On Sin and Spark Plugs

Shayna Appel, Associate Pastor
July 6, 2008

Late in World War II a large number of American and British soldiers were languishing in a war camp deep inside Germany. Some had been there for many months. A high barbed-wire fence ran across the center of the camp, isolating the two sets of prisoners. They were not allowed to go near the fence or communicate with each other. But once a day at noon the British and American chaplains could go to the fence and exchange greetings, always in the company of the guards.

The Americans had put together a crude wireless radio and were getting some news from the outside world. Since nothing is more important to prisoners than news, the American chaplain would try to share a headline or two with his British counterpart in the few moments they had at the fence.

One day the news came over the little radio that the German high command had surrendered and the war was over. None of the Germans knew this, since their communications system had broken down. The American chaplain took the headline to the fence, and then lingered to hear the thunderous roar of celebration in the British barracks.

An amazing thing happened. For the next three days the prisoners celebrated, waving at the guards—who still did not know the news—and smiling at the vicious dogs. Then, when they awoke on the fourth day, there were no guards. Apparently they had fled into the forest, leaving the gate unlocked behind them.

That day the prisoners walked out as “freed men.” But they had really been set free four days earlier by the news that the war was over. As the British chaplain telling the story said, “That is the power of the gospel—it is [good] news, not [simply] advice.”

Isn’t that the difference between the power of a code and the power of [God]? Little wonder that Paul could answer his own question as to who could set him free. “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Friends, I come before you this morning with some good news and some bad.  The bad news is that “sin” is, “sin” happens, “sin” dwells within us and around us, and while we in the liberal Christian tradition may not talk about it much, we are deeply effected and affected by it.  We may, as Paul puts it, delight in the Law in [our] inmost [selves] (Rom 7:22), we may desire to be good servants of God and to do what it is that God would have us do, we may want a closer relationship with God through Jesus our Christ, but sin is within us and all around us.  We may will what is right, but [so often, we simply] can not do it (Rom 7:18).  It is so easy to yield to our lesser selves, especially under duress, and opt for the path that leads us away from, rather than towards, God.  The good news is, that in faith to God through Jesus our Christ and surrounded by the blessings of the Holy Spirit, we are lead back to God…over and over and over again.

This past week and a half, like many of you, I have been closely following the events unfolding up the road a piece in Randolph, Vermont with the abduction and murder of Brooke Bennett.  Last Wednesday, I watched as State Police Col. James Baker fought back tears on national television as he announced that the search to locate Brooke was over because troopers had uncovered a body believed to be hers.  Her uncle and former step-father were in custody.

The Law of Moses tells us not to kill (Ex 20:13).  Therefore, if we abhor killing, we agree that the Law is good.  This is what Paul meant when he said, “if I do what I do not want, I agree that the Law is good” (Rom 7:16).  Paul understood that killing is bad and we ought not do it.  Paul also believed that the reason he knew this was because this particular value was instilled in him by the Law, or the Jewish Torah in the 6th Commandment.  Therefore, killing would fall under the list of things Paul did not want to do.  And if Paul found himself engaged in killing someone, and indeed he did, he would be doing what he did not want to do because, essentially, he knew better and therefore agreed that the Law was good.

But Paul also understood something about the nature of humanity, and while I believe the ‘I’ he refers to in his letter is, in fact, more reflective of his thoughts on the whole of Israel at the time, his understanding of human nature looses nothing in our time and place.  Paul wrote, “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh.  I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.”

The Law of Moses tells us not to kill, and Jesus himself tells us to love our enemies.  But when I heard that Brooke was dead, and that her uncle and step-father were in custody, those two men immediately became my enemies and, I must confess to you all, I did not love them but instead, I found dwelling deep inside of me the desire to do them great harm.  That was my gut response, born of the sin that dwells within me.  I know that it’s wrong to harbor such thoughts, and that anger hardens our hearts in such a way that we will find ourselves drifting away from God, or deeper into sin.  I know that my anger reflects the sin that dwells within me and that dwelling there in thought or action, for me, is doing the very thing I hate (ROM 7:15b).  I know that because the Law of Moses instructs us to put no God before our God, and Jesus also tells us that we should love the LORD our God with all our heart, and soul, and mind.  Therefore, my anger has no place coming between God and me.

Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree the Law is good (ROM 7:16), because if the Law were not good I could do whatever I felt like doing without remorse.  And yet, while the Law is capable of informing me of the wrongfulness of my thoughts and actions, it is not enough to stop me.  I can will what is right but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do (ROM 7:19).  I can will myself not to have thoughts of doing evil to these two men, but I find myself having these thoughts anyhow. 

Here’s where Paul’s insight into the human condition gets really fascinating.  He writes, Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me (ROM 7:20).  If there is a place within me that knows better then to allow my heart to be hardened in anger and, in fact, would like for that not to be happening, then perhaps it is true that I delight in the Law of God in my inmost self (ROM 7:22) but that another law is at war with the Law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members (ROM 7: 23), or shallower, non-Godly self.  The good news in Paul’s declaration of delight in the Law in his inmost self is that we may claim for ourselves delight in the Law in our inmost selves.  This is to recognize that we are indeed made in the image of God and capable of majestic goodness…but then, how shall we be rescued from our shallower, non-Godly selves.  Paul puts it this way; he writes, Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death? (ROM 7:24)

Paul’s answer to his own question may be deceptive in it’s simplicity, for he writes simply, Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our LORD (ROM 7:25). Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our LORD.  God, Jesus Christ, our.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Who will rescue us from our bodies of death and restore us to bodies of life?  Our faith in God, our relationship with Jesus our Christ, and our willingness to be both used by and receptive to the Holy Spirit.

Because of my background in Crises Response Ministry and Critical Incident Stress Management, I was invited by my friend and colleague Robin Junker to come to Randolph, Vermont this past week and help community leaders coordinate their response to the tragedy of Brooke’s death.  Roughly 37 people gathered at the Bethany Church on Thursday morning, representing over twenty local agencies, schools and businesses.  Within two hours the team had officially designated itself as the Randolph Area Care Team and developed a comprehensive list of participating agencies and services being offered during the crises stage of this event.  They gathered together a number of informational articles to help parents care for their children and generated a plan to distribute these articles at the 4th of July Parade which would be taking place the following day.  They designed bright pink nametags for members of the Care Team in order to create a presence at the parade and thereby introduce the community to their presence.  They laid the groundwork for a community forum to held Monday night, and by five o’clock that evening the official web-site of the Randolph Area Care Team was up and running at http://www.RandolphCares.org. 

Wretched woman that I am!  Who would rescue me from the angry bitterness that I felt?  My faith in God, my desire to follow the life and ministry of Jesus our Christ, and the Holy Spirit as it was channeled that day in a room full of community leaders who, themselves, were reeling in pain and anguish.  You see, if all that this community of leaders had done was to come together, dayenu, as is said around the Passover table, meaning It would have been enough.  If all they had done was come together and shared resources, dayenu.  If all they had done was come together, shared resources, coordinated the town forum and put up a web-site, dayenu; it would have been enough.  But there was one more ray of light waiting to break forth from these gathered children of God and it was simply this; a statement that would guide their work together in the coming days and weeks, and months, if need be.  Here’s the statement; We will not be defined by this event.  We will be defined by our response to it.

Like the British and American prisoners who were freed by the news that the war was over, this group of community leaders were also freed by the power of proclamation.  For the Randolph community leaders, the ability to proclaim that they would not be defined by the horrible event that had visited their small town freed them from the bondages of victimization.  Then, they stepped powerfully into being at cause in their futures and the future of their town and its surrounding areas.  Their declaration was the good news that would rescue them and me, from the body of death born out of a deep desire for revenge in the face of this tragedy.

I don’t know what untoward thoughts dwelled in the hearts and minds of the leadership team that gathered that day at the Bethany church, or if there were any at all.  What I know is that the God in them, captured in one short proclimation, called me back to the God in me…my inmost self (ROM 7:22).  But then, “That is the power of the gospel—it is news, not advice.” Good news…not simply advice.

Blessed Be & Amen.