Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Lent, “Laetare
Sunday” 1 Samuel 16:1-13
Aaron Conner, Lay Preacher
Ephesians 5:8-14
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Bakersfield CA John
9:1-41
March 26, 2017 Psalm
23
the Lord said to Samuel, “the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look
on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Will you pray with me?
May the words of my
mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing and accepting in your
sight, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Before I begin, let me introduce myself briefly to those
who I may not have met yet. My name is Aaron. I attended Grace-now-St. Paul’s for 8 years
until I decided to move to San Francisco in the summer of 2015. I am currently
studying Anthropology at San Francisco State University while discerning toward
ordination. St. Paul’s is my homecoming and it is always a joy to be welcomed
back as such. And if you ask my boyfriend Jacob, you will find I still talk
about all of you all the time.
Today
on this Forth Sunday of Lent we mark the middle of our Lenten Journey. For
several weeks now, the Old Testament readings in the Lectionary have offered us
a short genealogy of our faith beginning with the Garden of Eden, to the
blessing of Abraham, to the Israelites receiving manna in the desert. The New
Testament readings have offered us St. Paul’s letter to the Romans as
complimenting this genealogy by highlighting the redemption given to us through
Jesus. The Gospel readings have surveyed a few well known highlights of Jesus’
ministry beginning with his temptation in the wilderness, to his purpose for
the world to be saved through him as stated to Niccodemus, and his breaking the
racial-religious barriers with the Samaritan woman at the well. Today, we
experience a shift in themes. You see, in the middle of our solemn fast we can
see how close the Cross of Good Friday is, but even more importantly: the empty
tomb is now in sight. The Roman Catholic Church, and churches in the
Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, as well as some Lutheran traditions, recognize
this Sunday as special calling it “Laetare Sunday.” Laetare” means “Rejoice” and comes
from Latin introit appointed for this Sunday which takes its text from Isaiah
66. I’ll spare you my awful Latin but it reads:
"Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together
all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you
may exult and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.”
In the middle of Lent, just as the exiled Jews
needed God’s consolation, the words of Isaiah tell us to lift up our heads
because our God is with us and is about to act. Instead of purple, Laetare Sunday
is commemorated with the color rose or violet, purple mixed with white, and is
a day where we allowed to relax our fast. Think of it like a half-time break.
If
you will oblige me for a moment, I’d like to place this day in context of the
liturgical calendar. In Advent, near the winter solstice, the longest and
darkest night, we experience the birth of the Incarnation, the “Word made
flesh”, Jesus. It’s no coincidence that 40 days later on February 2nd
we commemorate his Presentation in the Temple, also known as Candlemas, also
known secularly as Groundhog’s Day, where Simeon declares Jesus as “a light to
the gentiles and the glory of Israel.” From this day on, those of us in this
hemisphere experience a slow increase of daylight which brings us into this
Season of Spring; you may be aware that the word “Lent” comes from the Old
English word which refers to Spring and its lengthening days. The Liturgical
Calendar revolves completely around Jesus as the “light to the gentiles.” As we
approach Easter, we experience an increase in daylight leaving the literal darkness
behind. This is reflected in the readings today. The tenderness of the 23rd
Psalm, the revelation of the God who sees us as we are in our hearts in David’s
anointing, and Jesus healing the young blind man almost beg us to “Come and see” the empty tomb now in sight.
Moreover, it is perfectly fitting that we should hear the words in St. Paul’s
Letter to the Ephesians:
Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as
children of light…everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for
everything that becomes visible is light.
That is, we were once
in darkness, but through the waters of Baptism and the Grace of God we are now
children of light, agents of God’s family through who Jesus shines “as a light
to the gentiles.” After having a few weeks to reflect on our nature in relation
to our sin, we have a reason for Laetare!
Laetare
prepares us for what is about to come. Next week, the week before Holy Week,
the readings return to Lenten themes. This can come across as problematic because
we know life is not experienced as binary oppositions. Life is messy. Further,
if we take these dichotomies of darkness/ light and death/resurrection at face
value then we risk adopting the kind worldview that Christianity in our country
has been criticized for; mainly, the kind of worldview that sets “us” against
“them.” But I think the reason these
dichotomies are set up in the first place is to help us understand our role in
this world. If anything, the focus on sin and repentance in Lent remind us that
the darkness in our world and our call to light are not divided by a chasm, but
ever entangled in our lived experience. This begs us to explore our Christian
identity, as children of light, in a world where light is often rejected.
My
spiritual director, an Anglican Franciscan monk who is also a Jungian Analyst, has
preached often on this. Recently, he preached in being driven out to the desert
by the Spirit, Jesus confronted the darkness within his own human nature. Lent
offers us the opportunity to do the same: to set aside a time where we can sit
with our darkness in repentance in preparation for putting our God-given light
to action. Unfortunately, when we expose the darkness, particularly the
darkness in today’s power structures, there is a tendency to be as perceived as
radical, or as King says, “extremists.” Being perceived as “radical” and
“extremists” made King uncomfortable and should make us feel uncomfortable as
it labels us as the “other.” We see the unconditional radical-ness of Jesus
demonstrated in John’s Gospel, where Jesus challenges the status quo by in
healing the young blind man on the Sabbath. Recall that this healing occurred
in response to the question of whether this young man’s blindness was due to
his sin, or his parents. Jesus was seen as an extremist because he exposed the
darkness of the religious/political power system, and he saw the young man not
in the category that society has placed him, but as God sees him. Things
haven’t changed much. Marginalized people today are still faulted personally
for their social status in our society and the status quo always freaks out when
we, like Jesus, try shine light onto the power system. For King, being radical
is unavoidable. And as Christians we, as children of light, have to be radical
for “love” and “justice” in the face of a world in darkness.
However,
it is important to remember God doesn’t see us as society sees us. Our
commitment to participating in God’s creation of this world may make us
“radical” or “extreme” to the powers that be; but for us, when we remember that
our struggle against the darkness is entangled in our daily life, we no longer
live as radicals but we live in the reality that God has given us in the
Resurrection. Living as children of light starts with you and me. We don’t have
to go at this alone; in fact, we can’t go at this alone. We need each other, but
we also need to constantly engage with the One who sends us. In Lent, we
practice the basic principles of Christian spirituality in prayer and devotional
reading. If you leave with anything
today, may it be this: shining into the darkness cannot be done without the constant
reliance on God’s word, our shared sacramental life, and prayer. If you haven’t
picked up a devotional habit this Lent, it’s never too late. If life just seems
so overwhelming and sometimes it seems that your relationship with God is
maintained on a weekly basis, that’s OK. But remember, the call to struggle
against the darkness, to embrace and raise up those who are oppressed is a day
by day choice, and just as Jesus was there for the young blind man in the end,
he is here with us now. God loves you and is ready to walk with you, just as he
walked with King to Selma, and just as we carry our cross with Jesus to Calvary.
Remember this as our cause for rejoicing in these remaining days of Lent.
“Jesus said, I came into this world
for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may
become blind.”
In
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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