June 7, 2015 - Free Will

Have you ever walked into a grocery store to pick up something and been overwhelmed by the choices in front of you? Like laundry detergent. Now you probably know exactly the brand you like, and the precise type that you want, but if you've ever had to make a new choice - because your brand was out, for instance - it is overwhelming! Do you want liquid or powder? Do you want high efficiency or regular? Do you want it for cold water or hot water? How about colour? Is it for brights? Or whites? Or darks? Bleach-free? Bleach-alternative? And how about fragrance? Do you want unscented? Or do you want sporty scent? Or flowery scent? Do you want fabric softener added? Or do you want the kind that is safe for the environment - with no phosphates? Or the kind that comes in the environmentally friendly packaging? Do you want the refillable kind? Or the kind where you add water? The wall of choices are endless. And the irony is that in our culture of independence, where we value having the freedom to make whatever choice we want, having so many choices can be exhausting. We want to make the *best* choice, but deciding which is *best* can be too much. There is a phrase, "the tyranny of choice," which means that too many choices can enslave us, this is most clear in stores. And sociologists have studied this, and concluded that whether you're buying laundry detergent, or peanut butter, or shampoo, the sheer number of choices us can cause consumer anxiety. Too much choice can be a bad thing - admittedly, a problem that exists only for us in the overabundant first world.

So what are we to do when the choice isn't about something we find in a grocery store, but about how we are supposed to live our lives? How do we choose how we are going to spend our days? As Christians, we want to make choices that reflect our commitment to Christ. We want to live lives that respond to Jesus' proclamation that whoever does the will of God is his brother and his sister. We want to avoid the fate of the Israelites who chose a king against God's will, and ultimately ended up with Solomon, who enslaved most of the population, as Samuel warned he would, in order to build his temples and palaces and compete on the international scene. We want to make the right choices for our lives, so that God will be happy with us and so that we will be deserving of the title, "Christian."

For those who take these choices seriously, this is really challenging. How do we follow God's will? What *is* God's will for us? Unfortunately, most of us don't have a prophet like Samuel in our lives, who will directly tell us what God wants us to do. God leaves us to figure it out on our own. God gives us this free choice because God wants to be in relationship with people, and not with slaves. Just as we gave our children more choices as they got older, even the choice to make the wrong decision and learn from it, so that they might grow into responsible adults, God also gives us the freedom to choose what to do with our lives. God is not interested in being worshipped by automatons or robots, God created us in God's image - with freedom - so that as free people we might worship God. When God left Adam and Eve in the garden with the forbidden tree wasn’t a trap. It was God allowing them to make decisions and learn from them and grow. God gives us freedom to choose whether and how we will follow God. And, since you are all here this morning, I’m guessing that you have chosen to do what God wills - "thy will be done on earth as in heaven" - and so the question is, What is God's will?

Martin Luther struggled with this question. He likely suffered from depression and anxiety, and so his struggles were more acute than most people, but he was incredibly torn about what God's will for him was. In the beginning, he thought God’s will was that he honour his father and mother - the fourth commandment - and so he went to school to become a lawyer. But that did not make him feel closer to God. So he become a monk, thinking that would make God happy. But even that was a problem, as we know, and he began to think that God was not happy with that either. Luther spent his early life struggling to make choices that would make God happy. And Luther thought, early on, that what would make God happy would be Luther doing God's will.

But Luther came to realize that he was terribly mistaken about what he thought would make God happy. Because what he realized is that nothing that we do - no choice that we make - will make God happy with us. Not because God is unhappy with us, but because God is *already* happy with us. Because God made a covenant with us, to be our God forever, and through the death of Christ on the cross, God is already happy with us. We can't make God happy through our choices because God is already happy. We can't make God more pleased with us because God is already pleased. Doing God's will, as Luther discovered, is not about making the best choices so that God will accept us. We are already accepted. Doing God's will is simply about responding to this acceptance. We do God's will because we want to show that we are happy to be in the relationship that God already as with us. We do God's will out of thanksgiving for God's acceptance of us, and because we want to follow Jesus. Not because we have to, but because we want to.

Luther described this as the freedom of a Christian. Through Christ, we are freed from living so that we might be saved - because we already are. And we are free to live however we want. Nobody can tell us what we are *supposed* to do. Luther described this by saying that we are "Lords of all." We are the kings and queens of our own lives. We are free to spend our days however we want. God's will is that we make our own choices. We can, if we choose, make the choices all about us. 

