Double Sided Debt

First Presbyterian Church, West Chester
August 2014

Double sided debt

I owe you one

A seminary professor once asked his students, “What is the most important word in the New Testament?”

The students’ responses varied: “Love.” “Salvation.” “Redemption.” “Forgiveness.” The professor shook his head at each. He contended that the most important word was let.  

Let us pray.

The Lord's Prayer holds a little muse for me in my professional life... having grown up in the church  I learned the Lord's Prayer many years ago and i can't remember even learning it, however in my early days as a pastor I would frequently mis-speak the words of the Lord's Prayer.   At some point mid prayer I would mess up the order of the words... not because I didn't know it but I would find myself worrying about the next item in the order of service.  My face would turn red and I would become so embarrassed I would avoid eye contact in order to forgo the -- you cute young pastor who can't get the Lord's Prayer right look.  And just when i would sneak out of the sanctuary and run to my office to hide the senior pastor's 9 year old daughter would be waiting for me laughing at me saying -- ha ha you screwed it up again!!! From those days on I was always sure to have a printed copy with me at all times to be sure i could follow the prayer word by word.

It is a prayer that many can say from memory... an estimated 2 billion people recite the Lord's Prayer every sunday morning and studies show that alizheimers patients who have little or no memory of friends and family can finish the words to the prayer our savior taught if prompted simply by hearing the words "our father."

As a part of the emerging church movement that began in the 90s many young christians returned to things of ancient introduction... they flocked to songs that could be uttered without hymnals --  taize chants, amazing grace... they hung on scripture that was able to be memorized.. they leaned toward quiet contemplation with candles and a simple wooden cross and moved away from the notion of a concert rock star jesus.  for many emerging church groups between 20-40 minutes of time in worship was spent in contemplative prayer and the means by which the community was led out of individual prayer was by slowly and intentionally praying the Lord's Prayer.

There is such a beauty in reciting the words together...  all i have to say is our father and by the end of the first line an entire community of people can be unifed, stand with one voice and proclaim the gospel together.  in a worship service, at a funeral, even at a luncheon... to think there are so many christians in so many settings who have taken the words of jesus and lodged them in their hearts... there is a simple beauty to it all that is breath-taking and yet... so dangerous..

At a pastors respite in 2001, I was 22 and by far the youngest pastor in the room.  the rev. tony villareal pulled me aside after worship and asked me...  what do we have to do to reach out to young people like you....  this is the same question i have been asked in virtually every setting i have been a part of.  how do we "get" young people as if it is a fish to be caught or a box to check off.  tony asked me what I (meaning all young people) was looking for.

The moment took me by surprise... the weight of a question as if i could speak for all people who fell in the category of "young" but it is a moment that has stayed with me.

I see the question as so multi faceted and so complex and the answer i shared with Tony that day almost 15 years ago was that young people are looking for authenticity.   They are looking for people to say prayers in worship and then see them live the words they said as they walked into coffee hour, into the community and in to their homes.  And that they would draw a clear and visible line between what Jesus teaches and what they strive for.

The good news, however, is that the answer to Tony's question has nothing to do with young and old... it has to do with commitment and desire to follow Jesus.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us

Many say this is the hardest line of the Lord's Prayer.

That we will forgive as freely and easily as we receive forgiveness from Jesus.

It's always fun to listen at ecumenical events that include diverse traditions when reciting the Lord's Prayer because this is the line that seems show our differences and often turns into a mumble until we can unite again in the next line... lead us not into temptation.

The differences in the line are not necessarily doctrinal differences but instead some traditions pull from the Lord's Prayer in matthew and some pull from the Lord's Prayer in luke.  one version uses a direct translation for sin which was previously translated as trespass and one translation stems from the word debt for those that owed money they could not pay.  

both versions speak to the notion that we have not made the right choices in our relationship with God and that there are people who have not made the right choices in the relationships with us and that the personal sins we have committed should be dealt with in the same manner as those who have committed sins agasint us in our relationships.  

somehow the forgiveness we beg for and believe God will give us is directly tied to the forgiveness we are called to give to others

