The 15th Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm 51:1-12
I Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10
It is the morning after.
It is Wednesday, September 12, 2001.
I awake very early this morning.
It is still dark.
As I climb my way from sleep to wakefulness,
I try to remember.
Something awful has happened.
I think at first that it is a bad dream.
Then I feel vaguely responsible for an awful event,
the details of which I cannot fully recall.
I remember that people have died.
I feel that I am somehow responsible.
Finally, I am awake enough to recall the horror.
I am reluctant to get up and face the reality of yesterday.
I do not want to hear the additional realities that have been revealed in the
night.
What is this vague sense of responsibility that I feel?
I did not do the deed.
I did not hijack a plane and use it as a weapon of mass destruction.
How is it that I feel culpable?
We have heard this morning the story of three men who also awakened on a
morning after.
Moses has led the children of Israel out of slavery in the land of Egypt.
God has vowed to lead them to the promised land.
Moses has gone up the mountain to receive the stone tablets of the covenant
from the hand of God.
In his absence the people build a golden calf.
They make an altar before the statue and offer sacrifices to this graven image.
On this morning after,
God tells Moses what the people have done.
The Lord says to Moses:
³Now let me alone,
so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.²
On this morning after,
Moses pleads with God on behalf of his people.
Why Moses?
Why are you pleading for these people who have rejected the God of their ancestors,
the God who brought them out of Egypt?
Do you somehow feel responsible for their sin?
In the Psalm for today,
we find David singing a song of repentance.
What morning after guilt led to the writing of this song?
Why is there need for repentance?
Remember the story of David and Bathsheba.
Bathsheba¹s husband, a soldier is off fighting the war.
David looks on Bathsheba as she is bathing on her rooftop.
He calls her to him and takes her for himself.
Then, to cover up his transgression,
he sends her husband to the very front lines where he dies in battle.
On this morning after,
David awakens knowing he has perpetrated a great evil against his people.
He pleads with God for forgiveness.
In his first letter to Timothy,
we find Paul recalling his morning after experiences.
Paul who hunted down and destroyed members of a dangerous sect,
Paul who persecuted and killed the followers of Jesus.
Struck blind on the road to Damascus,
he hears God say, "Why do you persecute me?"
In his morning after experience, Paul regains his sight and knows that he is
responsible for the death of many innocent people.
What do my morning after experiences have to do with Moses, David, and Paul?
These men were sinners.
Moses failed to lead his people.
Of course he was responsible.
David raped and killed.
Of course he was responsible.
Paul destroyed lives.
Of course he was responsible.
How could these morning after experiences possibly relate to mine?
I did not hijack planes and kill thousands of people.
Why did I awake this morning,
the morning after,
with a sense of responsibility for the events of yesterday?
I read a quote this morning in The Denver Post.
It is from Roman Catholic Bishop Kenneth Angell of Vermont.
³The calculated, cold-blooded, cowardly taking of precious human lives
in the name of religion or nationalism is beyond blasphemy.
It is pure evil.²
Pure evil.
I do not often discuss evil from this pulpit.
In the wake of the events of this week, it is time to do so.
Evil does exist in this world.
There is a dark side.
Sin is real.
The truth about evil is that we are all sinners saved by grace.
Why did I awake this morning with a sense of responsibility for the events
of yesterday?
Because I have contributed to the dark side.
I have perpetrated evil.
I have sinned.
Every time that I have
been impatient with a child,
I have contributed to the dark side.
When I have been rude to my husband,
I have perpetrated evil.
When I have been sarcastic and unkind,
I have sinned.
When I have criticized others,
been less than honest,
when I have ignored the needs of those around me,
when I have failed to take care of myself,
neglected my relationship with God,
when I have failed to care for creation,
I have contributed to the dark side.
We have talked here about the freedom to choose love.
When I have failed to choose love,
I have sinned.
This is the reason for my morning after guilt today.
There are more days to come.
What will I do with my morning after guilt?
There are answers in our stories today.
Moses pleads with God.
He begs for mercy on behalf of his people.
We read,
³And the Lord changed his mind.²
The people repent and they are restored to relationship with God.
David seeks forgiveness.
He is confident that God will have mercy.
He sings that God will
blot out all his iniquities.
David repents and he is restored to relationship with God.
Paul confesses his evil deeds.
He writes that he received mercy and the grace of our Lord overflowed.
Paul repents and he is restored to relationship with God.
Well, finally some good news.
In the wake of the events of this week,
we have come together today seeking hope.
Where does our hope lie?
Our hope lies in our willingness to repent.
We need to examine what constitutes true repentance
for Moses, for David, for Paul, and for us.
How will we repent?
Moses and David and Paul
regretted their transgressions.
They confessed that they had, indeed, contributed to the dark side.
So we are called to confession.
We are called to acknowledge that when we fail to choose love we contribute
to evil in the world.
Moses and David and Paul
made restitution for their evil ways.
They sought to make things right,
as best they could.
They worked hard at cleaning up the mess they had created.
So we are called to restitution.
We are called to restore loving relationship with self, others, God and all
creation.
Moses and David and Paul repented of their sins.
They repented by turning away from the dark side.
They repented by asking God to lead them in ways of righteousness.
Moses and David and Paul truly
repented, turning away from their sinful ways,
turning toward love.
So we are called to repentance.
We are called to commit ourselves anew to choosing love in all we say and do.
What happens then?
When we have confessed and made restitution and repented,
what happens then to our morning after guilt?
Hear the Gospel:
"I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner who repents."
Hear the words of Jesus:
"Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost."
Hear the Good News.
There will be other morning after experiences in our lives.
There will be times when the dark side seems to win.
There will be moments when we ourselves contribute to evil.
There will be days when it seems that evil prevails in our world.
On this morning after
we are called to repentance,
we are called to commit ourselves,
even in the face of pure evil,
we are called to commit ourselves to choose love in our homes, our schools,
at work, in our communities and our congregation.
We are called to choose love.
We are called to let go of our morning after guilt and fear.
We are called to trust these words of Christ:
"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
Amen
St. Andrew Lutheran Church
Arvada, Colorsdo
Pastor Dena Williams