This past Sunday I had the privilege to share from the pulpit at St. B’s. (Click here to see Facebook video of the service.) The lections for this week were difficult ones. They had to do with choosing life and death; prosperity and adversity. We read the part about divorce and anger in the Sermon on the Mount. Negative topics for many people.
I chose the passage form Deut. 30:15-20 where Moses and the elders of Israel challenged the people to choose between two ways. Would the nation of Israel follow the path that leads to life, prosperity, and security? Or, would they choose death, want, and destruction? “Choose today!” Moses commanded them.
On the face of things, this seems like, “Well, Duh!” Of course they would choose Life, Right? Who in their right mind would choose otherwise? “Lead on, Moses! We’re all with you! YAY!!!”
What most folks fail to read, though, is the part where Moses pretty much states that they will fail. And, fail miserably. He went so far as to say that they did not have hearts to know, eyes to see, nor ears to hear. In other words, after they had witnessed all that God had done with them and for them, they still would not get it at all.
A lot of folks walk around today thinking, “Whew! I’m glad that’s not me! I’m a believer and one of God’s special people. I would never make the wrong choices and wind up on God’s Naughty List! Yay, me!”
Oh, really???
Such ignorance and arrogance! When we say that God could never accept LGBT+ people, we’re exposing our arrogance. When we say that natural disasters happen because someone, (not us), sins or accepts sinfulness. When we sayt “if only we hadn’t taken prayer out of school everything would be made right” our ignorance of God shines like the noonday Sun.
Every single day we make choices that take us away from the Way of Life.
Every. Single. Day.
“Well, God leads me to believe that those people, (you fill in the blank of the latest ‘Out Group), are sinners and destined for Hell.”
No, God does NOT lead you there.
“But, the devil made me do it!” You’re not Flip Wilson. And, no the devil did NOT make you do anything.
The passage from Deuteronomy was pretty clear. Moses said, “YOU choose!”
We are all Free Moral Agents. We choose our path. No one else chooses for us. Period. God certainly is not going to force our choices. God may attempt to influence our decisions. God will never coerce a decision. And, God will never punish anyone for making any decision. God did warn the Israelites about impending doom. Not because God was planning to use some punitive action against them. No! God sees the way and may warn about the consequences that are already present on any given course. God does not cause them. In fact, by warning the Israelites, God showed love for them. “Don’t go that way! Thar be Beasties!”
Even when we choose the way that leads toward death, (and, Beasties!), God has already prepared a way for us to change direction and skip over to the path of Life. (This is something that I know personally. Lord knows I’ve chosen some horrendous paths to explore. I destroyed lives and broke relationships. Not good. You’ll need to take my word on that. I won’t detail anything. Mostly because anything that I may or may not have been active in is part and parcel of the Way of Humanity.)
For me, and for many others like me, God’s grace allowed me to change the way I followed and take the path of Life. That’s how God works. That’s Good News!
Not like the so-called good news that fundamentalists and evangelicals preach. Their good news is not good. They say that the path toward death is only averted by their proprietary formula, or better, sacred spell, that supposedly puts someone on the right path automatically. Without those magic words, people are doomed to some Medieval eternal punishment that is NEVER mentioned by God. In fact, even with the recitation of magic words, people still rush headlong along that path of curses and destruction. It’s how people are. So be it. Amen.
Still, God in God’s mercy and grace embraces us where we are when we listen to God’s voice. Then we see God as the Lover of the World who stoops into our reality, not worrying about the mud and the muck, and walks with us. Always, God leads with tenderness. Always.
Again, Good News.
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