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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Pentecost—16th After
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Denver, Colorado
Pastor Dena Williams

Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm 51:1-12
I Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

The Holy Gospel according to the Community of St. Luke in

the 15th Chapter
Glory to you, O Lord

15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near
to listen to Jesus.

15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and
saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

15:3 So Jesus told them this parable:

15:4 "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing

one of them,

does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after

the one that is lost until he finds it?

15:5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and

rejoices.

15:6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends

and neighbors, saying to them,

'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'

15:7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over
one sinner who repents
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than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no

repentance.

15:8 "Or what woman having ten silver coins,

if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp,

sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

15:9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends
and neighbors, saying,

'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'

15:10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner who repents."

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, O Christ

The Morning After

The Morning After . . .

Now “Pop Culture” is just not something I know much about.
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I think there are several people in the room who know more
than I do: Chris, Emily, Wendy, Elena, Amanda, for example.
Wendy can tell you I’m terrible at trivia questions about
current movie stars or singers or rock bands.

I remembered this week, though, that there was a song from

the ‘70s titled “The Morning After.”
I could even sing a few bars.
I thought about calling Chris, our pianist, and asking him
about the song.
Then I looked on the internet, instead . . .
The song was published in 1972 . . .
It was the theme song for a movie, The Poseidon Adventure.
It occurred to me that Chris and Emily and Wendy and Elena
and Amanda were probably too young to watch this movie
then.
Made me feel a bit old . . .

I finally asked husband John.

Can you tell me the plot of the movie, The Poseidon
Adventure?
“Yes,” he replied.
There was a ship,
kind of like the Titanic, you know, supposedly unsinkable.
It was hit by a tidal wave and flipped over.
This group of people,
a really diverse group,
people from all walks of life,
made this several hour journey climbing up toward the
bottom of the boat.
Searchers cut a hole in the hull
and the group was rescued.

John was 15 years old when the movie came out.

The Poseidon Adventure would have been perfect high
drama for a 15 year old in 1972.

I found the lyrics to the song.

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“There’s got to be a morning after

If we can hold on through the night
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let’s keep on lookin’ for the light.”

We have heard this morning the stories of three men who

awakened on the morning after.
The first one, Moses, led the children of Israel out of slavery
in the land of Egypt.
God vowed to lead them to the promised land.
Moses goes up the mountain to receive the stone tablets of
the law from the hand of God.
In his absence, the people build a golden calf.
They make an altar before the statue and offer sacrifices to
this graven image.
The next morning,
God tells Moses what the people have done,
how they have sinned against God in Moses’ absence.
The Lord says to Moses:
“Now let me alone,
so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may
consume them.”
On that morning after,
Moses pleads with God for forgiveness on behalf of his
people.

In the Psalm for today,

we find David singing a song.
What led to this song, sung on a morning after?
Remember the story of David and Bathsheba?
Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, a soldier, is off fighting the war.
David looks on Bathsheba as she is bathing on her rooftop.
He calls her to him and takes her for himself.
Then, to cover up his transgression,
he sends her husband to the very front lines where he dies in
battle.
David perpetrates a great evil against God and against his
people.
On this morning after,
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David pleads with God for forgiveness.

In his first letter to Timothy,

we find Paul recalling his evil ways.
Paul who hunted down and destroyed members of a
dangerous sect,
Paul, who persecuted and killed the followers of Jesus.
struck blind on the road to Damascus,
he hears God say, “Why do you persecute me?”
Paul regains his sight and knows that he is responsible for
the death of many innocent people.
On this morning after,
Paul pleads with God for forgiveness.

Imagine waking up the next morning with the realization of

sin.
Most of us, I think, don’t have to imagine.
We remember instead.
At first, the next morning,
we think it must be a bad dream.
Then fully awake,
on the morning after,
we realize that we sinned.
We hurt someone
or drank too much
or were careless
or neglectful
or thoughtless the day before.
We really wish the sin were all just a bad dream.
We plead with God for forgiveness.

Moses, David, and Paul?

These men were sinners.
Moses failed to lead his people.
Of course he was responsible.
David raped and killed.
Of course he was responsible.
Paul destroyed lives.
Of course he was responsible.
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What about us?

