Sermon Notes
Romans 13:11-14:4
Matthew 6:14-21
Hebrews 7:7-17 Epistle, Meeting
Luke 2:22-40 Gospel, Meeting
A sketch…
The Sunday of Forgiveness.
The Expulsion from the Garden.
Valentines day on the Secular calendar.*
The Eve of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple on the CHurch’s calendar.
*And the Western Church calendar: St Valentine is commemorated in the Summer on the Eastern Calendar.
You know the story: after sinning, God comes walking in the Garden in the cool of the evening…
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
And I can imagine all kinds of things… but the patristic comment I most like to see here is God weeping for loneliness.
And then there is this story:
And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, Symeon took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation…
And I imagine all kinds of things, including God weeping in Symeon’s arms, having come home, at last.
How is it that we reject our lover?
How is it that we stand naked before the one who knows us most intimately from age to age, and yet we try to hide. And how is it that when he returns to claim us re, finally, rejoice.
How have I sinned against you? How do I find myself hiding from you, afraid to love you, afraid to let you love me?
Like I do God.
As I do to God when I do so to you…
And we prostrate as equals before each other. But God comes as a child to be held in our arms.
This lover.
This light.
How is it that when we were in paradise, we did not want it. And without it we want nothing more?
We are so used to seeing Lent as reparation for our sins, fasting as a chance to drive away lust and greet and gluttony. But what if it is, instead, the long stretch in the gym before the prom night or the spa treatments before the big interview. What if lent is like the diet we take before the wedding…
When our lover will take us in his arms
And kiss us with the kisses of his mouth
and lead us into the bridal chamber
and close the door gently
and ravish us for eternity in love.
let us begin by so loving each other…
