16 Pentecost/Year A/3rd Sunday in the Season of Creation: ACT
(Pray, Learn, Act, Advocate, Bless)
September 17, 2023
Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Matthew 18:21-35
Opening Prayer: Called to be God’s partners in the care of the planet (Prayer from The Book of Occasional Services 2018, 339)
Bountiful God, you call us to labor with you in tending the earth: Where we lack love, open our hearts to the world; where we waste, give us discipline to conserve; where we neglect, awaken our minds and wills to insight and care. May we with all your creatures honor and serve you in all things for you live and reign with Christ, Redeemer of all, and with your Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
On this third Sunday in the Season of Creation, we pause to reflect on the theme of “ACT” this week. And today’s scriptures invite us to consider this theme in relationship to the topic of forgiveness. Not forgiveness as the world defines it, and acts or doesn’t act upon it, but forgiveness as Jesus has taught us and shown us. Forgiveness that creates a space for healing to happen, not only between human beings, but for the healing and restoration of all creation.
Peter, once again, this week…is wrestling with understanding Jesus’ teachings on what it means to be a disciple of Christ. He asks the question this week, How often should I forgive, How many times must I forgive?
Jesus answers him, effectively telling him…that there is no set number.
That forgiveness, as Jesus is talking about, is a daily practice of re-orienting our hearts, and minds, and lives, beyond the confines of our learned and stubborn human ways and systems, to help us imagine a new way of being in relationship with God, each other, and all of creation.
A new way out of the confines of human minds and limitations, to imagine all the multitude of possibilities and opportunities for healing for all God’s people and all of creation.
What’s the change of heart and mind needed? How do we re-orient our lives around Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness?
We begin again and again with prayer…a prayer that can open up our minds and hearts to learn more, to consider a new way of being in the world with God and each other and all of creation.…prayer that asks for forgiveness for things done and left undone…and prayer to help us move from just learning about something, and just talking about something, to taking that first step, a simple action, with a “yes”, I will try that new hard thing, even though it’s not convenient or in my comfort zone, even though my mind currently says it makes no sense…even though it would seem easier to just walk away, and let someone else take care of it…
Every one of us is called to be God’s partner in the care of our planet and the healing and restoration of all of creation. All of us.
And the best way to help us discern, where to even begin…is through the action of turning and returning over and over again to the source of all Creation, by centering our hearts, minds, and lives on the life-giving, life-liberating love of God made known to us in Jesus…
And in today’s teachings about forgiveness, we are reminded that it is the love, compassion, mercy, and grace of God is that KEY touchstone along the way, that can help us forgive as we have been forgiven, that can help us love as we have been loved, that can help us heal as we have been healed…and to help us move from prayer, to learning, to taking actions that will lead to the healing and restoration of all God’s people, for all God’s creation.
Looking forward, as we begin the 3rd week in the Season of Creation: begin each new day with prayer, asking for forgiveness for the ways in which we, individually and communally, have contributed to the harm and destruction of God’s beloved creation, and then through the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, choose at least one simple action that you can take this week, on behalf of healing our planet…
Let us pray: Hymn prayer after sermon: An Evening Prayer
Lift Every Voice and Sing II, #176
1 If I have wounded any soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, forgive!
2 If I have uttered idle words or vain,
If I have turned aside from want or pain,
Lest I offend some other through the strain,
Dear Lord, forgive!
3 If I have been perverse, or hard, or cold,
If I have longed for shelter in the fold,
When thou hast given me some fort to hold,
Dear Lord, forgive!
4 Forgive the sins I have confessed to thee;
Forgive the secret sins I do not see;
O guide me, love me, and my keeper be.
Dear Lord, forgive!
Amen.
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK