Sermon: Create in me a heart free of temptation (Lent 1)

Lent 1B

February 22, 2015

Genesis 9:8-17; Mark 1:9-15

            Every year, on this first Sunday in Lent, we get the story about Jesus being tempted in the desert by the devil. This year, in particular, I find this story especially helpful in setting up our Lenten theme of simplicity.

            Why is that? Because for me, and maybe for you too, temptation is one of the biggest barriers to striving to live a simple life. It is the temptation to opt for cheap and convenient over what’s best for me and the world. After all, usually what is cheap and convenient for me means that someone somewhere else is paying for it, whether that is poor treatment of workers or animals, low wages, the environment, or even my own health 20 years from now.  I also struggle with the temptation to be lazy instead of intentional about my choices. On the flip side, I am also sometimes tempted to take on more and get more done instead of take the rest I need.

But perhaps the temptation with which many of us are most familiar is the temptation to acquire and hang onto things because they promise us an easier or happier life. Advertising tells us that we have in our lives a hole that is the shape of this amazing product, and until you own this product, your life will not be complete. Indeed, your very worth is dependent upon owning this product, so buy it now! Or, it’s that you need to keep the stuff you already have – because it was given to you by someone special, or you might need it someday, or even though you don’t need it anymore, you got it at a time in your life when you did, and it’s just too sentimental and so now you can never get rid of it. And it is all very tempting, because sometimes these items do bring us happiness… it is just that this happiness is often fleeting, and then we just need to find some place to stash all our stuff, and our things become a burden, and we then aren’t so happy after all. None of these things, tempting though they are, provide us with the joy that can be found in Christ, the joy that can be found in the gospel, the joy that can be found in generosity and simple gratitude.

As I was compiling resources for this Lenten series, someone directed me to a wonderful children’s book called The Quiltmaker’s Gift. It tells the tale of a magical quilt maker who lives in the clouds and spends her days sewing the most magnificent quilts. She refuses to sell these quilts, but

rather, only gives them to people truly in need. Meanwhile, there is this king who revels in things. He orders everyone in the kingdom to give him several gifts a year, because he just loves presents so much. And yet, he never, ever smiles. None of his things actually make him happy. He decides he needs one of these quilts, that this is the thing that will finally make him happy. He orders the quilt maker to give him a quilt, but she replies, “Make presents of everything you own, and then I’ll make a quilt for you. With each gift that you give, I’ll sew in another piece. When at last all your things are gone, your quilt will be finished.” The king thinks this is ridiculous – he can’t give away all his beautiful things! He tries several tactics to get her to give him a quilt, but nothing works. I’ll read to you what happens next…

[He gives in, gives his things away, and lo and behold he starts to feel happy – so happy that he starts to relish in giving instead of getting. He gives until he has nothing left to give, and the quilt maker gives him a quilt. He spends the rest of this life helping the quilt maker give her beautiful quilts to the poor, calling himself the richest man in the world.]

Sometimes it is in simple stories that we hear the message the clearest: generosity trumps temptation. The king thought that having more things would make him happy. He, too, was fooled by this temptation that is a reality for so many of us. And of course, it was when he was able to let go of stuff and focus instead on generosity, gratitude, and serving those in need, that he was able to experience joy and live a life of simplicity.

I love this story for today for even more reasons. One is that in our Old Testament reading, we hear about how God promised never to destroy the earth again by a flood, and as a reminder of this promise God put a rainbow in the sky. Quilts are kind of like a rainbow, a promise, you can wrap around you.

Taken at International Quilt Festival,
2014, in Houston, TX

Another reason I like this story for today is that the image of a quilt reminds us that we are all stitched together into the body of Christ – that we are beautiful as individuals, like a lovely fabric print, but when we are put all together by God’s handiwork, we become something magnificent.

So today, I wanted to make with you a beautiful, rainbow colored heart that is stitched together and full of our promises to live into God’s promises. My hope is this project will continue throughout Lent, as you continue to add to it. One of the scriptural centerpieces of Lent is the Psalm on which our offertory hymn is based: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Our hearts are tarnished by all kinds of temptations, distractions, and sins, but this prayer is that God would create in us new hearts – hearts that are dedicated to generosity, gratitude, simplicity and service. We cannot do this alone: we do it only with God’s help, and with the support of the colorful community around us.

So for the next few minutes, we will start making this heart of promise. Here you will find several strips of fabric, and some fabric markers. Choose a strip of fabric, and on it, write a goal you have this Lent to simplify your life, something you will do to overcome the temptations of this world, whether that temptation is for more stuff, or for convenience over consciousness, or for ignoring the negative impact your way of life has on the planet, or to fill your time with meaningless activities, or whatever other temptation you may face. Write your goal, or your prayer, on the fabric, and weave it into this heart, and as you add your color to our heart “quilt,” trust that as we pray for God’s help, God’s promise will not disappoint us.

When it looks like everyone who wants to has participated, I will close this time of reflection with a prayer, and we will sing our hymn of the day. And now, I invite you into a time of prayer and reflection…

          







  Let us pray… God of promise, we cling to the temptations of this world, even though we know that true joy comes when we cling to you. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew right spirits within us, so that we will be emboldened to change our habits into actions that are to your glory. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.