| Calvary Episcopal Church, Rockdale |
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| THE 10TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 24 July, 2005 The Rev. Robert C. Granfeldt |
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This morning, our lessons continue as they have for the past few weeks of this Pentecost
season, with St. Matthew’s presentation of the parables of Jesus, and St. Paul’s Letter to the
Romans – the eighth chapter of which is the heart of what is perhaps the most important
Christian document ever written.
Last week we saw that God is not quite as “unlimited” as we’ve been taught, but is in fact
limited by his own being. That is, that he cannot do that which is contrary to his own nature.
For instance, I said, he cannot do evil, nor can God hate what he has created. God can’t do
these things for the simple reason that God is love, and love cannot do evil and love can
never hate.
And, I said, God cannot do away with the evil that is in the world for the equally simple reason
that he has created the world in the image of his own, radical freedom. The universe is a
place of freedom because God is radically free. We are free, because God is free. And God
will not, does not can not violate our freedom. So the weeds growing up amongst the wheat,
and the farmer’s inability to do anything about it until the end time becomes, in Jesus’
parable the story of God’s suffering the consequences of Our sinfulness, of Our evil,
preserving the dignity of our freedom.
That is a difficult concept, I know, and I warned you in advance it would be hard, and that you
might not like what you heard, and, indeed, a couple of you took exception to what I said. Not
that I ever mind when someone does! In fact, it delights me! Truly.
One of the things that have distinguished us – the Episcopal Church -- from so many other
Churches is that we prize reason and understanding beyond most. As one of my favorite
advertisements published by the Church observes, “we don’t ask you to check your brain at
the door.” And part of the value we place on the intellect involves intellectual freedom. No
one in our Church is entitled to tell you what you have to think and believe. And when a
preacher makes a claim with which you disagree, you are invited to let him know! In fact,
about the only time I feel really satisfied that I have done my job in preaching is when I hear
reactions pro and con – then I know that what I’ve said has been important enough to touch
people, and substantial enough to make them think. I think we accomplished that, last week,
and I am pleased.
And, in fact, the question that was asked was very pertinent and to be expected: What about
prayer? If God is just a bystander, then what is prayer all about, why bother?
Well, to begin with, the parables of the seeds do NOT present God as a disinterested
bystander. In fact, the man who spreads the seeds in both of the parables of the past two
weeks – the parable from two weeks ago when some seed fell upon good ground and some
fell on poor ground, and last week’s when weeds sprouted with the wheat – we can assume,
is the same man – and both parables describe God. And God is no less passionately caring in
the second case than in the first. Being unable to intervene in the world – to remove the
evil, for instance – does not mean not caring about the evil. The Abba – the Daddy – always
cares, is always involved. He cannot fail to be, and he cannot fail to continue shedding his
loving grace upon us with abandon.
It is not a failure to care, but the fact of freedom that keeps God from intervening. If freedom
is to have any meaning, any reality, it must bear consequences. To propose that we are free,
but that we have a God who protects us from the consequences of our actions, is a
contradiction. As a race, no less than as individuals, we exercise our freedom at risk, and
when, as a race or as individuals, we err in that exercise, when we abuse the freedom we’re
given, we suffer the consequences of our error, of our abuse. For God to meddle in the
freedom that fills the universe, would be to violate our freedom and our individuality, while
denying his own being, as well. This God Cannot do.
BUT…!
Oh, thank God – and I mean that literally; Thank God -- there is always a “BUT!”
BUT there is a way in which God can act – and does – without violating our freedom: he can
act In us, when we ask.
When we ask. When we call upon our Abba to help. When we admit our failings, our errors,
our abuse of our own freedom, our sins…, and ask God to help us, to protect us from the full
brunt of our failings, to save us. When we pray.
The very greatest gift of God in our creation – the freedom he gives us – itself constitutes a
gulf between God and his people, the creator and the created, a gulf that is bridged in
prayer. When we speak to our Abba; when we ask our Abba to help. He answers our prayer.
So to those who asked if I believe in prayer, the answer is, with all my heart and with all my
soul. I have seen far too many wondrous things happen in response to prayer to be
otherwise. To take our faith seriously must be to take prayer seriously, and to be a Christian
is to be a pray-er.
But, you know, God even makes that easy, as our sublime reading from St. Paul makes so
abundantly clear, this morning. Here we are, stuck. Created in freedom, we don’t know how
to use it. We misuse it, abuse it, deny it, and even try to walk away from it. We sin, and we can’
t seem to do anything about it. The answer, we know, is prayer – which lets God in. But we
can’t even do that very well, and the best of us isn’t really much good at it.
So our God takes care of that, too. All it takes from us is an urge; an impulse; the barest
nudge from our own spirit, and our Abba takes over from there.
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness;” St. Paul tells us, “for we do not know how to pray as
we ought, but that very spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who
searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for
the saints according to the will of God.”
After a week that’s been ‘way too hot, that sounds like a good note to stop on – the
assurance that God our Abba even works in our inability to pray, praying in us and through
us and for us!
