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St. Mark's Church, Glendale
Sermon Preached by John Conrad
Sunday, September 29, 1996--Proper 21A

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 M. Scott Peck begins his multi-million-copy best-seller The Road Less Traveled, with a paraphrase from Buddha. According to Peck, Buddha says, "Life is Difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths."
"Life is difficult."

This great truth will probably come as no surprise--no great news--to anyone old enough to have found their way into this church this morning. From the oldest member of our congregation struggling with all the difficulties of aging, to the youngest member of our congregation struggling with new teeth and diaper rash, life is difficult.

To own this fact--that life is difficult--is to have a blessing. We no longer have to spend a lot of time grousing about why life isn't perfect. It can be remarkably helpful and healing to know that life is difficult right now because life is supposed to be difficult right now. In Genesis we hear God saying to Adam "...cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread until you return to the ground for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you will return."

From a Christian perspective we can believe that God did not want it to be so. Our Holy Scripture tells of a revealed God who brought the creation into being out of love, who wanted nothing more than to walk with us and talk with us in the garden, in the cool of the day. But we broke our covenant with God, and ever since, live has been difficult.

In our present circumstances, to live life is to struggle. It is the work we are all called to do.
It is the premise of Scott Peck's book, as well as the premise of most schools of psychotherapy, that where we as humans come to difficulty is in our failure to face up to the struggle. Peck and the rest say that most of us live in a mode of avoidance--we avoid the struggle and especially we avoid the pain associated with the struggle. Rather than facing up to the challenges that our particular struggle puts before us, the psychologist tell us that we run, hide, make excuses, rationalize, and put the blame on others. Hence, our problems. The man who cannot face his troubled marriage or his troubled job hides himself nightly in a bottle of Scotch; the child who cannot face the consequences of a bad report card hides the card in his backpack; the businessman who cannot face the results of poor business performance doctors the books of his business; the treasurer who cannot face the reality of her humble economic status embezzles money from the church; the soldier who cannot bear the pain of having never actually been in combat attaches a tiny brass embellishment to an otherwise undistinguished decoration.

Predictably, in each case the situation gets worse. The difficult life becomes more difficult. For the hard drinker, the problems with wife, family and job become more acute the more he runs and hides and drinks. The hidden report card, when it comes to light, engenders a more severe punishment for the child than it would have otherwise. The hidden financial performance of the business just leads to a postponed, but more devastating bankruptcy. The church treasurer who couldn't bear the stigma of a 1,200 square-foot house now finds herself ensconced in an 8x10 prison cell. The soldier who couldn't bear the social pressure of having never been shot at ends up shooting at himself.

Life is difficult. Avoiding the difficulties--avoiding life--always, always makes it more difficult. That which is not addressed initially will always, always be addressed eventually. If you do not go after life then, as Genesis reminds us, life and death will come after you. This church--any Christian church--runs the risk of making this situation worse instead of better. Because of the nature of this place, we can all easily become unwilling contributors to the problem, instead of individual parts of the solution. The church is a wonderful place to hide--for both laypeople and for the clergy alike. With these high glass windows and cool cement walls, it is easy for us--any and all of us--to come to see this place as a fortress, a bastion, indeed a sanctuary which leaves the problems of the world--our problems--on the other side of the door. However, we are not called to leave our problems outside. We are called to intentionally bring them inside, to know that God loves us and receives us in grace, regardless of our problems.

Thus far I have been talking about the human tendency to avoid difficult problems. As some of you may have noticed, I have been talking about problems and difficulties in general terms instead of referring to a specific problem or difficulty. That's one of the tricks we preachers use to avoid the pain and difficulty of addressing a specific problem. That said, let me summon my courage and present you with a very real problem with which we will all have to deal over the next month or two.

