On this second Sunday in Lent, we’re
offered a powerful reminder of why we’re here. No, it’s not because during we
Lent we come to church to remember and repent of our sins, or become immersed
and depressed in everything we’ve done wrong all week, all month, all year, and
maybe for years. And no, it’s not to
hear the preacher harangue you to repent of those sins.
We come to church to say yes! We come to church to be
reminded to say yes to God. We come to be reminded that God says yes to us by
loving us and cherishing us. We come to church to be reminded that God says yes
to us by becoming human, living among us, and dying a shameful death for us. We
come to church to be reminded that we are no better, and no worse, than the guy
in the rainbow-colored fright wig holding the sign at sporting events. You know
the one I mean. This one (I held up a large cardboard sign): John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave
his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have
eternal life.”[1]
We could stop right there if we wanted to, and a lot of
people do. That’s their verse and they’re stickin’ to it.
Really though, those signs always make me mad. They make me
want to yell, “That’s only part of the story!”
There is so much more to God’s story, and that’s what
Nicodemus heard that evening from Jesus. Nicodemus heard the rest of the story
because he heard this as well:
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn
the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”[2]
That’s this verse (I filipped the sign over tos how John 3:17); the verse everyone seems to forget. That’s John 3:17. And,
John 3:17 is just as important as John 3:16. It is just as important because we
need to be reminded that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to
love the world so much that it might be saved through him.
Those two things together with all the richness and beauty
of scripture, worship, and spiritual companionship, are the markers of a
sustainable and thriving faith. Not just a negative faith that begins and ends
by pushing away sin and saying no to a bunch of stuff. Our faith needs to be a
faith that says yes to God, yes to our neighbor, and yes to ourselves. That is
a sustainable faith, a faith that roots and grounds itself in God.
Our faith has to be sustainable three ways: for God, for our
neighbor, and for ourselves. If we do something that we think is good for God,
but isn’t in the end good for us, we won’t keep doing it. If we do something
for ourselves that isn’t good for God, we will end up damaging ourselves over
time. If we do something that is good for our neighbor, but we don’t enjoy it
or it isn’t our passion, and we force ourselves to do it, we will end up grumpy
and resentful and that isn’t good for us, or for our neighbor, or for God. God
wants us to say yes to the things that are sustainable: for God, for our
neighbor, and for us.
A sustainable faith is a faith that knows
sin and death. A sustainable faith is a faith that knows the God who gave us
God’s son so that the world might be saved through him. A sustainable faith is
a faith nourished by scripture, regular worship, and spiritual companionship
that lead to living out our faith with our hands, our heads, and our hearts. This
is a faith that can say yes!
If you do this, I want to know. Take a sign to your next
sporting event that says John 3:17. See if anybody notices. And be prepared to
say yes to explain your faith when they do! AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2017
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