February 12th

Sixth Sunday After Epiphany
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
Psalm 119:1-8
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Matthew 5:21-26

"Baby Steps"

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from God who gives the growth. Amen
 
Life with God is a process,
a journey that is only completed
when we are commended to God at our death
and because it is a journey that we are on
there is always room for improvement,
for growth.
 
Life with God takes practice.
 
Our texts for today
make it very clear
that life with God, as a child of God
is never a one and done event,
 
God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
and brought them to freedom and the promised land
but that was only the start of their life with God.
 
God knew that after being slaves for so long
they didn’t know how to live freely and peacefully with one another
so God gave the people leaders in Moses, Aaron and Miriam
and the commandments,
a guide for peaceful prosperous life together
 
and God gave the Israelites time to practice this way of life without distractions
while wandering in the desert
before entering the promised land,
 
they couldn’t handle it all at once,
they had to take baby steps to get there.
 
Our reading from Deuteronomy this morning
is Moses’ last address to the people
before they enter the promised land,
full of riches and opportunity
and other people with their own gods and way of living
 
 and one last time
Moses calls the people to follow the way of life
that they have been practicing,
that God has laid out before them
 
he puts it in stark terms,
life and death,
 
the way of God is life
any other way is death.
Choose life Moses says!
Practice life by living according to the guide God has given you,
it will lead you to life. Choose life!
 
By the time Jesus comes on the scene
the people have been practicing the law of Moses,
with varying degrees of success
for a long time,
 
and in the sermon on the mount
Jesus joins the group of rabbis who say,
it’s time to take it to the next level,
 
‘I didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it’ Jesus tells the crowd
life is even more complex than the law
and the interpretation of the law have been,
now it is no longer good enough
to follow the exact letter of the law
but one must look at the intent behind the law,
 
what is at the root of murder?
It is anger,
we’ve established that murder is bad Jesus says,
now let’s work on what leads to murder.
 
It’s the next step on the way to the abundant life
that Jesus came to bring,
 
and if all of this seems overwhelming and impossible
The truth is that it is
but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try,
it means we are aware of how much we need the grace of God
given to us through the cross of Christ
 God both expects us to follow the law
of love of God and neighbor
and God knows we will fail and need the grace of Christ.
 
Life with God takes practice
 
Paul points out in our reading from 1 Corinthians
that it’s okay, necessary even
to take baby steps in our practice,
 
he calls the Corinthians infants in Christ
and says that he fed them with milk
because they were not ready for solid food.
 
The life of faith is a life of growth in faith,
growth that takes time, nourishment and practice.
 
One of the main ways we nourish and practice
our life in faith
 is through worship.
 
When we gather for worship we gather to praise God, yes
and to be nourished yes
but also to practice,
 
in the time and space of worship
we practice for the rest of life,
we practice how God calls us to live beyond worship.
 
We start with confession and forgiveness,
practicing mending the inevitable broken relationships
that go along with being human.
 
We give thanks in worship,
practicing humility,
acknowledging that all we have in this life are gifts from God,
 
We listen to the word of God, in the readings and sermon,
practicing listening for what God is saying to us in our daily lives.
 
We pray for others and ourselves
practicing communicating with God on a personal level.
 
We offer one another peace
practicing for the times of conflict
when it will be necessary in life
to cross the aisle
 and take the hand of someone you profoundly disagree with
and make peace.
 
We give in worship
practicing living materially God and neighbor centered lives,
acknowledging that we are dependent on God
 and not on ourselves for our lives and livelihoods
and that we are called to share what God has given us.
 
We eat a meal together
at a table where all are welcome
and there is enough for everyone,
practicing God’s truth for the world,
preparing us to know that it is a lie
when we are told there is not enough for everyone
and that some are better than others.
 
We bless one another and receive blessings
practicing offering affirming words to one another
in a world that most often offers criticism.
 
And then we are sent out into the world
as servants of God
to spread this way of life
 
We go out taking baby steps,
a kind word here,
a radical welcome there,
a small moment of peace making,
a word of blessing,
 
and God takes our baby steps
and uses them to give the growth,
to make the kingdom of God a reality.
 
Paul planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth.
Paul reminds the Corinthians
 
 Whatever we do
However we contribute
Ultimately growth is up to God
And for that I say thanks be to God.