad about themselves. Only a sort of spiritual sadism derives pleasure from examining the sins of others.

There is no legalism in this Lent, no set of rules by which everyone must live. But we can have expectations of each other. Each of us can take responsibility for and be serious about our own spiritual growth. And we can care about each other! As a community, let's commit to helping each other become better followers of Jesus in this season. It may involve freely-chosen disciplines which will vary from person to person and from time to time. These disciplines often include prayer and meditation, scripture study, attendance at worship, Wednesday covered dish suppers and study, significant sharing of our resources, and personal involvement in the ministries of the church.

If there is a theme that is appropriate, even to the season of Lent, surely it is gratitude. As a people, we are deeply aware that we have been blessed by God. In spite of the pains of life, we know we are privileged to be part of a community that has experienced what it is to "have life in abundance." And so we can share the days of Lent with thanks and praise to the God who has given us so much in Jesus the Christ, and to the many people whose gifts have graced our lives.

God's words to Adam and Eve were not to test or tempt them. Not to threaten. When God told them not to taste of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it was God's wish to keep human beings true to the innocent design God placed in us. And God knew that when we tasted that fruit the innocent creatures we had been would die. The great wisdom in the story is that we sense that we humans are different from most other animals. (Although I recently saw my dog act guitly….)

Rick Warren says: Life on earth is a Test. You are always being tested. God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment, and even the weather! Nothing is insignificant in your life.

I DISAGREE, AND I AGREE, WITH WARREN. Life IS a test, but God does not tempt/test us or judge us. Life itself challenges us and poses questions of character every moment. Will we choose A or B? Will we eat this or that? Will we speak or keep silent? Every decision we make shapes our character, makes us stronger or weaker, more selfish or compassionate.

Lent offers us the opportunity to participate in conversations about faithful living. Lent is a penitential season, and the lectionary passages support and encourage us in our own conversations with one another and with God about the tough questions that face us in our lives. Today we hear conversations in the Garden of Eden, and between Jesus and judgmental critics. . . .


John Shelby Spong has been a provocative poser of tough questions. His take on the Garden of Eden reframes the entire conversation:

We are not fallen, sinful people who deserve to be punished. We are frightened, insecure people who have achieved the enormous breakthrough into self-consciousness that marks no other creature that has emerged from the evolutionary cycle. Our sense of separation and aloneness is not a mark of our sin. It is a symbol of our glory. 

Our struggle to survive, which manifests itself in radical self-centeredness, is not the result of original sin. It is a sign of emerging self-consciousness. It should not be a source of guilt. It is a source of blessing. We do not need to be punished. We need to be called and empowered to be more deeply and fully human and to develop the godlike gift of being able to give ourselves away freely in the quest for an even deeper sense of what it means to live. …

Guilt, judgment, righteousness, orthodoxy, creedal purity; these are the products of a religion of control in which we hide in fear. They are attempts to build security. None of these are life-giving. All are methods of seeking righteousness when what we really seek and yearn for is love.

The Quakers have a tradition of "queries" in which each community and individual is encouraged to review their spiritual practice. Some sample queries:

• What impediments do I find to reaching out to those in distress?
• Am I comfortable making my own needs known to my community?
• How do we share in the diverse joys and transitions in each other’s lives?
• How do we provide young people with explicit guidelines in our faith and practice?
• How do we get to know and care for our children and young people as individuals?
• What have we learned from the wisdom expressed by our children?
• How do we share your deepest beliefs with children, while leaving them free to develop as the spirit of God may lead them?
• What helps our church build trust in one another?
• How do we get to know one another in community?
• How do we make time in our lives for our faith community?
• How do our conflicts have the potential to enrich the life of our community?

Like the Babemba people, we could spend hours (or days) reflecting on these queries. And wouldn't that be a worthwhile investment of ourselves during Lent? Let's do it! Amen? Amen!