I had a parishioner once who didn’t think we ought to pray
the confession or come to the Lord’s table every Sunday.
He was pretty sure that most weeks he didn’t sin
and so didn’t need God’s forgiveness most Sundays.
Hmm . . .
Well, I know better about myself, don’t you?

I sin.
When I criticize others,
or am short tempered
when I ignore the needs of those around me,
when I fail to take care of myself,
neglect my relationship with God,
when I fail to care for creation,
I sin.
When I fail to choose love,
I sin.
And, oh, how I hate the morning after
when my sin comes to haunt me!
What about you?

Well, what do we do about our morning after regrets?

How do we overcome the gloominess,
the hopelessness of the morning after?
Is the morning after doomed to be dark and dreary?

There are answers in our stories today.

Moses pleads with God.
He begs for mercy, repents, on behalf of his people,
seeks forgiveness on the morning after.
We read,
“And the Lord changed his mind.”
Moses and the people repent and God restores them to right
relationship.

David seeks forgiveness on the morning after.

He is confident that God will have mercy.
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He sings that God will

blot out all his iniquities.
David repents and God restores him to right relationship.

Paul confesses his evil deeds,

he seeks forgiveness on the morning after.
He writes that he receives mercy,
that the grace of our Lord overflows.
Paul repents and God restores him to right relationship.

Our hope lies, then, it seems, in our willingness to offer

morning after repentance.
We need to examine what constitutes true repentance
for Moses, for David, for Paul, and for us.
What does repentance look like?

Moses and David and Paul

regret their transgressions.
They confess that they have, indeed, sinned.
So we are called to confession.
We are called to acknowledge that when we fail to choose
love
in our personal or public lives,
at home, at work, at school, in or congregation
when we fail to choose love,
we contribute to evil in the world.
We’re called with Moses and David and Paul to acknowledge
our sin and to say we are sorry for our sin.

Moses and David and Paul

made restitution for their evil ways.
They sought to make things right,
as best they could.
They worked hard at cleaning up the mess they created.
So we are called to restitution.
We are called to restore loving relationship with self, others,
God, and all creation.
We are called to do our best to make things right.
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Moses and David and Paul confessed,

made restitution, and they did one more thing—
they vowed to turn away from their sinful ways.
They repented by asking God to lead them in ways of
righteousness.
Moses and David and Paul truly
repented, turning away from their sinful ways,
turning toward love.
So we are called to repentance.
We are called to commit ourselves anew each morning,
to commit ourselves to choosing love in all we say and do.

What happens then?

When we have confessed and made restitution and vowed to
turn away from our sinful ways,
what happens then to our morning after guilt?
Is the morning after doomed to keep its sense of gloom and
darkness?

“Oh, can’t you see the morning after?

It’s waiting right outside the storm.
Why don’t we cross the bridge together
And find a place that’s safe and warm?”

Hear today’s Gospel:

“I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.”
Hear the words of Jesus:
“Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”
Hear the Good News.
The morning after,
because of God’s mercy and forgiveness and never ending
love for us,
the morning after
fills with hope and light and possibility.

“There’s got to be a morning after

We’re moving closer to the shore
I know we’ll be there by tomorrow
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And we’ll escape the darkness

We won’t be searchin’ any more.

There will be other morning after experiences in our lives.

There will be times when the dark side seems to win.
There will be moments when we ourselves contribute to evil.
There will be days when it seems that sin prevails in our
world.

On this morning after

we are called to repentance,
we are called to commit ourselves to choose love in our
homes, our schools,
at work, in our communities and, yes, even and especially in
our congregation.
We are called to choose love.

We are called to let go of our morning after guilt and fear,

to live into God’s mercy and forgiveness,
to live into the bright morning,
the bright future God has planned for us.
There’s got to be a morning after for those who love God,
for those who are the called according to God’s purpose,
for each of us,
for our congregation,
for our world.
There’s got to be a morning after when we step into the
sunshine and light
of God’s mercy, and forgiveness, and love for us, for all
people, for all creation.
Amen
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