Sermon Notes, Third of Lent (Year B) - pre-recorded due to snowstorm

 Jesus – shocking! Attention grabbing. And rightly so.

Marketplace: this was not a collection of people doing honest business.
This was not a goodwill practice to assist people.

Extortion – exploitation - manipulative practices – founded on guilt, on a fear of not being good enough.
Money changers – HUGE percentage – for “right” kind of money
Animals – for sacrifice – being upsold
Sense of exclusion; fear of excommunication.
No wonder Jesus gets upset!
Practice had become SO commonplace that it needed drastic overhaul.
Whip – never says it was used – but the threat was there
Overturned tables – in the face of chaos – showed where people’s priority was, when they scrambl;ed to collect every last coin.

Temple: a place for worship.
Including – as Jesus shows us – the exterior of the temple.
LOOPHOLE: the marketplace wasn’t permitted, by law, within the temple walls.
So just outside of them…

But Jesus dramatically shifts the focus back to the intention of the temple – as a place
For community.
For goodness.
For love.

Be it a building that’s continually under construction – or his body.
The theme of loving kindness should supercede exclusionary laws.

The temple: the house of God: is a place of love.

Temple – not geogr

Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians:
People are looking for laws;
Jesus calls us to love.
Even through acts of sacrifice –
Even when these acts seem counterintuitive
We are called to love. Above all else.

Sometimes, love is hard: we don’t always know the best way to love.
We get caught in distractions of the world; societal norms.
It’s why the psalmist refers us back to the commandments of God – as just and right, as giving light to our eyes.

When we keep God’s commandments, we are shown the way to love.

So let’s go to those commandments now: from Exodus.
These take us back to Sunday school days –
But today I invite us to see them as guidelines for community. – not individual offenses to scare us into good behaviour.
Let;’s hear them as positive encouragement for faithful living.

The first 4 have to do with how we relate to God:
To love God:
Remembering what God has done, and making God a priority.
Keeping God as a priority in our lives, not getting distracted by trends or trinkets.
Ensuring that we don’t use the name of God to hurt others, or to justify our own bad behaviour – God is never an oath or a joke or a political tool or military propaganda.
Keeping a Sabbath day to respect ourselves as God’s creation –
accepting the gift of rest and recreation that is given us.

The other 6 then address how we relate to one another, how we show Godly love to each other.
Showing respect for the wisdom of our ancestors, and seeking ways to share the goodness with future generations.
Refusing actions that cause harm – or death – to abundant life, and instead finding ways to support the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of others.
Holding tenderly and faithfully the love that has been entrusted to us
Celebrating gratitiude for the abundance we have received, rather than taking what someone else has.
Presuming the best about one another – and not needing to gossip or critique, when instead we can enbcourage and empower.
And not becoming so focussed on what others have that we miss the blessings in our life. If we’re only focused on the proverbial green grass on the other side of the fence, we’re not seeing our own grass.

The commandments, then, offer us insight to a healthy, loving framework for our lives.
They support our relationships, they increase our faith, they bring new life to how we live. They re-focus our perspective from one of LAW to one of LOVE.

That is what they are intended to do. It's what Jesus was trying to do at the Temple, it's what Paul was writing about.

So I challenge us, as we continue in Lent, to look at our own lives: into our hearts and minds and actions - and determine where we have been acting legalistically, and discern how we might instead act in love.
Where have we been engaging the world in contradictory ways, instead of finding different ways to caringly connect? Where have we focused on dissonance, and can instead put energy into harmonious living?

However it is: it all starts with a shift in perception and perspective. It starts with us choosing to reflect inwardly, and applying a new lens for acting outwardly.

May the lens we apply be one of love; to look at the world with grace as an on-going opportunity to love God and love one another.







We have come together in the name of Christ
to offer our praise and thanksgiving,
to hear and receive God's holy word,
to pray for the needs of the world,
and to seek forgiveness of our sins,
that by the power of the Holy Spirit
we may give ourselves to the service of God.



CONFESSION
Jesus says, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven
is close at hand." So let us turn away from our sin
and turn to Christ, confessing our sins in
penitence and in faith.


May the God of all mercies cleanse you from
your sins, and restore you in God's image
to the praise and glory of God's name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.



LP
The night has passed, and the day lies
open before us.
Let us pray with one heart and one mind.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you,
now and forever. Amen.