Advent Lutheran Church

"Punctuating Grace"

                Last Sunday, while you were gathering here, some 2000 people were participating in the final worship at our ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis.  The preacher that morning was the chairman of the Conference of Bishops, Rocky Mountain Synod Bishop Alan Bjornberg, and he began his good words to us by confessing that he has always struggled with punctuation.  Even though he holds the credentials of an English major, he could not conquer the tiny jots and tittles of sentence structure, (with the possible exception of the question mark,) which is, perhaps, why he became a theologian, a person who must love questions.  To him, the heart of all the important questions that a theologian must confront seems to be this: “Is it grace, period, or is it grace, comma?”

                Bjornberg went on to clarify, saying that before the Protestant Reformation, grace (God’s undeserved love for us) was understood as, “Grace, if you” or “grace, when you” sometimes “grace, after you” or even “grace, unless you” and often “grace, until you…”  Finally, Luther stated with bold clarity, “Grace.  Period.”  Today, unfortunately, the bishop notes that our American cultural Christianity and even some of us Lutherans are infected, still carrying around commas in our pockets, and we find it difficult to decide which punctuation mark we will use following our proclamation of “grace!”

                In our Old Testament lesson from Deuteronomy today, we hear about the end of the Israelites’ wanderings, and the entry into the Promised Land.  Moses, just like loving parents sending kids off to a school where they cannot go as well, sends the Israelites off on their new adventure just as many of you did this past week - with reminders of who they are, and how they should act.  “Don’t forget what I’ve taught you!  Be yourself!  Remember who you are!” Perhaps you were one of those parents.  And maybe you saw the latest email story about the violinist playing on the metro platform in Washington, D.C.  For one hour he played, and 1097 people went by him.  A few slowed to listen, some to drop change in his violin case.  Some children were intrigued, but were hurried past by their parents.  No one seemed to know this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.  His playing in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. Of the 1097 people who passed by, only six stopped to listen, and only one recognized him. 

                Some might say that the experiment failed, and that people are too busy and too agenda driven.  But I believe it says more about the fact that most people don’t appreciate what they do not know about nor understand.  They cannot respond fully to something they do not appreciate.  And they cannot appreciate classical music by a virtuoso unless they have been prepared.  Observing the Law was “living proof” of Israel’s identity, and they had been well prepared to live that way.  They had been taught from one generation to the next, and they understood themselves to be People of The Book.  They appreciated Moses’ Law, the Torah, and it was part of who they were.  But sometimes, if the connection with the source of the teaching is lost, the lessons themselves get “stale.”

                That is part of what was happening in our story from Mark’s Gospel.  The Jews’ adventure of living under the Law was getting a bit threadbare, because some of the connection to the source was wearing thin.  So Jesus was discussing some “curriculum changes” with other teachers - Pharisees (laymen, interpreters) and scribes (lawyers) who were bound not only by the purity codes in Leviticus, but who had chosen to live under the “oral law,” the traditions of the elders, as well!  They were attempting to sanctify all of life with the Law and questioned Jesus’ disciples, who did not seem to keep these same traditions and rituals, as in the washing of the hands before meals.  (Now in this day of H1N1 virus, we might just side with the Pharisees, and I encourage you to wash your hands after worship this morning and get into the habit during cold and flu season.)

                These religious leaders pursued Jesus throughout his ministry, because they feared losing their righteousness rituals in favor of something new.  But Jesus loves them, and he wants them to know that that perhaps even faithful zeal can be misdirected, when God is not the source and purpose.  As Anne Wrider wrote in an online blog, “the purpose of the law is to free us from fear…the problem is that we use it out of fear to instill fear.” A perfect example of GRACE, comma, when we use what God has given to enslave or put restrictions on others. 

                Now I’d like to start a “new thing” in preaching.  Pastor Roger uses the “interactive part” of the sermon.  We have both taken to teaching you some “Greek for the Week,” and I’m sure that you are reading those New Testament letters in the original language by now.  But today I want to introduce “Pithy Quotes.”  And here is the first pithy quote from my favorite author, Barbara Brown Taylor.  She reminds us, “No matter how hard we try, we cannot seem to get God to respect our boundaries.” And that’s a good thing.  Sometimes, it’s even a NEW thing.

                But how can we know it is GOD doing the “New Thing?”  What does this mean?  How do we decide?  Where do we look?  Some might say, “OK, I’m baptized.  I’m saved, and a good person, so listen to me, follow my words!”  But few can get around anger - distrust – stress - racism - materialism - disrespect and financial, physical or spiritual irresponsibility.  If you hold up under those things, consider our corporate sin of affluence in face of poverty - environ-mental destruction and pollution - apathy in the face of  injustice – inattention to world hunger, disease and war.  No, it is not upon us that we depend – but upon us as we exist within the body of Christ.  For we look to Jesus, “the pioneer perfector of our faith.” Only Christ is the One to whom our Scriptures point, the One who can set our standards, and those standards are “being perfect, just as the Father in heaven is perfect.”  Jesus’ words and life slay any of our claims to worthiness, and if you have any doubt about that, recall Jesus’ words, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor; resist no one who is evil; love your enemies; pray for your persecutors; don’t worry about tomorrow; feed the hungry, clothe the naked, release the captives, bring sight to the blind.”

                Change is hard.  Change often calls us out of ourselves and our comfort zones.  Our Baptism does not make us any smarter, but it does make us bold enough to look not only at what God has done for us; but also at what God might be doing through us-for the healing of the world. Bishop Bjornberg again: “We have come to know again this week, that a baptized reforming church is not just a change agent, but a changed agent.  We have come to know again this week that a reforming church is always itself being reformed and made new.”

                Grace, comma?  Or Grace, period.  It’s a good question.  When Jesus said, “not a not an i-dot or a t-cross will disappear from the law until heaven and earth pass away…” he meant what he said.  The Law remains to order us.

And the Gospel proclaims to free us.  We choose every day where we will stand in the tension between the Binding Law and the Freeing Good News.  As Lutheran Christians we are committed to living within the tension between them.

Sometimes we go too far; sometimes we do not go far enough.  But God has left us in the question.  And God has loved us in the question.  So we strive to proclaim Grace, period.  And we hold fast to the knowledge that, “God loves you, no matter what.”  Period.  Thanks be to God!   Amen.

To read the complete text of Bishop Bjornberg’s sermon to the Churchwide Assembly go to www.elca.org, click on Churchwide Assembly and then Worship.  He preached on Sunday, August 23.