First Sunday in Lent - A

February 10, 2008

The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

Our first reading this morning, the story that we heard from Genesis, is one of the most well known in all of the Bible. I would not, however, call it a beloved story because it has caused immeasurable pain over the centuries, especially to women. Word after word has been written analyzing every aspect of this story, some trying to see some positive light for women. Eve was a risk- taker, Adam was passive… But the energy spent trying to figure out who to blame misses the point for this is a story that simply explains the broken state of humanity. How we got there is immaterial. It is a story of being separated from God. In the words of St Augustine, it is a story of "pride as the beginning of all sin". It is a story of the human choice to try to be God rather than worship God.

We need not look far nor has anyone ever had to look far to see the brokenness of our world. And so this is story about the obvious; the world is not as God intended. From the lush landscape of Eden where the first humans lived in perfect harmony, we have a world in which struggle for the basic necessities of life prevails in the lives of most people who inhabit this planet earth.

This is the first Sunday of Lent, a season in which the notion of repentance is woven throughout. During the Great Litany we acknowledged almost every grievance imaginable. While asking for forgiveness for our part in the state of the world has a deep cleansing effect in our lives, it is not enough. Lent is also about reconciliation about restoring our relationship with God and with each other. It is about going one step further than acknowledging our wrong doings; it is saying I want to do something different. It is about wanting to be a different person. The spiritual journey, a phrase that is admittedly overused, is on-going. There is no end to this particular journey, no sense of ever having arrived. Oh we might have the occasional mountain top experience and we surely go through many dark and deep valleys but we are always on the move. If we are listening to God, we are aware that God is always stretching us, nudging us and sometimes even pulling us with both arms or pushing us with all His might. To be stagnant in this journey is to die; it is to die inside to all that makes life worth living.

The word reconciliation has been around for a long time. For many the word may only elicit visions of bank statements and in fact, I might venture to say that many people probably spend more time reconciling their bank statements than reconciling their relationships with people. According to the Oxford dictionary, to reconcile means to "make friendly again after an estrangement". But the religious meaning of reconciliation goes much deeper. The sacrament of reconciliation, which is in our Book of Common Prayer, offers the penitent, the opportunity to confess the sin of things done and things left undone as well as my personal favorite "all the other sins which I cannot now remember." It is a rich service in which we bring our troubles to the table placing them there to be healed by God. It’s not about casting blame or suffering from ill placed guilt, it is about coming back to the God who loves us, the God who is there for us, the God who wants us to live life to the fullest, and the God who wants us to be a part of a reconciled world, and not just a part but a leader.

There are whole communities built around the idea of reconciliation. The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) is an interfaith group that has been around since 1914, far before the concept of interfaith dialogue was popular. FOR was begun in England by a Quaker and a Lutheran who were seeking ways to prevent the outbreak of World War I. In nearly 100 years, the FOR has become a world wide organization whose mission is to promote global reconciliation. The Taize Community, begun in France in 1940 by Brother Roger, has had a long-term mission of reconciliation among the various branches of Christianity. An ecumenical organization from the beginning, Brother Roger lived out his calling by offering shelter to Jews during WW II, often at great personal risk. One of the stories of Brother Roger that I find most touching is that of how he interacted with the Jews he hid. When it came time for him to pray, he would go off into the woods by himself so as not to impose on his Jewish guests that they might not feel he was trying to convert them. This was extraordinarily forward thinking for his day; the idea of reconciliation between Jews and Christians.

During this time of year, we are called to a deep level of self-examination. In the invitation to a Lent, found in the Ash Wednesday service, we are called to the observance of a Holy Lent by self-examination and repentance. Think of this – if all of humanity took the time to reflect on life, the world might be a much better place. If all of us thought of ways in which we might be different instead of casting blame outward or searching for ways in which others might be different –well it would be nothing short of a miracle. Setting aside our differences, seeking the common good, listening with our hearts – these are the demands that this season put upon us.

The fifth chapter of Paul’s letters to the Christians in Rome from which today’s 2^nd reading comes contains a rich commentary on reconciliation. Paul talks about how we are reconciled to God through the death of God’s son – that just as one man in the person of Adam broke our relationship with God so one man in the person of Jesus has reconciled that relationship. And while it is certainly true that Jesus has done the work for us and has offered us grace, we still have to recognize grace, accept the gift of grace and live into grace. Just as we are not always gracious receivers of material gifts that people give us nor are we always gracious recipients of the grace that God gives us. All of us stumble, all of us say and do things we wish we could retract. Would that life had an instant rewind… "Excuse me God, I’d like to rewind to Saturday and try again because Sunday was a really bad day." But we all know that life is not like that and so we need to reflect, admit our mistakes to God and our neighbor, accept the forgiveness God offers and move on.