Sermon at St

1. Today I offer a few words about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

2. Paul’s talk in the Romans letter about being a slave to sin, and being unable to do what he knows to be right makes me think: it is as if a big cat were playing with a mouse.

a. The cat bats the mouse around with its paws;

b. the mouse tries to run away or else play dead,

c. but no matter what the mouse does, it cannot get away.

d. Every move of the mouse is blocked by the giant paws of the huge cat.

e. Until suddenly, this saving hand reaches down and picks up the mouse, rescues it from the cat’s torment, and comforts the poor mouse.

f. Paul is caught by the cat, which is sin. “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Paul asks. Paul is like a mouse between sin’s paws and jaws, until the Holy Spirit reaches down and rescues him from the power of sin.

i. Paul says, “For I do not do the goodI want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” Until Jesus rescues him.

3. The 10 Commandments can be seen in this same metaphor. Imagine people are being swept helplessly in every direction by sin. People are slaves to their impulses to kill, to steal, to seduce others, to covet what their neighbors have, until YWHW sweeps in with the 10 commandments and provides clear direction. YWHW announces: No more killing. No more thievery, no more seductions, no more coveting what your neighbor has.

a. Imagine how Iraq would be different today, if suddenly every person there really got the message from God, Thou shalt not kill. No matter what your differences and disagreements, killing will no longer be the way to resolve differences.

b. The same situation prevailed in America in the 1840s and 1850s in Missouri and Kansas, where marauding bands men swept and killed innocent farm families on both sides over the issue of slavery. Imagine how that time would have been different, if every person living in Missouri and Kansas had obeyed God’s commandment, No more killing.

c. Think of the wilder impulses of your own hearts at various times of life. Think how the 10 Commandments may have echoed in your mind, no matter what you were doing: God was reaching into your life to bring you back to the right path by showing you the 10 Commandments, like a person rescuing a mouse caught by the cat.

4. In the Temple scene in the second chapter of John’s Gospel, it seems that meaningless sacrificial rituals were blocking people from reaching the grace and love of God. People who were genuinely suffering, who were genuinely seeking the Holy in their lives, who were genuinely seeking reconciliation could not get these things because of the meaningless rituals of the Temple.

a. And then God in Christ reaches into this scene of lowing cattle, and bleating sheep, the noisy clinking of coins, and sweeps it all away. Jesus says, “do not turn My father’s House into a marketplace!” Jesus restores the true function of the Temple. He wants to make it once again into a place, a vehicle, for God’s love, and grace, and forgiveness, to the suffering people.

b. Jesus breaks the power of sin over the hearts of the people, like rescuing a mouse from a cat.

5. These lessons show again and again, God reaching into the lives of God’s beloved children and breaking the power of sin and suffering over their lives.

6. My message today is a simple one: God is there reaching powerfully and lovingly into your suffering and confusion and sin, whatever these may be.

7. We all know that there are some hurting cowboys and cowgirls in this church, in this congregation, in this community.

8. I gather that everyone in church this morning, and in this town, are wrestling with some kind of pain and suffering or another.

a. From A to Z. From alcoholism and arthritis, to depression and diabetes. From drugs that are miracle drugs but with serious side effects, to drugs that are the controlled substances kind. From cancer to just plain confusion.

b. The only “Z” I can think of here, is Zoloft, and that is not a disease, but is one of those miracle drugs that have side effects.

c. Whatever, the names for the affliction or the problem, each person is touched in some way or another with something that leaves that sinking feeling that there is an awfully big cat batting away with its paws, and mouthing with its teeth.

d. No escape, no hope, no way of regaining control of destiny.

9. Well, the message for this morning is, there is something bigger than that cat — whatever the cat is — that is tormenting you.

10. The Holy Spirit is right here in this church this morning. The Holy Spirit is bigger than the cat – whatever the cat is. The Holy Spirit has it all over the cat that is tormenting you, and the Holy Spirit wills healing and revival. The Holy Spirit reaches in there and takes that mouse – you – away from the tormenting cat, and loves it up and heals it.

11. Okay, okay. I know, some of you are afraid of mice, and no one likes to have mice in the house. And most of us love cats, and so on. So the idea of rescuing a mouse from a cat may seem silly.

a. (And by the way, Nothing against cats, here, Mary Ellen!)

12. This analogy can break down after a little while, but the point is still there. Paul is quite clear that sin was overwhelming him, until Jesus rescued him and showed him how to live in the spirit. Yahweh was completely appalled that the people of Israel were so enmeshed in sin and bad behavior. So, finally YHWH stepped in and laid down the law, literally, so that the people could know and understand the way out of bad living. And in the Gospel, Jesus came in and cleaned out the money changers – the cats – from the Temple so that it could be again a sacred and healing space for the worshipers who came there.

a. The Holy Spirit is here today in each of our lives, and is here to pull us, one way or another, out of the jaws of the cat.

13. You know what I am talking about.

14. Okay, I can see you thinking, I get the part about the cat toying with my life, but where is the Holy Spirit, when I need her.

15. The following example my illustrate opening yourself up to the action of the Holy Spirit in a painful situation. And one example may suffice for many: often in Washington I have counseled legal clients who are poor, who are about to lose their house, for example. I remember one person back in Washington, who was facing foreclosure on her home by a mortgage lender who had made a very expensive mortgage loan to the family, and the family could not pay the loan back. The lady was in her fifties and too young to qualify for social security retirement, had not found a job that paid enough to meet the mortgage payments, and did not have the job skills and background to qualify for a well paying job. She was well into the jaws of this monstrous cat, toying with her life.

a. But she refused to give up. She prayed for God’s blessing. She prayed for the help of the Holy Spirit in her life. She reached out to her several members of her family and friends and asked them for help and advice, all while the cat was batting her back and forth.

b. Then, she was referred by one of her friends to a friend of mine, a lawyer who knew how to defend against claims by predatory lenders, and he found her a way out of the foreclosure. In the meantime she found a job that allowed her to make some payments on a new mortgage and she saved her home.

c. In my view, the Holy Spirit was there for her to rescue her in her time of trial.

d. But she consciously opened herself up to the action of the Holy Spirit, by praying, by asking for God’s blessing on her life, by turning to several friends for support and advice, and by not panicking in a terrifying situation.

16. In closing, if you are finding yourself being batted about by some seriously big problems, if you feel like your head is being held in the jaws of a big cat, and you about to go under,....

a. pray, as Paul did, for the gift of the Holy Spirit to find you a way through. And the Holy Spirit will be there to respond.

17. The Holy Spirit is with us this morning in this very church. As we continue to join in worship today, let the Holy Spirit reach into your own life, and help you find your way.

18. In Jesus name, Amen.