Tedd Pullano
Psalm 130, Romans 8:1-11

Sin Can Do That

During my weekly sermon preparation, I believe that God puts things on my heart to think about, pray about, study, and then helps me to bring that here to our gathered worship on Sunday mornings. Very often, these are things I generally like to think about and preach about - topics that are biblical, important and hopefully easy to talk about. This week, for this Sunday, that may not be the case. I believe that what God has put on my heart for this week is biblical, it is important, but it is not easy to talk about. During our Wednesday Lenten series this week we actually talked about it a little. This topic is very real -- yet in the past, and even currently -- it has been used by some to hurt people, to scare people and even to control people. You know me well enough to know that that is not my intention this morning, and not why God has put this on my heart. So, as we talk about it a little this morning, I hope you realize that I do so with great love and understanding.

The topic this morning, which is in both of our Lectionary readings, is sin. Being Lent, sin is a very appropriate topic to consider. A big part of the Lenten season involves self examination. It is actually my favorite season of the year for exactly that reason -- because I believe with Socrates that "the unexamined life is not worth living". I believe that it is important to look at our lives and see how it is that we are living. And so in Lent we do just that -- we examine ourselves. We do not beat ourselves up; we simply take some time out to see what is going on in our hearts and our lives and what that means. And in doing this, we often realize and acknowledge where we have fallen short, where we have missed the mark. And this morning, as we talk about sin, I don't want to examine the "missing the mark" part; I want to talk more about the consequences of that experience. I don't really want to talk as much about sin as I do want to talk about the fallout of our sinfulness.

Let me share a story I came across from a pastor of a Presbyterian church in the Midwest. I discovered it while researching our Psalm for this morning, Psalm 130. This pastor tells a story of herself and her congregation. At a certain point in her ministry, she ran in to a major problem. There was some division in the congregation and people began to choose sides. So, being faithful to her call, she tried hard to walk the road of understanding, compassion and honesty. Well, somewhere along the road, she writes, she began to get all caught up in the situation. She began to think about the problem constantly, becoming angry at the situation as well as the people in the congregation, and not knowing what to do with that anger. This began to affect her spirit, her ability to think, to do her job, and even her energy level. She became stuck, mired in anger and self pity. In reflecting on her experience, she wrote the following: "Somehow I let this situation take on a life of its own. I sinfully let myself become consumed by it - to the exclusion of everything around me. I became so caught up in the conflict and being angry at people that I became totally ineffective. I could not do the important work I was supposed to do, all the parts of my job as a minister. All I could do was think about the situation. I had lost sight of my call, my job. And because I lost sight of that, I began to be a poor minister. I was discouraged by some of the people in the congregation. It got so bad that I actually began to look for a new church to pastor. There were people in the congregation I could not even look at when I talked to them. I was exhausted, unable to concentrate and out of focus."

"Then, one morning as I was attempting to do my morning devotions, I became so frustrated and overwhelmed that I could not center myself and connect with God. Soon, I found myself crying. My soul ached from being broken and distressed. I realized I was filled with resentment and anger, and those emotions were driving my behavior. I needed some relief. I reached for my bible and opened to the Psalms hoping to find peace. The bible dropped open to Psalm 130 and I began to read. And as I read, it became very clear to me that I had strayed from my Father's house. Because I was only thinking about the situation, and had let my anger and frustration rule my behavior, my vision had become blurred and now it was actually gone. I genuinely began to see that by focusing on this problem constantly and being angry at the people involved, I was in actuality caught up in sin. I was blinded by my sin. My vision was blurred, my ministry was stalled, my heart was broken - not because of this situation of conflict, but because I had lost sight of God and I had sinned against my church family and against my heavenly Father. And because of this sin, I was no longer able to do what I was called to do - I was broken and useless. Sin can do that." "And yet", she continues, "at that moment, I felt myself pouring out my heartfelt pain, my feelings of sinfulness to God Almighty and it was at that point that my vision began to clear and I could see again. When I knelt before my Father, and let him take away my sin, I was in fact redeemed. I was set free from the burden of my sin and I was able to regain my energy, my vision, my passion for ministry and I felt light and free again."

Have you had similar experiences in your life? Have you had times where you behavior has been perhaps a little inappropriate and that has led you to a place of hurt and uneasiness and being hopeless? I know I have. Sin can do that. Sin is awful. However you define it -- which I am not going do this morning, because most of you already know what sin is or how to recognize -- sin is destructive on many levels. Sin wreaks havoc on our lives. It can take us to a place we do not want to be, a place where we are not able to be and act like the people we are created to be - very much like the pastor in the story. Until she was able to get beyond her sinful behavior, she could not be who God wanted her to be. Sin can do that. I know we have all heard stories of folks who through the pull and power of sin have lost their families, their jobs, their money, their integrity and even their lives. Maybe it was drinking, drugs, greed, whatever. Based on our conversations at the Wednesday night study, many of you are aware of this and have experienced it. It is not fun.

And yet, as the apostle Paul and as the Psalmist tell us this morning, we don't have to be there, and if we are there, we do not have to stay there. We do not have to live and dwell in sin and feel the consequences of it. We know this from Psalm 130 which tells us that God is there to redeem us from all our iniquities - all our sins. I find it interesting that the word used for "redeem" in this passage comes for the Hebrew word padah which mean "to ransom, let go, set free". You see, the problem with sin is that it imprisons and holds us hostage in a way that causes hurt and pain and stops us from our work of building the kingdom of God. Yet, the good news is that God is there to set us free. God is there to break those chains that keep us all bound up. There is great freedom and release in our relationship with God. Yet sin hampers that relationship. But, thankfully, as the Psalm says, God does not remember our sins, but God forgives us, and sets us free. As the Psalmist writes, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope".

My friends, we all sin and we all fall short. That is not judgment on my part, that is just reality. Sin happens. And because of that we need wholeness and redemption. So let me remind you that there is only one place to find this wholeness and redemption - this setting free - that we all are searching for. And that is found in Jesus Christ- through knowing and talking to and listening to God in Christ. Plainly and simply. Next Sunday we will wave our Palms and cheer as Jesus enters Jerusalem. On that day he will be hailed by many as a king. A few days after that we will sit with him and with each other as we break bread and as Jesus gets ready to complete his ministry. Then, with our eyes wide open, we will watch him hang on a cross, knowing the pain and misery that means for him -- and knowing that he did this for each of us so that we could be free from sin, so that we can be whole, so that we can have a powerful and loving relationship with God. And then we will gather on that Sunday morning we call Easter to celebrate all that Jesus has accomplished -- to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus - the moment when our redemption, our setting free, is fully realized.

So, let us walk together over the next two weeks. Let us examine our lives and turn over those areas which we feel are destructive to us. Let us be honest about where sin is active in our lives. That may be hard to hear. You may not like to think about sin or talk about it, but it is real. We do not have to dwell on it, but we do need to consider it, because it causes great pain to ourselves. On Good Friday, we will have a life--size cross here in the sanctuary, some paper, a hammer and nails, and you will be able to literally turn over those areas of your life that take away from your relationship with God by writing them down nailing them to the cross. And you can turn them over to God knowing that our God is an awesome God who loves us and redeems us and brings us joy and hope. Sin is not the last word - forgiveness and healing and wholeness are. Praise God.