And next week, we’ll talk some more about prayer: about what it is, about what happens when
we pray, about how it works – and about how God works.
In Christ’s name. Amen.
season, with St. Matthew’s presentation of the parables of Jesus, and St. Paul’s Letter to the
Romans – the eighth chapter of which is the heart of what is perhaps the most important
Christian document ever written.
Last week we saw that God is not quite as “unlimited” as we’ve been taught, but is in fact
limited by his own being. That is, that he cannot do that which is contrary to his own nature.
For instance, I said, he cannot do evil, nor can God hate what he has created. God can’t do
these things for the simple reason that God is love, and love cannot do evil and love can
never hate.
And, I said, God cannot do away with the evil that is in the world for the equally simple reason
that he has created the world in the image of his own, radical freedom. The universe is a
place of freedom because God is radically free. We are free, because God is free. And God
will not, does not can not violate our freedom. So the weeds growing up amongst the wheat,
and the farmer’s inability to do anything about it until the end time becomes, in Jesus’
parable the story of God’s suffering the consequences of Our sinfulness, of Our evil,
preserving the dignity of our freedom.
That is a difficult concept, I know, and I warned you in advance it would be hard, and that you
might not like what you heard, and, indeed, a couple of you took exception to what I said. Not
that I ever mind when someone does! In fact, it delights me! Truly.
One of the things that have distinguished us – the Episcopal Church -- from so many other
Churches is that we prize reason and understanding beyond most. As one of my favorite
advertisements published by the Church observes, “we don’t ask you to check your brain at
the door.” And part of the value we place on the intellect involves intellectual freedom. No
one in our Church is entitled to tell you what you have to think and believe. And when a
preacher makes a claim with which you disagree, you are invited to let him know! In fact,
about the only time I feel really satisfied that I have done my job in preaching is when I hear
reactions pro and con – then I know that what I’ve said has been important enough to touch
people, and substantial enough to make them think. I think we accomplished that, last week,
and I am pleased.
And, in fact, the question that was asked was very pertinent and to be expected: What about
prayer? If God is just a bystander, then what is prayer all about, why bother?
Well, to begin with, the parables of the seeds do NOT present God as a disinterested
bystander. In fact, the man who spreads the seeds in both of the parables of the past two
weeks – the parable from two weeks ago when some seed fell upon good ground and some
fell on poor ground, and last week’s when weeds sprouted with the wheat – we can assume,
is the same man – and both parables describe God. And God is no less passionately caring in
the second case than in the first. Being unable to intervene in the world – to remove the
evil, for instance – does not mean not caring about the evil. The Abba – the Daddy – always
cares, is always involved. He cannot fail to be, and he cannot fail to continue shedding his
loving grace upon us with abandon.
It is not a failure to care, but the fact of freedom that keeps God from intervening. If freedom
is to have any meaning, any reality, it must bear consequences. To propose that we are free,
but that we have a God who protects us from the consequences of our actions, is a
contradiction. As a race, no less than as individuals, we exercise our freedom at risk, and
when, as a race or as individuals, we err in that exercise, when we abuse the freedom we’re
given, we suffer the consequences of our error, of our abuse. For God to meddle in the
freedom that fills the universe, would be to violate our freedom and our individuality, while
denying his own being, as well. This God Cannot do.
BUT…!
Oh, thank God – and I mean that literally; Thank God -- there is always a “BUT!”
BUT there is a way in which God can act – and does – without violating our freedom: he can
act In us, when we ask.
When we ask. When we call upon our Abba to help. When we admit our failings, our errors,
our abuse of our own freedom, our sins…, and ask God to help us, to protect us from the full
brunt of our failings, to save us. When we pray.
The very greatest gift of God in our creation – the freedom he gives us – itself constitutes a
gulf between God and his people, the creator and the created, a gulf that is bridged in
prayer. When we speak to our Abba; when we ask our Abba to help. He answers our prayer.
So to those who asked if I believe in prayer, the answer is, with all my heart and with all my
soul. I have seen far too many wondrous things happen in response to prayer to be
otherwise. To take our faith seriously must be to take prayer seriously, and to be a Christian
is to be a pray-er.
But, you know, God even makes that easy, as our sublime reading from St. Paul makes so
abundantly clear, this morning. Here we are, stuck. Created in freedom, we don’t know how
to use it. We misuse it, abuse it, deny it, and even try to walk away from it. We sin, and we can’
t seem to do anything about it. The answer, we know, is prayer – which lets God in. But we
can’t even do that very well, and the best of us isn’t really much good at it.
So our God takes care of that, too. All it takes from us is an urge; an impulse; the barest
nudge from our own spirit, and our Abba takes over from there.
“The Spirit helps us in our weakness;” St. Paul tells us, “for we do not know how to pray as
we ought, but that very spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who
searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for
the saints according to the will of God.”
After a week that’s been ‘way too hot, that sounds like a good note to stop on – the
assurance that God our Abba even works in our inability to pray, praying in us and through
us and for us!
And next week, we’ll talk some more about prayer: about what it is, about what happens when
we pray, about how it works – and about how God works.
In Christ’s name. Amen.
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