Our family moved from Birmingham, Alabama to Cleveland Heights, Ohio in 1977. We moved to a suburb of Cleveland that was always striving to be politically correct and to serve a very diverse population.
We lived two blocks from Taylor Road. Taylor Road was home to five Orthodox Jewish Synagogues within four blocks. When we moved there the city was installing at all major sidewalk crossings the “WALK” and “DON’T WALK” signs. We’re all familiar with these devices – in that you have to push a button to get the light and sign to work in your favor. Such a mechanical device is fine EXCEPT IN AN ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY ON THE SABBATH - an observant Jew can not “PUSH” anything on the Sabbath! Crossing the street became a “HOT POTATO” item in the Orthodox Jewish community. To solve the problem, the City of Cleveland Heights installed “VOICE ACTIVATED” devices to control the “WALK” and “DON’T WALK” signals. While many of us thought this was silly, the concerned were simply trying to live their lives according to Jewish Law.
Take that story back two thousand years and you have a taste of the Jewish life that Saul – turned Paul – had been living with as an observant Jew.
Throughout his writings we encounter again and again his internal fight with what he left behind and his new found faith in Jesus Christ. It is very present in the seventh chapter of Romans. Paul is struggling spiritually.
At first read it sounds like his “PROBLEM” is sin and evil. No! For Paul, the “PROBLEM” is not sin or evil; it is himself. He is the problem. “WHY DO I DO WHAT I KNOW TO BE WRONG, DESPITE MY DESIRE TO DO GOOD?”
You do not have to be a biblical scholar to conclude that Paul is not writing theoretically or at a distance, but from the agonizing depths of his soul. His words stumble all over one another, sometimes losing the clean line of logic. They have the sense of immediacy - a report from the front-lines about a battle that is still being fought.
If we need any more assurance that Paul is talking about his own life as a Christian, all we have to do is look into our own hearts, for we know all too well from our own experience that the same heart that gave itself to Christ is NOT FREE FROM TEMPTATION.
Allow me to remind you – all theology is autobiographical! 1 The words of Paul and even “my little words” are an example, to be sure.
I don’t know about you, but every time I receive communion – three times on a Sunday at UCC – quite often I find myself praying the same prayers over and over; coming to God with the same confessions: O God, I’m tired of making the same mistakes again and again; O God, I’m fed up with knowing what is right and unable to do what is right.
I think you know what I’m talking about?
A friend of mine is the pastor of a church that has a sharing prayer every Sunday. The worshippers are invited to offer a spoken prayer out loud. He said they had a man who would say Sunday-after-Sunday, “LORD, SWEEP THE COBWEBS FROM MY SOUL.” One week, right on cue, he said it again. “LORD, SWEEP THE COBWEBS FROM MY SOUL.” This time another voice said, “DEAR GOD, KILL THE SPIDER!”
Eldon read for us Saul’s Damascus Road experience – the blinding light – his conversion to Christ – his turning from a pharisaic Judaism to universal Christianity – his being renamed Paul. Talk about a struggle! Talk about a wrenching of the soul!
I believe, here in Romans years after his conversion, we hear an individual who is still struggling saying, “GOOD BYE” to his old faith and “YES” to rebirth in Christ.
It is hard to be converted from the fear of God to the love of God. So, he cries, “WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO WILL RESCUE ME FROM THE BODY OF DEATH?”
But that question is not left up in the air, taunting Paul, he immediately gives an unbelievable affirmation, “THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!”
In facing his shortcomings, Paul is saved from despair through the affirmation that even if he does not become a person free from the old struggles and temptations, he is able to lay claim to the truth that, through Christ, he is a forgiven person.
Just as evil takes “two to tango,” so does virtue: the aspiration for good requires company. 2 The first thing that we must do is to ask for help.
Robert Duke a professor of preaching has written: “THE BASIC SIN IS THAT WE HAVE CREATED AN ILLUSION THAT WE CAN SAVE OURSELVES.” 3
Haven’t we come to realize that we are all in the same boat?
n That’s why we come to church – sing together, pray the Lord’s Prayer together, serve each other communion.
n That’s why we go to AA.
n That’s why people participate in group therapy.
n That’s why I go to Weight Watchers meetings.
We need to ask for HELP!
You are being invited to attend a retreat in August. A time for this family to sit down together. As I stated in the July Journal, “CHRISTIANS NEED A TIME WITHIN WHICH THEY CAN BE EMPTIED OF THEMSELVES AND FILLED WITH GOD.” 4
Our retreat leader, Randy Kuss, is inviting us to learn a model for a new spiritual path for this community of faith. This is a time to empty our old life; a time to be filled with God’s new vision for University Christian Church.
By coming together in such a setting we have a chance to learn something that has been revealed to infants – WE ARE DEPENDENT ON WHAT WE RECEIVE FROM ONE ANOTHER!
Let me remind you – we cannot get from TODAY to TOMORROW through our own efforts.
When we know this and then find ourselves crying out “WHO WILL RESCUE ME?” We are assured that the cry is not falling on deaf ears.
We need companionship to overcome the solitary power of evil. The company of the faithful is the hope of the sinner.
Then in unison we can shout as Paul did, “THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!”
AMEN!
Notes:
1Martin Copenhaver, Doing the Very Thing We Hate, PD, March/April, 1994, p. 12.
2Peter Gomes, When Good People Do Bad Things, PD, May/June, 1997, p. 37.
3Bowers, Sermon: Me, Myself and I, Stow, Ohio, June 7, 2009.
4Henri Nouwen, The Journal, July 2010. p. 1.
