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A Remembrance Day sermon Sometimes we do or say things without
really thinking about why we did or said them and then forget about them
until one day, it could be weeks, months or years later, there comes a knock
at our door and we are confronted by our wrongdoing or sin. That’s when we
discover the truism that we cannot run away from ourselves. Sure, we can run
away from situations and places and we might even be able to slip them to
the back of our minds where they remain hidden, or almost hidden. But, no
matter how hard, how fast or how far we run, we can never quite get away
from ourselves. The real problem is when that sin or wrong doing becomes an
obstacle to our path, an obstruction to our lives, taking on the appearance
of a mountain or a prison. The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11ff) discovered that
eventually and Luke uses a telling phrase that describes the turning point
in the boy’s life: “And he came to himself.” (Lk 15:17) In other words, he
had to be reconciled to himself, to accept his shortcomings and the
situation, to admit his guilt before he was able to return to his father.
Today is about remembering, remembering the millions of men, women and
children who died in the great wars. Alas, it is also two months to the day
since that horrendous moment when thousands of people were killed or maimed
during the terrorist attacks in the United States
Nevertheless, it cannot be sufficient only to remember the sacrifice of
those who gave their lives for what they believed in; for their sacrifice to
mean anything, it must lead to change, personal and social change that will
create a world as close as possible to the Kingdom of God. It’s what we pray
for daily: “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done.” If nothing else, the events
of September 11, 2001 and what has happened subsequently, show us that we
are a long, long way away from that and have learned nothing from history.
We have yet to come to ourselves.
But we have a hope, a sure hope, provided by Jesus Christ. Next to him on
the cross hung a murderer , a thief, who had even at that last moment, come
to himself, to his senses, and recognised in Jesus what we find so hard to
recognise and acknowledge in what we witness around about us: his kingship.
And all that he asks of Jesus is to be remembered. “Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom.” And our Lord’s reply was simple and
unequivocal: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Not, “when you become
a better person I might consider it”; not “I’ll only remember you when you
decide to mend your ways”, but today.
In this communion today, we are called to obey our Lord: “Do this in
remembrance of me” because it is in doing this, in sharing the body and
blood of our Lord, that we are somehow mystically crucified with Him and
reborn in his resurrection to new life. And so he can say to us this
morning: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
But there are still so many people who, despite what they hear, despite
receiving the promise of forgiveness, who will not let go of their sin. “I’m
not good enough – I’ve never been good enough or worthy enough.” “I’m just a
waste of space.” “God couldn’t possibly forgive what I’ve done!” “I’m just a
really bad person.” “I’m beyond redemption, beyond anybody’s love.”
They say they want to let go of their sin, but somehow they never manage it.
They begin to hand it over to God but never quite let go, so that there is
one tremendous battle of wills, a tug of war. And God, being God, allows us
to win. But sometimes our sin becomes a crutch leaving us to hobble about,
bravely bearing our affliction and revelling in the attention that our
wounds create, but never quite managing to move forward. My friends, this
kind of disingenuous nonsense can often turn into a form of spiritual pride.
When we speak of obstacles, Jesus speaks of moving mountains; when we speak
of prisons, he speaks about breaking chains.
I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but I’ll say it again and again
and again: That Jesus was sent not to demand anything of us, but to give us
that which we could not buy or earn or merit by our own hand: forgiveness,
redemption, righteousness, eternal life.
If these are the things that you crave for then it is not enough to remember
your sin, you need to change your attitude first to yourself, then to those
around you and then to God. You need to understand the love of God meditated
through Christ and accepting that grace, to come to yourselves and accept
the invitation: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
But there is another group of people who have not so much sinned as have
been sinned against, people who have carried the scars of abuse – physical
or emotional – for 20, 30, 40 years or more. People who have suffered at the
hands of mothers or fathers, uncles or grandparents, siblings or ‘friends’,
and who have shouldered the blame and guilt for all that has happened to
them.
To you, Jesus proclaims you innocent, not guilty: you are free to go, to get
on with your lives. In the same way that Jesus called Lazarus out of the
grave, I call to you now, in the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of
the Holy Spirit: “I unbind you – receive your freedom. But I tell you also,
that justice is not to be found in vengeance, that freedom is only to be
found in forgiveness.
Throughout the Bible, the prophets have a single message from God: “I will
be your God and you will be my people. And your sin I will remember no
more.”
Alleluia! Praise the Lord!
Tony Sophianou, 11 November 2001
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