But, as you have probably experienced by now, and as Luther also knew, living for ourselves isn't particularly rewarding. Making only ourselves happy leaves us feeling somewhat empty. And that is because God created humans to be in relationship with one another, and being in relationship means helping our fellow humans. God's will for us, as it turns out, is that we choose to love our neighbours as ourselves. God's will is that we choose to share what we have with those who have less - whether that is sharing our food, or shelter, our clothing, and even our love. Luther described this as being a servant to all. We are lords of all, and servants to all. This is what it means to be a Christian. That we are free to choose how we live our lives, and that we are most fulfilled when we are servants to others.  

Which brings us back to the tyranny of choice. We are servants who have chosen this work, and not slaves who are forced to do it, and so we are free to choose how we want to serve. But with so many choices as to how to serve our neighbour, because there are so many in need, how do we know which is the best choice? Do we serve those across the street from us? Do we serve those across the world? Do we serve our friends, or do we serve complete strangers? Do we serve with our time? Or with our money? Do we serve other Christians? Or do we serve non-Christians? Which is the best choice?

Well, we should know by now that there is no "best" choice. Or, rather, that they are all "best" choices. We are free to make whatever choice we want - we are free to serve whomever we choose, in whatever manner we choose. But here is something to think about: we serve out of thankfulness for what God has done for us through Christ. We serve because we have *chosen* to serve. And this thankfulness and choice means that our service to others should bring joy and pleasure and be carried out with eagerness. Serving others is not meant to bring suffering and pain and misery. While it is the case that serving might bring physical pain - if we choose to discipline our bodies through fasting or physical labour for others - it should never bring spiritual pain. Our spirits should never suffer as we carry out God's will. If you are serving others, and it is making you miserable or resentful or driving you away from God, choose something else. God has given you the freedom to choose how you will serve.

Luther was very emphatic about that, actually. Luther was quite keen to convey that Christian service to others is not meant to destroy us. He actually said that part of serving others is taking care of our own health. While of course we want to discipline our body so that it follows our spirit in serving others, Luther said, "It is the part of a Christian to take care of his or her own body for the very purpose that, by its soundness and well-being, he or she may be enabled to labour ... for the aid of those who are in want, that thus the stronger member may serve the weaker member, and we may be children of God, thoughtful and busy one for another, bearing one another's burdens." It's like when you're on a plane, and the flight attendant tells you that you have to put your own oxygen mask before helping others. How much help can you be to others if you pass out from lack of oxygen before you get to them? How much service can you do as a Christian if you neglect your own needs and end up needing the help of others, rather than helping them? As Christians, we are free to serve all, but first we must make sure that we are able to serve. Doing the will of God by serving others is meant to free us, not to burden us.

God's will is that we serve others, as a blessing to us and as a blessing to the world. God wants you to have a good life, and so God frees you from being obsessed with your own salvation, and frees you from being constantly anxious about how you will make God happy. The will of God is that you serve others however you want and however you are able, in whatever way you choose, in whatever way brings the most joy and makes you the most thankful to God for the opportunity. Just as it is with laundry detergent - whatever you choose will ultimately wash your clothes just fine - so it is with the Christian life. Whatever you choose to do will ultimately be just fine, because God has already chosen you. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Easter 6, 2015 - Happy Mother's Day

Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

Well, today is Mother’s Day, and no doubt you’ve seen the cards thanking mothers for all the sacrifices they’ve made, for their boundless love, for the hugs and kisses they’ve shared, for all the work they’ve done for their families. You’ve probably seen the commercials on TV and heard them on the radio - “This Mother’s Day, show her you care, buy her...” whatever they’re selling - jewelry, a camera, a drill from Home Depot (that’s my favourite) - the list is endless. And of course, you’ve noticed the flowers and balloons in the store, covered with hearts, saying Happy Mother’s Day.

Even the church takes part in this celebration of mothers, even though it wasn’t started as a Christian holiday. Churches proclaim mothers to be God’s angels and saints - the epitome of selflessness, the very role model of self-sacrifice. Luther himself called motherhood the highest vocation and calling for women - a proclamation that was revolutionary because until that time, motherhood was often seen as a punishment for Eve’s transgression in the garden of Eden and nowhere near as valued as any of the actual vocations that men fulfilled. In the church, Mother’s Day has been a time to talk about the holiness of all mothers - of Mary, Jesus’ mother, who bravely answered God’s call to carry the Saviour in her womb and then to give him up to die, of Sarah, the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac, who carried Isaac in her old age and fulfilled God’s promise of making Abraham the father of generations of the covenant. We hear about Leah and Rachel, about Hannah who wept in the Temple for a child, about the two mothers in Solomon’s court - one who couldn’t handle the loss of her baby and the other who would rather give hers up than watch it die. We hear Jesus’ words for today, words that God has given us, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I loved you,” and it seems a natural step to connect this to mothers. Who else but a mother could love this way? A mother’s love is the closest we get to God’s love for us.

