Monday Morning Preacher

So, I don't always look at Scriptures for the week ahead of time, since I'm not always preaching. Here's my take on this week's gospel passage. Here's the reading.

Here's my creative retelling:

At a certain church one Sunday, a deacon was praying to herself during the time of confession like this: "Thank you, God, that I'm a respectable person who knows what's right. I read the Bible every morning, I give away a tenth of my income, I'm admired by the other people in the church, and my husband and I have a good marriage, because we work at it. Thank you that I'm not looking for a handout or giving excuses like some people."

At the same time, sitting in the back of the church was someone new to the congregation: a drug dealer from the neighborhood. He prayed to himself during confession like this, "Oh God, have mercy on me. I'm such a mess right now. Forgive me for this life I'm living. I know it's not what you want. Have mercy on me, a sinner."

Jesus says, "I tell you, the drug dealer who humbles himself will be forgiven before the deacon who exalts herself."
...

I think we've all met people who are into one-upsmanship, are self-righteous, or otherwise super-irritating, and who not only talk the talk but back it up with perfect lives. Terrible. And it's possible to be this way about any number of things: how you raise kids, how you remodel your house, how you create art or music, how you protect the earth, or, as in this case, how you lead your spiritual life.

What's the antidote? Recognizing that everything doesn't depend on you, and that, in fact, it relies on God. God is the one who can decide to forgive us - we don't earn God's forgiveness or love. So, it's less pressure, but it's also less control.

The important reminder that this gives me is about using practices as a way of defining what it means to be Christian. In other words, approaching church life as an immersion in the practices of Christianity - worship, forgiveness, care for the body, shaping communities, prayer, testimony, and so on. See the Practicing Our Faith website if I'm not making sense.

The way that this can backfire, though, is if people see the practices of faith as replacing our need for God, rather than as paths to God. Which is an understandable impulse, since God is beyond our control, while faith practices are not. So my reminder from Scripture today is: as soon as God stops surprising you, you're probably not worshiping God anymore.