The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – January 30, 2005

I Corinthians 1:18-31

             “O Lord, who may abide in your tent…?” This question is asked by the writer of Psalm 15. It is the question of our day.

             “O Lord, who may abide in your tent?” How do you answer the question? The psalmist gives us a long list: those who walk blameless, those who do right, those who speak the truth and do not slander, those who do not do evil to their friends and on goes the list. It is a long list of things where the psalmist tells us if you are perfect you will live in God’s house.

             You and I know that we are not perfect. We need only look at ourselves and we see we are turned in ourselves and sin daily. That long list of virtues provided by the psalmist stands before us like a mirror: accusing us of our transgressions.

             So, what must we do to ‘abide in God’s tent?’ Perhaps if we just keep the “doing right” part, maybe we can qualify? Or perhaps we need to do the “blameless walk?” Or perhaps keeping the “no evil” to our friends?

             What you discover when you go through the list is that it is impossible to save yourself. If you think you can somehow avoid all sin and thus qualify for a place in God’s tent, then pride itself becomes your downfall.

             So, what are we to do? Let’s look at the second lesson for an answer. St. Paul tells us there that some folks want signs, others want wisdom, but “…we proclaim Christ crucified…” Ah, St. Paul reminds us that you can try and figure it out for yourself, but God has already taken things in hand and through the cross of Jesus Christ has loved us so completely we are never the same.

             We are loved so completely that God sends the Son to dwell here and forgive us all our sin. You don’t have to worry about getting into God’s tent. God has come to you in Jesus. In the first chapter of the gospel of John we hear: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.” What is happening here is that in the Son, God came to us and dwelt with us, literally “tented” with us. That is how much God loves us.

             So, you can have the wisdom of the best or the clarity of the actions of others, but wisdom and signs will not provide the love that has you living in God’s tent. What makes that possible is the cross. It is there and there alone that living with God is made possible. And God does it all, loving you unconditionally and eternally.

             In fact the God of the cross loves you so much that you are blessed to be new people. That is what the beatitudes are about in the gospel lesson.

             There is one particular beatitude that troubles my heart this morning. I must confess this past week was a bad week for me. I could not shake the sadness that enveloped me like a fog when I heard of soldiers being killed in Iraq. We have now spent billions upon billions of dollars and the lives of more than 1400 Americans in Iraq. I hope it is worth it.

             Don’t get me wrong. I am a strong supporter of our troops as they fight for a democratic Iraq. It is the policy of war that I oppose. I thought we had learned in Viet Nam that these kinds of wars are not the means to democracy. I have to ask, have we forgotten history to be condemned to repeat it?

             This is the day elections are being held in Iraq. My prayer is that this is the day that begins true democracy there and that we will quickly bring our troops home and the citizens of Iraq will govern themselves with freedom and justice.

             Oh, yes, if you are thinking that I have slid off a cliff and lost it, note that the beatitude I am talking about is “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” These are the words of our Lord Jesus himself. He is telling us that God is making us who are people of the cross, peacemakers. God loves us so much that the cross is transforming us into people who make peace, not war.

             Remember it is the same Lord Jesus who says to us this same chapter 5 of Matthew: “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…” It is not my idea that we are to be peacemakers. That is God’s idea. It is our calling to live out what God asks of us.

             In the cross God has made us capable of being peacemakers. We are now called to make peace, especially in Iraq. I must confess that I do not know how we can do that. It doesn’t seem that peace is breaking out with our current policies. Perhaps you can share with me along the way specific ways you see we can encourage peace in this world and especially in Iraq.

             Meanwhile, keep abiding in God’s tent. The cross has made that your gift. Amen.

• Pastor Robert F. Holley