There Is Another Way

By the Rev. Eric O. Ledermann July 10, 2011 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time First Presbyterian Church, San Bernardino, CA

Romans 8.1-11
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set
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their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to Gods lawindeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who

does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
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Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3And he told them many things in parables, saying: Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds
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fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9Let anyone with ears listen!

endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the 18 Hear then the parable of the sower. lure of wealth choke the word, and it 19 When anyone hears the word of the yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown kingdom and does not understand it, the on good soil, this is the one who hears evil one comes and snatches away what is the word and understands it, who indeed sown in the heart; this is what was sown bears fruit and yields, in one case a on the path. 20As for what was sown on hundredfold, in another sixty, and in rocky ground, this is the one who hears another thirty. the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet such a person has no root, but

Fundamental Questions/Issues of Life The late comedian George Carlin, whose crass style of comedy caused people to stop think about every day things, has a great bit about what we do with our stuff and our emotional attachment to stuff. It goes something like this:
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2011 The Rev. Eric O. Ledermann, San Bernardino, CA. All rights reserved.

That's all I want, that's all I need in life, is a little place for my stuff, ya know? I can see it on your table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time. A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with [the worthless stuff] you're savingyour 4th grade report cards. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff! Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house. It's the second version of your stuff. And you're gonna fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. "Here's a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here, put some stuff--you put your stuff there, I'll put some stuff--here's another place for stuff, look at this, I'll put some stuff here..." And even though you're far away from home, you start to get used to it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of your stuff with you. That's when your friend calls up from Maui, and says, "Hey, why don'tchya come over to Maui for the weekend and spend a couple of nights over here." Oh, no! Now what do I pack? Right, you've gotta pack an even SMALLER version of your stuff. The third version of your house. And it goes on and on. I think Carlin gets the heart of the matter when he talks about being in the hotel room, and says, Eve though youre far away from home, you start to get used to it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of your stuff with you. Youre okay because you have things around you that give you a sense of securityall is not lost. In the Christian tradition we believe we are lost until we discover and engage in a meaningful relationship with God. We believe one reason why we so often dont feel okay is because we never really feel secure with our stuff, and we are lacking the security of a meaningful relationship with God. We are always trying to figure out how to do it, and we feel like were always messing it up. And even though George Carlin was

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2011 The Rev. Eric O. Ledermann, San Bernardino, CA. All rights reserved.

a celebrity atheist, he lifts up in that bit about stuff the fundamental issue humanity has been struggling with for thousands of years: security and freedom. Isnt that what were really after: a sense of security and by being secure we, hopefully, will experience true freedom. Isnt that why we have laws: to protect us and our stuff, and help us feel secure. Isnt that why we lock our doors: to protect our stuff and feel secure. Why? Why do we want to protect our stuff so bad? Because, through our stuff, through the ability to buy stuff, collect stuff, and be with our stuff, we experience a kind of freedomthe more stuff you have, the more you are able to do in life; the more stuff you have the more power you have. One way to feel secure is to have more power. The problem with all this, especially for those of us who follow Jesus Christ, is that so often in our quest to protect ourselves and our stuffthe quest for security and, thus freedomis that we build these fortresses (emotional as well as physical fortresses) that insulate us from everyone else and cause us to neglect the security and wellbeing of others. And what we fail to realize is that our security and freedom is completely dependent on the security and freedom experienced by others. When other people in the world do not feel secure, they are going to do what they have to do to establish security in their lives, even if that means, in their minds, taking some of our stuff to do it. And that leads us to feel insecure again. So, escalate the situation by finding new ways to protect our stuff: whether it means putting in elaborate security systems or bars on the windows; using any political influence we might have to create laws that protect our interests and our stuff (including voting for those candidates we believe will protect our stuff better, even if we know they probably arent going to have the broader interests of our society in mind); putting up more walls, more barriers (again, emotional as well as physical); and, slowly, but surely, we find ourselves living on an emotional and spiritual island alone and growing more and more lonely, and more and more depressed, and we begin to spiral down, building up more walls and more barriers to protect our embarrassment, to protect ourselves. How is God inviting us to respond to these issues/question? And then theres God, sitting not far off from us, watching everything and crying. God is not angry or sad that creation has gone so awry. No, God is crying because God believes we can do so much better we are capable of so much more. God calls out to us and invites us to something totally different, but we cant hear it because we are insulated by the mountains of stuff that surround usour physical and emotional baggage that weighs us down and holds us back from truly living, being truly free, and experiencing intimate relationships. What is God inviting us to? To a banquet where stuff doesnt matter. Where you are not judged by how much stuff you have or whether or not you have the right stuff. You are invited to simply come as you are, the way God has made you, and be fed by what you have been hungering for so long. We are all spiritually malnourished and God has just we need to be healthy again. We are invited to come as we are,