We say week after week in the assurance of pardon that our sins are forgiven.  that our slate is wiped clean, the colorful sin staining the white board is wiped away and that we believe that we are forgiven and yet...when it comes to those around us is the slate clean or are their parts we refuse to erase... believing somehow we can't let go, that its out of our power, that maybe in time we will release the hurts and the pains and the wrongdoings and the grudges...

one of my favorite authors ann voskamp shared on her blog a lenten activity that she kept near her time out bench..  a wide flat bowl filled with white flour.  when any of her 6 kids needed some time they were encouraged to draw with a finger in the bowl thinking about the reason for their time out and when she would come to talk to them about their troubles together they would wipe the flour flat and clean reminding them of God's desire to wipe away our sins.  Ann picked up her daughter from the bench and gave her a big hug and looked over her shoulder to see something left in the flour.  she asked her what that was about and her daughter replied... i left a happy face for the next person who sits here so that they know right from the beginning that God loves them even though they have sinned.

God does not look to us and say... remember that one time when you cheated, when you lied, when you stole, when you turned from me and denied me... and jesus knows there is not one person here who has not been in the business of denying jesus and the way of Christ.  God does not look to us and remember and hold on and harbor and ferment and process over and over.  the stain of our sin disappears as if there was some holy oxclean, some magnificent white out, a perfect never failing autocorrect.... a gift of mercy that lifts the heavy saddlebags from our shoulders.

we were made to crave this right relationship so much so that when things aren't right we feel it deeply and know that changes need to be made... that our path is crooked and full of anxiousness and fear... shame and guilt. but forgiveness.. forgiveness of sin, cancelling the debt... this is a release from prison that allows us new life.

and yet.  the Lord's Prayer teaches us every single week, every single time that we are not following the way of jesus if we refuse to throw the dirty laundry in the wash.

remember that time you spilled the red wine on my favorite dress

remember the time that you wore my new leather jacket in the rain

remember the time you got my heels stuck in mud

remember the time you broke our marriage

remember the time you lied

remember the time you said you would change

as we forgive our debtors

a one sided faith is only concerned with a jesus who forgives us and bears no mind to our lack of desire to forgive those around us. for the big things and even for the little things.  we keep the lines in the sand marking exactly where we are right and they are wrong.  and by this evil game we are imprisoned, unable to truly experience freedom from sin.  as my beloved author annie lamott says -- refusing to forgive is like condeming the rat and then swallowing the rat poison.

There is no limit to this practice.  it is not only a practice for us and our children.  for our spouse.  for our boss.  it is not limited to strangers or family members.  it does not stop when we get into traffic.  people who have more than 12 items in their cart in the express line are not to be targets of our rage.  doctors who can't fix our ailments, health care that doesn't cover our bills, political leaders who don't align with our beliefs...

how we treat those who do not align with our agenda determines the peace or conflict in our soul.

for when we are forgiven and we choose to forgive the wideness of god's mercy grows and people near and far, people young and old start to see that we are authentic.  that we mean this stuff.  that we believe.  that it is life changing.  and that is how the church grows.  there is no magic young person pill.  but there is a risk taking life that requires vulerability... a vulnerability that says you might get trampled again tomorrow but today it's worth the risk.

if we choose to recite the Lord's Prayer again and are not willing to apply the forgiveness of sin in our lives we deny that jesus death on the cross has any power at all.

If we proclaim that he died for the forgiveness of sins then that is the business we need to be about.

This is the hardest line of the Lord's Prayer and the one i am most priveleged to be tasked to engage.

When we decided that today was my last Sunday here at First Pres all I could think about was how much I didn't want this sermon to be about me but instead pointing to god's glory alone. and I was agonizing about choosing a scripture verse to preach on.  When I looked at the next step in the series I was so happy to see it was about debts.  A weird thing to say, huh? 

There is nothing to argue and debate.  God has forgiven us.  We don't deserve it.  We act like we deserve it and that we aren't so bad but really, the only room for God to enter is when we admit that we have screwed it all up.  That we aren't good enough and that God is. That is the beginning point.  When we can see the the forgiveness of God is the fuel for the forgiveness those who have trespassed where they should not have gone.  

