Sunday Sermon - 10 February
Every once in a while, when I read the Bible, I ask myself “Who am I in this particular story?” “Who do I relate to most out of all of the characters in this particular account or passage?”
As I read the Gospel reading on Monday in preparation for this sermon, I found myself relating mostly to Simon-Peter who, after Jesus’ miracle of providing them with nets full of fish, realizes that Jesus is the Messiah. He then immediately falls before Jesus and acknowledges the depths of his sinfulness and asks Jesus to step away from him for he is unworthy to be before God.
I am not one to get consumed by my mistakes. I am one who tries his best to acknowledge my sins, to make my confessions honestly and sincerely, to promise to do better and in so doing, I accept God’s forgiveness and push on. But timing is everything. I had to look inside myself and ask, “Why did I feel so connected to Simon-Peter’s unworthiness and state of sin? That’s not like me.”
When I first started intentionally preparing for this sermon, I read the readings right after I had just finished listening to Ontario Morning, the local CBC news program. CBC had a segment where Nav Nanwa was interviewing Laura LaChapelle, a mixed race woman - half Jamaican and half white-European. She was promoting a talk that she was giving in Simcoe County later in the week. During this segment she talked about her hair and, when she was younger, both as a child and then teenager, people always wanted to touch her hair. Some asked her permission, and though she felt awkward she’d always say yes - What was she going to say? Some even touched her hair without her permission. She felt that they weren’t trying to be mean, but just had this desire to touch her hair because it was different. However, the impact of their behaviour made her feel ‘other’ and different, maybe even ‘less than’.
She also spoke about ‘microaggressions’ such as ‘hair touching’ and the importance of her ability and sometimes inability to self-advocate. And then she discussed the importance of unlearning old behaviours and learning new behaviours.
And soon after I heard LaChapelle speak, I read these readings for today. My mind was in the mental context of that news segment and I was also well aware of the fact that this is Black History month.
I went to public school in the late 70’s and early 80’s in a small town north of Toronto called Mount Albert. It was very, very, country and the town and school was very, very, white. We had one black student in our whole school of maybe a few hundred students and simply put, I loved to touch his hair and he let me. I was young, I think I was in grade 5 or 6 so maybe I was 10 or 11.
I’ve acknowledged Black History month for years. It’s a big deal at Lakefield College School, as you can imagine - being such a diverse community, and we talk and educate about microaggressions a lot. It’s an important part of the school life and values program. But I hadn’t remembered about my own past in public school until that interview and ‘wham’ it all came back to me… “What have I done?!” “How terrible a person am I?” I know, or at least I think I know, I am not racist, but I also know that I have committed microaggressions throughout my life, some that I now may know of and some that I’ve forgotten and some, to this day, I likely have no idea I’ve even committed. I feel shame. I feel guilt.
Today’s readings speak of divine calling, of courage and transformation.
Isaiah, when he sees the Seraph of the Lord, he proclaims:
“Woe is me, for I am lost!” He acknowledges his sinful nature, his unclean lips, and the celestial being cleanses him and he then hears God’s voice calling, “Who shall I send to proclaim my message?” and Isaiah responds: “Here I am Lord, send me.”
In Paul’s letter to Corinthians he speaks of his past, his own unworthiness as a persecutor of early Christians and yet God found him, God chose him and tasked him to be an evangelist, the apostle to the Gentiles.
And Simon-Peter, who becomes Cephas - the Rock, who we know more familiarly as Peter, and as I said at the beginning, he acknowledges his unworthiness. Jesus calms him of his fear, he saves Simon-Peter and invites him to follow as an Apostle, a “fisher of people.”
Three examples today, Isaiah, Paul and Simon-Peter, all sinners, four when we include me, but the story, our story, doesn’t end with condemnation of our sinful nature. In fact, that’s just the beginning. There are three steps for us still to trod in this our life journey as Christians:
Divine calling, Courage and Transformation.
Step 1, Divine Calling: We are all called, called to know God and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus - to love ourselves and to love others. And if we accept this calling, if we embrace the path that Jesus’ calls us to follow, we must be courageous.
Step 2, Courage: To fully embrace our faith as Christians, to truly follow in the footsteps of Christ, we must have the courage to, like the prophet and Apostles before us, accept the reality of our human ways. We must have the courage to accept our sinfulness, with true and honest contrition - and that is the part that demands the courage - to name our sins, openly and honestly, for this is contrition, and then and only then, can we move on to Step 3.
Step 3, Transformation: For it is with honest and contrite hearts that we come before God and accept God’s loving forgiveness. Our forgiveness is made known to us by the “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice” of Jesus our Christ. And with that acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice as God’s forgiveness for us - we are transformed.
Transformed as people of God to go into the world, like Isaiah, Paul and Simon-Peter to do our utmost to make the world a better place for all. To show love, compassion, mercy and yes, even to forgive those who sin against us. For we are obligated to live in action the prayer that Jesus taught us.
During this Black History month, as I’m reminded of my own sins and transgressions against my Black fellow human beings, and others, I pray for forgiveness. I pray for courage to humbly acknowledge the errors of my ways and I pray that I may accept God’s forgiveness and be transformed into the person God calls me to be.
And know this, these aren’t linear steps, in fact we need to accept that these steps are a circular process; Divine calling, courage and transformation are a constant for us human beings as we seek to navigate the complexities of our lives in this world.
A little more self-disclosure. It is very possible, and even may be likely (because it is Superbowl Sunday, I am not a fan of either team, and I especially do not appreciate the way one of the quarterbacks plays the game) that I may say or do something that would compromise my relationship with God and others. I know, whether I intend to or not, I will sin again. We are only human but, as humans, we must always try - not just in word, but truly and intentionally - to work on being better humans. That means being the best, most loving and kind humans we can possibly be, for this is the only way for us to follow Jesus and allow others to see the Christ in us.
So “Here I am Lord,” before you all, and our God, I publicly acknowledge the microaggressions I’ve committed, those that I am aware of and those that I may not even be aware of - but know that I may have hurt someone nonetheless.
“Here I am Lord”. I am sorry and I promise to do better, to stay aware, to accept your calling, to be courageous, to learn, to transform, and to love.
And I invite you all to join me. For here we are Lord. God is calling us to join a divine journey, to follow him. Let us answer this call, let us be courageous and accept God’s gift of forgiveness and transformation. Let us follow Him.
Amen.