discipline, practice, endurance

This is not a fun week in the lectionary. God's anger is clear in the words of Jeremiah; the people have turned away from the uncomfortable word of God and instead are listening to what is easy to hear from the mouths of liars. The author of the letter to the Hebrews is clear that following the gospel, living a kingdom life, isn't easy. It is like running a long race, it is a struggle, it is a life of discipline, being set straight by the Lord. And finally, we have Jesus, God's self, making clear that with the immanence of the kingdom of God comes division, pain, and a fire that refines away our sinful desires.

These lessons are hard for us to hear. We like our gospel to come as one of love. We like the idea of "loving God and loving neighbor" as long as it doesn't mean doing too much. We like being lazy in our faith, assured of our salvation, whenever judgment day comes (according to science we're safe for quite a while, if we reverse global warming that is). And so it'd be really easy to just skip over this week. Preach on the collect, or do an instructed Eucharist and preach on why the altar is green, but to be true to our faith, we know we can't. We have to struggle with what looks like the ugly side of following God. We have to accept that discipline "always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later is yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

In short, it seems this Sunday we will have to deal with sin. We will have to accept that we, personally, are sinners in need of judgment. We will have to accept that we exist within a culture of sin and are complicit in systemic sin. We will have to come to terms with the fact that sin is against the will of God, and the only way to return to the LORD is a painful process of giving up our own way, being thrown in the fire for a while, to be purified and made clean for God.

This won't be fun. It won't be a happy, clappy, mountain top experience. It might pit "father against son... mother against daughter... mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law...", but it will be for the good of all Creation. It will mean a change of heart, that, done right, turns from fatalistic thinking (I'm just a sinner who can do no right) to kingdom thinking (I have been washed clean so that I can work with God).

Dear God, give me the wisdom and strength to preach your word of judgment that allows us to rejoice in your grace, Amen.