Sermon 13th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/11/2011

Sermon

Text: Matthew 18:21-35

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who remembers and RE-Members us.

I was on the 9^th floor of Knapp Hall, part of the Towers Dorm Complex at Iowa State University, getting ready for class. For some reason I turned the TV on, I usually didn't in the mornings. And that's when I found out.

It seems somewhat strange to also now think that the tower I was living in at that time has now also fallen, through a controlled demolition, but the connection there seems odd.

I don't know why I went to class that day. We didn't learn anything. All but one class were canceled, and that class only covered some basic stuff before moving on. I should have stayed home and just watched and read what was going on.

I didn't know what to think. I still don't quite know what to think. It was horrific, and dreadful that it happened.

It was the moment for my generation. My mom and dad had Kennedy as their moment growing up. This was a new moment. I still have newspapers and magazines that I collected in the days afterwards. Just for histories sake.

What I remember most that day, and the days following were shock that it had happened.

I remember prayer groups being set up. Churches just being open at all times day or night for people to come to.

This is a day of remembering. For us, and also for God. Everyday is a day of remembering for God. God on that day, and on this day, watches over the whole of creation, not just our nation, and is concerned about all the atrocities that are going on. War, Flooding, Fire, Famine, Disease, Death. And just like we cried on that day ten years ago, God weeps.

There are so many people asking, Why did God let this happen? That is the wrong question, the question to ask is, in the midst of this, can you feel God's deep grief over every person who died that day, in the attacks, and in every other place in the world.

I wonder about that remembering, do we simply remember the atrocity, and remember the hate that came about through it, or do we remember the togetherness and sense of unity that came over us through the tragedy. Do we remember that sense of God giving us peace, where we seemed to not be able to find it anywhere else.

And I wonder about forgiveness. Not letting those responsible get away with what they have done, but forgiveness of an entire people. It was never easy to be Muslim or Arab in this country, but it has gotten worse, and a large part of this world places the blame on all of them.

Our text for today continues right after last weeks lesson on approaching those who have hurt us. In it Peter wonders how to forgive, and for once he's not being stupid, his question of seven times is a actually a good answer. Seven is seen as a perfect number, seven days of creation, so asking whether to forgive seven times is asking to forgive perfectly. But, Jesus says to go beyond that. Jesus says to forgive not seven times, but seven times seven or seventy-seven times, depending on how it's translated. Jesus is saying forgive more than perfectly.

But, how can we forgive some things? Why do we forgive? We forgive because we have been forgiven. The servant of the king in our text has been forgiven in an unimaginably huge way. He owes ten thousand talents. An average wage would be one talent a year. Isn't that insane?! He owes ten thousand years of work to this king. And he asks for patience to pay it back. He is never going to pay it back, there is no way.

That is what forgiveness is like, it is like a debt of ten thousand years lifted from our shoulders, like a mountain taken off our back.

But, forgiving can be just as freeing. When we free people from their hurts against us, we free ourselves from the angry those hurts cause. Theologian Charlotte Cleghorn tells a story from Rabbi Harold Kushner:

A woman in my congregation comes to see me. She is a single mother, divorced, working to support herself and three young children. She says to me, “Since my husband walked out on us, every month is a struggle to pay our bills. I have to tell my kids we have no money to go to the movies, while he's living it up with his new wife in another state. How can you tell me to forgive him?” I answer her, “I'm not asking you to forgive him because what he did was acceptable. It wasn't; it was mean and selfish. I'm asking you to forgive because he doesn't deserve the power to live in your head and turn you into a bitter angry woman. I'd like to see him out of your life emotionally as completely as he is out of it physically, by you keep holding on to him. You're not hurting him by holding on to that resentment, but you're hurting yourself.

When we forgive, all weight of that issue is lifted from us by God. When we are forgiven again all weight is lifted from us by God. That is forgiveness, complete freedom.

And finally I wonder about Re-Membering. Of God constantly bringing us back as members of the body of Christ. This day is Rally Day, because we rally back to our community of faith, we rally back to God, because we remember that it is God that RE-Members us.

We are restored by God not because we can eventually repay what we owe, but because God has miraculously forgiven us, freed us from the power of sin in our lives. Freed us from the overwhelming pain of this day, and all days.

On this day of remembering and RE-membering we give thanks to the God who has come to us, and who through gracious love, and wonderful mercy helps us to be daily restored.

Let us pray,

Father, forgive.

Father, forgive the hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class.

Father, forgive the greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste to the earth.

Father, forgive our envy of the welfare and happiness of others.

Father, forgive our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee.

Father, forgive the lust which dishonors the bodies of men, women, and children.

Father, forgive the pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God.

Father, forgive.

Amen.