But you, first pres, have done so much for me that you will never fully know or understand.  Such an odd thing God has done to throw us together and then rip us apart, but certainly it was a bright spot for both of us.  

For all of the leaps of faith you have taken with me in the last year.... the Street Fair, Service Squad, Bridge Kids with worship, Kick off Road Rally, Advent Conspiracy, Knock Knock jokes

knock knock... who is there? orange -- sandy lebold

for allowing me to wear my ripped jeans and flip flops and for loving me just how i am.... wildly creative, a little dishelved, and a broken yet wide open story...

for all of this i feel like i owe you... i feel like i owe you years of service... multitudes of weddings and funerals and marathon christmas eves (phew, i won't miss 6 services... just saying).  and you have said already and will continue to say to me....  there is no need to be sorry.  there is no debt.  there is no need to ask for forgiveness.

and in those moments you offer me grace...  but this is easy grace.  grace for happy days and new beginnings.

the offering of the Lord's Prayer grace is for the relationships where the love is gone, the battle is raw, the bitterness is taking over and you don't want to give in.  

this forgiveness that defies logic and refuses vendettas is christianity.

and we come here to claim that this is the life we want even though it's hard, even though we will lose, even though some people might never reciprocate or even acknowledge our forgiveness.  

and the moment we accept that we forgive not because anyone is deserving but because we have tasted the glory of a forgiven life then we will understand the Lord's Prayer and it's meaning for our lives.  

Voskamp gives three practices for living a forgiving life:

1Be a screen door... let things pass through you.  A closed door will be hit hard by the blustery winds but if we allow the hurts to pass through then we know that Jesus is there to deal with that which we cannot deal.

2 only believe the best.  for every person you meet believe that they are doing the best that they can in their circumstances.  this changes everything because it cures us of our habits to judge and judge quickly.  philippians reminds us to only think on what is good and pure

3 tell a thankful truth.  find what you can praise that is honest.  thankful truth telling honors what is good and works as a salve on our desire to point out what is hurtful.  

Sam Wells, dean of Duke chapel recalls his days as a youth pastor in England where a colleauge would do any sort of trick known to mant to get the teens riled up for youth group.  Every wednesday evening he would drive a double decker van which was also his home into the church parking lot and the kids would cheer when they saw the van.  The youth worker would play his music as loud as it would go and the kids would dance and sing around his van.  He had a trick that he did over and over again that the kids loved... he would put on a straight jacket and then have one youth tie chains around him and lock the chains and hold the key.  He would have another teen turn on dramatic background music and a third set a timer for all to see.  Each week he would try to beat his record for getting himself out of the chains.  The teens cheered each week and placed small side bets on whether he could beat his time.  He would always get out and there would always be a grand celebration.  The trouble is that his purpose for doing this stunt was based on a study on the 4th chapter of luke but they would get so caught up in the good times that they never actually studied that words about being released from the chains.  

It was a well known ancient practice that every 50 years came the year of the jubilee.. the year when all debts were cancelled and all land was returned to its original owners.  This fiscal procedure which is well documented was a way to help out some struggling families who had fallen on hard times and allowed some land redistribution.  As the Roman Empire gained power the year of jubilee became a small nod to some land and some cancellled debts but it was primarily geared to make the government look good.  People stopped believing that there could be a time of cancelled debt, that a time of forgiveness of bad choices could actually be wiped clean because it didn't actually happen. it was just lipservice. 

For all of us really living in chains, here and everywhere, have we stopped believing that cancelling the debt, that forgiveness of sins is anything more than something showy we say every week, powerful words that never actually lead us toward the scriptures that define us and to the life we so desperately long for?

A seminary professor once asked his students, “What is the most important word in the New Testament?”

The students’ responses varied: “Love.” “Salvation.” “Redemption.” “Forgiveness.” The professor shook his head at each. He contended that the most important word was let.

  

Let” is a word that pleads with us to throw open some door inside ourselves to what God wants to do in us and for us. “Let” is an invitation, an appeal to the heart, an appeal to the will. 

forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

let it be so.