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February 27, 2011, Septuagesima, All Souls'

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness …

We are now in that season of the church year which our older Prayer Book tradition calls “pre-lent;” the three Sundays between the end of Epiphany and the beginning of Lent. “Those three Sundays before Lent shall prepare us to repent,” is the way one lovely old hymn puts it. The President of the Prayer Book Society, Father Gavin Dunbar, our preacher last weekend, calls this pre-lent season “spring training.” With that in mind I would like you to turn with me in your 1928 Book of Common Prayer to page 118. The three pre-lent collects are instructive not only when it comes to how we observe Lent but also as it concerns growing in holiness, or sanctification.

The Collect for Septuagesima Sunday

 O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

 I’ll begin by confessing that when I read this collect with this sermon in mind one phrase in particular jumped out at me: “We, who are justly punished for our offences.” (My first thought was to wonder what it means to say that I am being punished for my offences. I don’t even remember there having been a trial … which is just as well, really, since there’s a lot of stuff about me I don’t want to hear entered into evidence.) We would do well, though, to notice that the collect is not so much speaking of punishment still to come but rather refers to our being punished in the present tense. Rather than focusing on a future event this collect refers to our present fallen condition.

 To understand all this we should consider the word ‘justly’ as it is used in the context of this prayer. What is in mind here is an older sense of justice as essentially harmony and peace, where things are in perfect balance and each one is exactly where they are supposed to be doing precisely that for which they are best suited. Of course, I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering if such a place exists. Where is this magical kingdom where harmony and balance abide? Instead, we should be asking another question: Where is it not? Where is such a state not present? You see, harmony and perfect order do indeed abide – perfectly abide in fact – in nature. The last time I checked nature obeys all her laws. In the natural order, as we call it, laws are obeyed and balance and harmony are all in all. Sometimes there are storms in nature. This happens when systems collide. Shortly after I moved here a man on TV named Gary explained it to me. When a high pressure system meets a low pressure system there’s a storm. If you live in Oklahoma the storm is often so loud it sounds like that argument is taking place in the apartment directly above you. But then the storm passes. They don’t linger as a rule. Nature isn’t under martial law. In fact, even when the storm was raging nature’s laws still were all being obeyed. In fact, when nature doesn’t obey her laws do you know what we call it? … A miracle!

 In all of the created order there is only one place and one place only which seems perpetually out of balance, where laws go un-obeyed and storms rage on endlessly, and that place is the human heart. The one being in all of nature perpetually out of whack is the human being. We live in confusion, division, disharmony, imbalance, and disintegration, and in this state, by God’s grace we turn to Him and say, “Lord, we’re in no condition to drive.” When you’re in no condition to drive you need to be delivered, which is what we’re asking for not according to our own merits but “mercifully.” After all, this collect begins with asking God to “favorably hear us.” Please note here that we’re not asking God for a clean slate and a fresh start with the promise: “It’ll be different this time, Lord, we’ll get it right … we swear.” This isn’t what we are saying at all. Instead, we begin the prayer in faith that God is favorable towards us – that he loves us. The prayer isn’t looking for a way to win God’s favor. We begin in faith that we already are in his favor, and that he loves us. Moreover, we trust that God will deliver us by his grace – by his goodness and love, to the glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Savior.

   One lesson which seems loud and clear is that growing as a Christian, becoming holy, and observing lent cannot be about all we can accomplish by our own efforts, deeds, character, or goodness. This leads us to the Collect for Sexagesima.

 O LORD God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

All I would add is that nowhere are we told that our deeds, our efforts, and the good things we do are stupid or a waste of time. We are not told that. We are told that we must not trust those things to save us or to produce holiness in us. It’s sort of like this: If you love your spouse and you do something nice for him or her or buy them some lovely thing you are not earning their love or trying to produce it. And so, we might well ask on what foundation our lives are to be built. This leads us to our Collect for Quinquagesima.

 O LORD, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth; Send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

 Having acknowledged God’s favor and having confessed that we require his graceful, merciful deliverance in our sinful, fallen, state we determine to humbly seek the Holy Ghost to pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity to shape and form our souls.

 In the passage from 1 Corinthian 13 to which this collect hearkens, St. Paul writes about this charity with which we are to be filled. He is not talking about passion. People tend to speak that way these days, as if passion is the big missing ingredient in our lives. Instead, he is speaking of charity which is the rational desire of the good of another. To love in this sense of charity is to deliberately will what is good for others, even those who have made themselves your enemy. This doesn’t mean they get what they want even if it’s bad. It means simply that you deliberately desire that they find their place in the body. It doesn’t matter how you feel about those who have made themselves your enemies, you still pray and ask that justice be done rather than the sinful revenge you crave. Embracing and being embraced by the love of God allows us to get over ourselves. It even allows us to get over our passions. Living in the spirit of charity in the way this collect envisions means we find our chief joy in the love of God. We bring this joyful love to everyone we meet and everything we do. The love of God becomes more and more the interpretive lens through which we know the world when our soul is more and more as it should be. It is then we can overcome the temptation to serve two masters.

 When we are filled with the Holy Spirit and that most excellent gift of charity “no clouds of this mortal life can hide from us the light of that love which is immortal.” We even begin to live in a Christ-like manner of loving obedience. Meister Eckhart, the medieval priest and scholar, describes such a one this way: He discloses God in every place. The whole business of his person adds up to God. His actions are due only to him who is the author of them and not to himself since he is merely their agent.  His whole attitude is to say, Lord, what shall you choose for me that I shall not choose for myself? Brothers and sisters in Christ let us prepare to keep a holy Lent.

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