Sermon: We fear no more
About our Gospel Hymn, this wonderful poem by John Donne!
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive those sins, through which I run,
and do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.
The Reverend John Donne,
Church of England clergyman,
Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, London:
poet, lawyer, scholar, preacher, soldier,
charmer, womanizer,
seducer (read Donne’s erotically charged,
yet repulsively gross bloody poem “The Flea” !! )
one time wealthy young man about London,
sinner par excellence - -
John Donne loved to play with words,
and with women,
and to joust poetically with God.
Our gospel hymn just now is filled with Donne’s words playing off Donne’s own name:
“when thou has done, thou hast not Done”
(and finally at the end “thou hast Done”)
and More, his wife Mary More, whom he adored,
with whom he had twelve children - -
Balancing “I have More”
and that Donne and sin are NOT done
so, his irreverent challenge
that God swear by God’s own Name,
(as you or I might lay our hand on the Bible
and swear “so help me God”),
that at Donne’s death
the mercy of God’s lovingkindness
will forgive Donne for the
sins that Donne has done,
about which he is so anxious.
Wilt thou forgive that sin by which I won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
a year or two, but wallow’d in a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.
Did you notice that our Collect for the Day
“Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners” is not some theological abstraction, it’s about me, it's about us, it’s about you;
As indeed is our gospel hymn, John Donne’s delightful poem playing word games with God,
As indeed also are this morning’s Bible readings, which we pray you read as you sit waiting for church to start!
It’s Lent: today is all about sin. And yes, we are in the closing days of Lent 2021, but I confess to not being as good a sinner as I was in my early and middle years. And I also confess to being even less penitent for my sins now than I was then or ever before!
But - -
we are no longer the church in history:
Using fear and power to control people,
Beating people up as sinners,
Withholding the sacraments unless people
submit to church rule,
Threatening people with hellfire - -
all that negativity has pretty much been lost over Time and in the muck of Life Itself - - as indeed has the sense of obligation to Give Up Something for Lent. So if you are not feeling the Lenten penitence, you are not alone!
I believe in God the Father, Creator of all that is, seen and unseen and the more of God’s galaxies I read about (currently 200 Billion to 2 Trillion galaxies and counting, and I suspect as many other Universes out there!) the more galaxies I read about, the more convinced I am that - - God is not concerned about damning me for my sins. The more convinced I am that - - counter to what dour theologians of darkness have written and said about God over the Christian ages, God did not send his beloved Son into the world because there was "no other way for a just God” to forgive human sin and reconcile us to himself. God did not send his Son Jesus into the world because an angry God had no other way to forgive human sin but to send God the Son to suffer horribly and die in bloody human sacrifice (what a perverse view of a loving God). The more convinced I am that - - Jesus came into the world to share with us God’s love for us, and to charge us to share God’s love with others. Jesus came into the world to share with us God’s love for us, and to command us to love others.
John Donne again:
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.
Whatever your sins are, or may be, your sins do not separate you from the love of God. Your sins do not keep God from loving you. Your sins do not stand in the way of God’s love for you.
If there is human sin that breaks God’s heart, it is that we, as God’s beloved creatures on Earth, We do NOT love God with our whole heart; we do NOT love Others as ourselves.
In fact, Truth be told,
we HATE Others
blacks, libtards, muslims, jews, asian-americans, latinos, reds, blues, people who vote the other way, people who are not like us, and especially christians of other denominations
Wilt thou forgive that sin of hate,
which is our sin, and
So fill us with thy Holy Spirit, that
We are inspired to become what Jesus is?
Having done that, thou hast done;
We fear no more.
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Sermon/homily on 21 March 2021, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year B. Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida. The Rev Tom Weller, Episcopal priest (retired). Texts: Collect for Lent 5. Sequence hymn #141, "Wilt thou forgive that sin" by John Donne (1573-1631).