If you have been in Church for the last few Sundays, and if you are at all sensitive to this sort of thing, you will have noticed that we are in the process of sidling up on what we Episcopalians euphemistically call a stewardship campaign. You may have noticed the little notices in the bulletin that call your attention to the financial realities of operating this parish church. No doubt you have heard the testimonies of members of our congregation. I believe we are going to hear another one in just a few minutes. However, stewardship is not exactly the problem I'd like to call your attention to. Stewardship points to the problem, but the problem is simply this:

We are told in our holy scripture, what we believe to be the revealed word of God, that the tithe is the minimum standard of giving. That is to say that a tenet of the Christian faith, affirmed by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1976, is that Episcopalians--you and I--ought to give ten percent of our total income to the Church. The problem is that most of us don't--for a variety of reasons. Some of us cannot give more because we simply don't have the money. Many more of us cannot give more because we have chosen to spend our money, or more accurately we have chosen to spend God's money, on other things. Some of us withhold our money--withhold God's money--because we don't like what the church is doing right now. Which makes all of us--one and all--sinners.

Now that is a problem.

I am not going to offer a solution to this problem this morning. I am going to leave the problem for you to wrestle with during the next few weeks. You should struggle with it. It is supposed to be difficult. But in closing, let me offer some guidance--some advice for your spiritual health and well being during the struggle.
Don't try to avoid the problem. Don't try to pretend it isn't there. Don't get angry with me for bringing the problem up; don't blame Fr. Mark for calling me to this pulpit; don't blame the vestry for spending too much money. Don't hide, don't run, don't get angry, don't blame.

Rather, give the matter up to God in prayer.

If that sounds a little ethereal to you, let me suggest a practical method--a spiritual discipline that will allow you to do just that. It involves prayer through the use of symbols. First get several small pieces of paper--3x5 cards or the backs of old business cards will do. On the left side of each card, write down the amount you give to the church. On the other side of the card, write down the amount that would be a tithe. For those of you inclined toward precision in these matters, that's ten percent of line 20 on your IRS form 1040. Then go and place the pieces of paper strategically around the house or office. Put one on the bathroom mirror, use one for the bookmark in the lurid novel by your bed. If you use a daily prayer book or something like Forward, Day by Day...put one of the pieces of paper in there...you get the idea.

Whenever you encounter one of these pieces of paper throughout the day, take a moment, pause, try to be silent, and look at the number on the left side of the paper and allow the figures--the ink on the paper--to become a symbol for who you are right now--a child of God, beloved of God. Know that Jesus gave himself up to death on the cross for you--just as you are right now. Then take a look at the figures on the right side of the card and try to see that as a symbol for who you might become--a symbol of who God would have you be. After that, say this simple prayer. "Lord Jesus, I can't do it without your help. Help me." Then wait, watch, listen for the still-small voice of God, and see what happens.

As I hope to exclude no one from the opportunity of feeling uncomfortable about this difficult sermon, I have a final word of caution for those few of you who already tithe. Pride remains the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. In this morning's Gospel Jesus is addressing the chief priests and elders in the temple. He says, "...tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God before you." Those of us who can identify with the tax collectors and prostitutes--those of us who know our sin--have a blessing. One has to know one's own sin before one can hear the healing message of the Gospel and repent.

This morning (at the ten o'clock service) we will be using Eucharistic Prayer C--which some of you may find as uncomfortable and unsettling as you have found this sermon. The opening language of that prayer speaks to a modern Christian understanding of God as creator and those of you who have been attending the adult forum will now hear it with new ears. The prayer is challenging in that it requires considerable participation from the congregation. In order to pray the Great Thanksgiving, it will be necessary for you to follow along in the book and make the appropriate responses. Beyond all this the prayer is exceedingly appropriate for this morning because it contains these words:

"Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us. Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength, for pardon only and not for renewal."

So come to the altar now--come for renewal. Come to the altar for solace and pardon--but also come to the altar for strength. You will need your strength. Life is difficult. This is a great truth...one of the greatest truths. Life is difficult. Come to the altar and live.