Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

There are days when we feel as if we are connected to God

and clear about who we are, our place in the world, and what the world is

doing, and what God is doing in the world. Where we not only are in the light,

but we feel like we are the light. And then there are days when we

are darkness, where we cannot see God's presence, where we do not feel like

being any kind a good. Where we do not even know what good means.

There are days when we know what righteousness looks like

and we are all in on loving and being just and kind in this world. And there

are days when we just wanna wrap ourselves in a blanket and finish that sleeve

of thin mints and say, I just gotta get through We just gotta make it.

And that's the reality for us, I think is less that there is

this moment where we have this, we used to be something and then this big light

shines, and now I understand, and now I live completely differently. I think

most of us don't have that experience. Most of us have moments of light,

moments of clarity, followed by moments of darkness and periods of fear and

uncertainty.

...the reality is, is that God shows up through Christ

and the Spirit to show us that we are a blessing. He has come to heal us and to

reconcile us, and for us to then go and share that hope with the world because

God is with us where we are presently and where we are moving forward. But how

is that possible?

Well, that's where Romans 5 enters in. Before we jump in

to explore the text together, though, I would just like to share a little bit

of my own story with you all, not unlike all of us, I am a makeup of many things

that make me who I am and create my identity. To share a few; I am a father,

I'm a son, I'm a brother.

But also, I am divorced, I'm gay, and I'm a youth minister. So

let me maybe unpack a little bit of that for you. I grew up going to a very

conservative evangelical church. Now, I will not stand up here and say that it

was all bad because I gained a lot of things from my church home. A lot of good

things that have shaped me, informed me, and that have rooted me in the faith

that I have today.

But as you can imagine, there were also things that I

learned growing up that made me question, and really caused harm to me for

things that I came to learn later about myself, specifically regarding my

sexuality. It wasn't until later in high school where I started to even understand

what that looked like, but my foundation had already been laid for me to

question that part of who I was.

If when you see God coming down the lane, you say, here

comes blessing, here comes love. My heart is filled. I can't wait to find out

how I'm loved. That is good and healthy relationship, and you don't have to be

religious to get this because again, you know this in your real friendships and

relationships in your life, you know the people that when they come over, you

don't even care that your house is a mess.

You know those people where you don't even say, I'm sorry,

it's a mess cuz they're just in and they love you and you know it. Are those

the good relationships, the healthy ones, the people who, when you see them,

you see something beautiful and powerful and you recognize how they're loving

this world and the people who make you feel like loving more? That is a good

and healthy relationship.

And what Paul's talking about today is simply howwe have

a good and healthy relationship with the one who made us. We do it first and

foremost by just having the right lens at which we look at God.

Today in Paul's letter to the Romans, we are presented with

two diametrically opposed realities of human life as we know it. On one side,

we have sin brought about by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; the wanting to

be like God, knowing good and evil. And we hear that this way brings death. And on the other side, we have Jesus, the pioneer and

perfector of our faith, the giver of grace and life and love. On this side is

life.

For a long time, I viewed these two divergent certainties as separate conundrums

that I myself stood in the middle of and dabbled in each some of the time. But

after years of contending with the two, I realize that they're not actually

separate currencies, but two sides of the same coin.

Two sides of our true human condition, painfully captivated

by revenge, dishonesty, and self-centeredness on the one side, and at the same

time, capable of immeasurable good, and loving kindness and fortitude for the

way ahead. Rooted in our deepest longing to be in loving relationship with our creator.

The truth of who we are is sin and righteousness fused together in form and

function, but wholly committed to different currencies.