(This sermon is based on 1 John 1:1 - 2:2)
Concerning that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen and with our hands we have touched, which we have looked at an now proclaim
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance, where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor disturbance. Where there is poverty with joy, there is neither covetousness nor avarice, Where there is inner peace and meditation, there is neither anxiousness nor dissipation . . . Where there is mercy and discernment, there is neither excess nor hardness of heart. (St Francis of Assisi, Francis and Clare, p. 35, as printed in the People’s Companion to the Breviary, p. 431)
I know a man whose life became one of fear and trepidation when he received news from the IRS that his tax records didn’t add up, and he was being audited. It caused fear in the depths of his heart because he really did have something to hide – evidently the numbers looked suspicious because he was not being honest. He was not being honest because he believed he needed the money more than the government did. But, to be honest, he didn’t want to tell the government that. He chose to hide it from them. Truth be told, that kind of cowardly self-confidence was pervasive in his life, and it keeps him bound in some measure of fear.
I know of another man who suspected his elementary school daughter stole something. He came down very hard on her. Thing about it is, I also know because of his boasting that he didn’t report all of his income this year. I find the two positions grossly inconsistent.
1 John 1:8-10
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Contrast that with a movie I watched this week – I finally got around to watching Ben Kingsley’s marvelous portrayal of Mahatma Ghandi. As an Indian native in South Africa during the time of apartheid, there is a scene in which Ghandi speaks out against the pass system. The South African government was requiring that all Indian folks carry a pass and be fingerprinted like criminals. Ghandi organized a small rally to protest the system, and proceeded to burn his pass in public, the police standing by to discourage such insurrection. Perhaps if you’ve seen the movie, you remember the scene, Ghandi loudly proclaiming the reason for his defiant action, then placing his pass in the fire. The police responding with a sharp blow to his arm. When Ghandi reaches with the other arm to burn the pass, he is struck again. He reaches to burn another pass. He is struck again. There is great courage in his actions – fully transparent – not fearing any punishment his captors could inflict. Not lashing out or attempting to retaliate against the authorities, trusting that the ultimate good for which he stands will win out over the violent system of oppression.
1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
What really impressed me about Ghandi in the movie, though, was what happened when the nonviolent movement that he started became violent. I had learned somewhere that Ghandi had used a hunger strike as part of his protest against British rule. What the movie portrayed was that Ghandi decided to fast – to go without food – because his own movement had lost its way – the people that were fighting for his own ends had gotten caught up in sinning. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, he said. The sin was not out there, it was also inside.
Concerning that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen and with our hands we have touched, which we have looked at an now proclaim
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance, where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor disturbance. Where there is poverty with joy, there is neither covetousness nor avarice, Where there is inner peace and meditation, there is neither anxiousness nor dissipation . . . Where there is mercy and discernment, there is neither excess nor hardness of heart. (St Francis of Assisi, Francis and Clare, p. 35, as printed in the People’s Companion to the Breviary, p. 431)
I know a man whose life became one of fear and trepidation when he received news from the IRS that his tax records didn’t add up, and he was being audited. It caused fear in the depths of his heart because he really did have something to hide – evidently the numbers looked suspicious because he was not being honest. He was not being honest because he believed he needed the money more than the government did. But, to be honest, he didn’t want to tell the government that. He chose to hide it from them. Truth be told, that kind of cowardly self-confidence was pervasive in his life, and it keeps him bound in some measure of fear.
I know of another man who suspected his elementary school daughter stole something. He came down very hard on her. Thing about it is, I also know because of his boasting that he didn’t report all of his income this year. I find the two positions grossly inconsistent.
1 John 1:8-10
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Contrast that with a movie I watched this week – I finally got around to watching Ben Kingsley’s marvelous portrayal of Mahatma Ghandi. As an Indian native in South Africa during the time of apartheid, there is a scene in which Ghandi speaks out against the pass system. The South African government was requiring that all Indian folks carry a pass and be fingerprinted like criminals. Ghandi organized a small rally to protest the system, and proceeded to burn his pass in public, the police standing by to discourage such insurrection. Perhaps if you’ve seen the movie, you remember the scene, Ghandi loudly proclaiming the reason for his defiant action, then placing his pass in the fire. The police responding with a sharp blow to his arm. When Ghandi reaches with the other arm to burn the pass, he is struck again. He reaches to burn another pass. He is struck again. There is great courage in his actions – fully transparent – not fearing any punishment his captors could inflict. Not lashing out or attempting to retaliate against the authorities, trusting that the ultimate good for which he stands will win out over the violent system of oppression.1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
What really impressed me about Ghandi in the movie, though, was what happened when the nonviolent movement that he started became violent. I had learned somewhere that Ghandi had used a hunger strike as part of his protest against British rule. What the movie portrayed was that Ghandi decided to fast – to go without food – because his own movement had lost its way – the people that were fighting for his own ends had gotten caught up in sinning. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, he said. The sin was not out there, it was also inside.
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