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2011 The Rev. Eric O. Ledermann, San Bernardino, CA. All rights reserved.

be nourished, and become all that we can beour true authentic selves as God intends (free from the insecurity that overwhelms us and causes us to veer away from our authentic selves and become someone and something else, someone who doesnt mind building our wealth and power on the backs of others, who cant or wont see how much harm we do with all our stuff). This is our greatest sin: failing to be the people God intends and still hopes for, failing to recognize our real potential, unwilling to fully give ourselves to Gods vision for all of creation. One of our fundamental goals in life is to live fully and peacefully. This goal is clear as day in the career paths we choose, the things we buy and want to experience, the vacations we might take, and even the food and clothing we buy. We are trying to live fully, but unfortunately it is at the expense of peace. All that we strive fora good job with a good income that will allow us to do the things we want to do, including buying a good home to enjoy with good friends and a healthy familyall seems to boil down to our search for security, and through that security we believe we gain the freedom to be and do what we want. But, ultimately, we discover that security through stuff is a myth, and the freedom promised us through that stuff from an early age doesnt exist. Christian Response to Invitation God is inviting us to a banquet where everyone is welcome regardless of how much stuff you have, regardless of your station in life, regardless of who you are and who you know. God is inviting us to a new way of life that is not built on a pile of stuff, but on principles of authenticity and truth. God is inviting us to be who we are really called to be. God is inviting us to discover the fact that Gods own Spirit dwells within us and is a part of our very DNA. God is inviting us to trust that Spirit and discover true life. Imagine, for a moment you wanted to be an artist. Imagine you wanted to be a professional painter. Imagine for a moment you dreamed of being like Michelangelocreating works of art that would inspire generations. You go to school and practice constantly. You study under modern day masters for years, and you soon discover cannot do it. Even if you are incredibly talented, what you create will always only be a facsimile of Michelangelos masterful art. The only way to truly paint like Michelangelo is to be Michelangelo. And you cannot be Michelangelo unless the very spirit of Michelangelo was to live inside of you. Only then would you be able to be able to truly paint like Michelangelo. This is what the Apostle Paul is writing about in his letter. The Spirit of Christ does dwell inside of us and we are being called by God to live into that existenceto be that which Christ has invited us to be: namely, children of God gifted with the art of abundant love, compassionate justice, and everlasting life. We are being invited to be like Christ, living with Gods Holy Spirit inside us.

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2011 The Rev. Eric O. Ledermann, San Bernardino, CA. All rights reserved.

God invites us, and has invited us through Jesus, to simply come as those in whom the Spirit of God dwells to live in harmony with the One who created us, and thereby live in harmony with one anotherpeace; security. When we are able to recognize the gift of Gods Spirit within us, like discovering a natural talent we have and have had all along but never realized, we begin to grow more comfortable and secure with who we are, and will then be free from all that holds us back. We can be more generous because we realize that all we possess are gifts from God, and God does not hold back and invites us to do the same. When we are able to recognize the Spirit of God within us we are then able to live in Christ, as Paul shares, joining in what Christ experienced with God, and thereby experience peace and security no matter the circumstances, and finally have the freedom to not react to life's circumstances selfishly, violently, or otherwise rashly, but react faithfully and with the intent of the God who, again, dwells within us. To live in the Spirit of God is to be free from our stuff, to be the generous and loving people God intends, and truly live. So come, come to the banquet that God has prepared for you. Come be nourished. Come as you are and discover the Spirit that already dwells within you. Come and live in the freedom that God has to share with you. Just come.

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2011 The Rev. Eric O. Ledermann, San Bernardino, CA. All rights reserved.