If you've been following what we've been up to in worship during Lent this year, you know we've been talking a lot about sin.
The Sunday messages have taken their cues from the tradition of the Seven Deadly Sins and a group of us on Wednesday night are examining Barbara Brown Taylor's book, Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation.
I found congregation members saying things like: "I never attended a class on sin before." Or, "I'm beginning to see how the relationships of my lives get entangled in the choices I make which aren't God's best intentions for me." Or even, "Wow, I've never heard a sermon on that before!"
All of this is well and good-- I'm happy to be providing this opportunity for conversation--- until last Sunday, the week I was to preach on lust.
Honestly, I was a bit afraid, but confident that it was a message that we all needed to hear. These were feelings I tried to convey in my opening two paragraphs.
This morning, I’m sharing a new experience with all of you. I’ve never attempted to preach a sermon on lust before. I don’t think I’ve ever said the word “sex” from the pulpit as many times as I am about to say it. As I begin, I acknowledge how private and how sacred this topic is to so many of us. I could have easily picked this Sunday to be out-of-town or tried to convince you that I learned in seminary that there are six deadly sins not seven. . .
But, take this plunge for important reasons. First, I am convinced that the health of our relationships, our partnerships and our marriages, (which are often the most stabilizing force in our daily lives), depend on what we do with our desires for what we do not have. If watching the evening news is any indication to us . . . David Letterman, Tiger Woods, David Patterson John Edwards, and the list could go on and on. . . how quickly our lust can become a serious problem! We can make poor choices with our desires that have the potential of robbing us of everything we call good. . . .
I made it through the sermon without blushing (I think) and am glad in the end, that I took such a risky plunge.
If you would like to hear the sermon in its entirety, it is posted as all others are on the worship page of our website.
This coming Sunday's sin is pride. I'm glad it's another sin which we can all relate to, and at least it is a bit easier to preach on!
