1
Sermon for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Clay Center, KS
Third Sunday in Lent
March 8, 2015
“Covenant: Practicing”
May I speak in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Today we heard our third “covenant” reading from the Hebrew Scriptures. I’d like to back
up a bit in Exodus – to set the scene. In Chapter 19, the Israelites have been ushered out of slavery
in Egypt and have been making their way toward the “promised land” – eating manna every
morning and quail every evening – for about three months when they reach the wilderness of Sinai
and camp in front of the mountain. The LORD calls to Moses from the mountain about the
Hebrew people: “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you
obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession” (Ex 19:4-5).
Moses goes back down the mountain and reports to all the people what God has said. The
author of Exodus then tells us: “The people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the LORD has
spoken we will do’ ” (Ex 19:8). On the third day there, the LORD comes down to the mountain.
“There was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a trumpet blast so loud that
all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet
God,” the Scripture tells us. “And the LORD summoned Moses to the top of the mountain” for a
very important conversation (Ex 19:16-17). Which brings us to today’s first lesson, verses 1 through
17 of Chapter 20:
“Then God spoke all these words.” Beginning with: “I am the LORD your God.” The
Decalogue – literally, the ten words. The Ten Commandments – in which El Shaddai, God Almighty
– stipulates the conditions of the covenant. In the story of Noah, the covenant – symbolized by the
rainbow in the sky – is God’s one-way promise, un-conditional and everlasting. Same thing with
Sarah and Abraham, whose story we heard last week, and who God promised would become the
mother and father of a multitude of nations – even though they were very old.
Now, the people also take on some responsibility for the covenant. If you obey my voice
and keep my covenant, God promises, you shall be my treasure, set aside for a special role as the
people of God.
2
God then spells out the way the people are to worship and to live together – the Ten
Commandments that guide us yet today. But the people forgot. They forgot so fast! Before Moses
could even get down the mountain – well, he was there with the LORD for forty days and forty
nights, after all – before he and God could finish talking, the people were persuading Aaron (Moses’
brother and the second-in-command) to make some “real” gods for them. Gods they could see and
rely on, or so they thought. You know, gods in the image of a cow, or maybe an eagle, or a cat. They
forgot so soon.
We forget, too. Last Sunday, we got down on our knees and repeated those ancient
commandments once more, asking God’s mercy on us for the times we forget. To honor God, to
keep the Sabbath holy, to respect the dignity of every human being. I opened this morning’s worship
by declaring Jesus’s summary of the law: “The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The
LORD our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.” [PAUSE]
What does it mean to love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and strength?
What would that look like? If you – if we, each of us – really took this commandment seriously?
Would our activities change? Would we rearrange our schedules – to make time, or more time, for
prayer, for reading and studying Holy Scripture? For simply sitting quietly in the presence of God?
Would it change you? Might it change your life? Might it influence your attitudes – and
actions – toward others? Might you accept yourself, foibles and all, a little bit more? Might you
accept the truth that you – yes, you! – are a beloved child of God? Loved for exactly who you are –
this day and every day of your precious life?
I wonder if the money changers in the Temple – the ones Jesus yelled at and drove out with
a whip he made right there, on the spot – did they intentionally turn God’s house – the marvelous
Temple in Jerusalem – into a crazy-busy marketplace? Did they get distracted by making money,
talking and joking with their friends, haggling over the prices, and talking local politics?
Did it get too hard to follow the law? Did it require too much effort – and complicate their
plans? Or did they simply drift away from their faith – and stop being concerned about their
relationship with El Shaddai? Maybe it just wasn’t cool anymore to care about their souls.
Well, my friends, I am here today to tell you that I care about your souls. That is what gets
me up in the morning. The Holy Spirit gives me renewed energy every day – well, most days anyway
– to write a sermon, plan a program, make a pastoral call, to proclaim the good news of the gospel.
3
My work includes an appeal to you to study your Bible, to participate in a class, to pray your prayers
(there are dozens of great ones in our Book of Common Prayer!), to read a book with a spiritual theme,
to encourage and love one another on this Christian journey – in essence, to become a committed
disciple of Jesus Christ. And to help make disciples of others.
That is the vow we make in the Covenant of Baptism. It’s our part of the covenant between
God and God’s people. The new covenant that the prophet Jeremiah foretold: “[The] new covenant,”
says the LORD, “… will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke. … But this is the
covenant… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the
LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest… for I will forgive their
iniquity, and remember… their… sin… no more” (Jer 31:31-34).
So, how do we faithfully honor and keep God’s commandments? First, we have to
remember they are not suggestions. They are not guidelines. They are commandments. And then… well, we
practice them. Just like basketball, just like the piano, just like riding a bike or learning to fish, we
practice. We show up… and we do it. And then we do it again. And again. And it becomes part of
who we are.… people who love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and
with all our strength. And who love our neighbors as ourselves.
One of my seminary classmates posted a quote on Facebook yesterday that can help us with
our practice. It’s from Henri Nouwen:
“Did I offer peace today?
Did I bring a smile to someone’s face?
Did I say words of healing?
Did I let go of my anger and resentment?
Did I forgive?
Did I love?
These are the real questions.”
May I add: Did I spend time with God?
My prayer is for you to strive to give to God your very best… as God has done for you.
Amen… and amen.