I’ll tell you a secret about mothers and Mother’s Day, though. And maybe this changes the longer you’ve been a mother, and maybe not all mothers feel this way, but this is my experience. Mother’s Day, as lovely as it is to get cards and flowers and a break from cooking and to hear about other mothers in the Bible, also makes mothers feel a little bit... guilty. Or inadequate. Or maybe a bit ashamed. You see, mothers never feel that we’re doing as good a job as others seem to think we are. Mothers tend to walk around with this pervasive sense of guilt that we are not the mothers we wish we were. We hear about how wonderful mothers are, and we hear God’s commandment to love our children as God loves us, and we know that we don’t. The most common feeling that mothers share is guilt - over things done and left undone. 

• We were too hard on our children and they’ve rebelled against us.
• We were too soft on our children and they’ve come to think they’re entitled to everything.
• We didn’t protect our children and they were hurt by someone or something.
• We were overprotective of our children and they don’t know how to handle the world.
• We didn’t give them enough independence and now they can’t handle real responsibility.
• We tried to make them independent and now they can’t form close relationships with anyone.
• We treated them in ways they didn’t deserve.
• We didn’t treat them the way they did deserve.
• We didn’t spend enough time with our children. We didn’t spend enough time for ourselves. We didn’t give them enough. We gave them too much. We didn’t do enough of this. We did too much of that. The list goes on, and so does the guilt.

Working mothers, stay-at-home mothers, student mothers, single mothers, married mothers - we come to this day with mixed feelings because we know that we have never been able to love and mother our children the way we wish we could: perfectly, as Jesus loves us, as God commands us. All mothers, no matter how well-intentioned (and, truthfully, there are some mothers who have not been well-intentioned), no matter how many sacrifices we have made (and there are always sacrifices), know that we fall short of what we and God expect of us, and on Mother’s Day, this feeling lurks persistently at the back of our minds. We are never always and fully the mothers the cards say we are. We all have had our periods of anger, and impatience, and annoyance, and negligence. We have all fallen short of the perfect love God commands from us.

Well, today is Mother’s Day, and so I say specifically to those of you who are mothers, “As a called and ordained minister of the Church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins.” Now, we may smile a bit, but I am serious. Mothers do not hear very often that we are forgiven for falling short as mothers. And so I proclaim to you mothers that the forgiveness that is granted to all Christians through Christ is also granted to you. To you mothers specifically. You are forgiven for all of the mistakes you have made as mothers. You are forgiven for the things as mothers that you have done and left undone. You are forgiven for not loving your children as yourselves. You are forgiven for being too strict and for not being strict enough. You are forgiven for not protecting your children from harm and for being overprotective. You are forgiven for not giving them enough and for giving them too much. God forgives you.

God forgives you and God loves you. Even more than we find ways to forgive and love our own children, despite their failings and mistakes, despite the hurt they have caused us, God forgives and loves us, despite our failings and mistakes and the hurt we have caused. It isn’t that God doesn’t see the ways we have failed - it is that God has seen them, and God, who loves our children even more than we do, forgives us and loves us, too, because we are also God’s children.

I have one last good word that I want to share with you today. As mothers, we always hope that our children will not be hurt by the mistakes we have made. We hope that our children will be able to move past the ways in which our mothering has held them back. The last good word that I want to share with you is that God makes this happen. We heard last week, and this week, that God makes the branches bear more fruit, and causes fruit to grow that will last. God gives mothers the responsibility of watering and feeding and caring for the seeds that we have been given, and more often than not, we don’t get it right. Mothers are human. But God works through and beyond our own efforts, or lack thereof, and loves them in ways that we can’t, sending the Holy Spirit where we have fallen short, and being more committed to them than we possibly could. As mothers, this is our salvation - that God takes better care of our children than we do, and that despite our mistakes, despite our inability to live up to the Hallmark cards’ description of us and despite our failure to love our children as God loves us, God loves our children, God loves us, and God forgives us. Thanks be to God. Happy Mother’s Day. Amen.