Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
3rd Avenue at 111th Street
in the historic Lansingburgh section
of the city of Troy, New York
Sermon Links
Lent - Easter Sermon Series 2006
Ash Wednesday
"Trading Spaces for an Extreme Makeover"
March 1, 2006
Joel 2:12-19
2 Corinthians 5:20b 6:2
Matthew 6:1-6; 16-21
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Furniture. After 3 years of her liberation (first time in 25 years Bonnie hasn't had a child living with her in her 12 by 12 foot bedroom): Begone bunk beds! Farewell 3 clothes-dressers that were falling apart. Hello, closet she hasn't been able to get to in years. Hmmm. Now, where to put the new bed and move the one dresser that will stay in the room with the TV on top, of course. Old end table but new lamp hmmm have to place it just right so she'll be able to read. And the bed; have to place that in such a way that Bonnie will be able to get her scrap-booking table in with room to spare for a nice comfy chair. You know the drill every piece of furniture has a purpose and needs to be in a certain spot for it to fulfill that purpose especially the TV after all, you can't have anything blocking the remote control!
There is a piece of furniture that is common to us. Though Prince of Peace isn't the home of the TV shows "Trading Spaces" or "Extreme Makeover," during this season of Lent, each Sunday we will be discussing the rooms of our lives and a particular piece of furniture we place in those rooms. Oh, that piece of furniture that is common to us? Why, the Cross, of course. Some have it hanging on a wall, others sitting on a hutch or dresser, still others wear it around their neck.
Every once in a while we need to move the furniture in our rooms around get rid of the dull understanding of what your home is paint the walls, turn the bed around. But, when someone does this and then invites you in to see how grand it is geeez, you try to be nice "very lovely, nice, very nice," while inside your thinking "did I really need to see her bathroom scale and her new place for the plunger?" Some people can get just a little ostentatious. The same is true of the Cross. Every once in a while we need to move our spiritual furniture around get rid of the dull understanding of what our spiritual life is. There is so much more than simply "crossing yourself." When you go deeper, you find Jesus is correct in this evening's Gospel lesson there is so much more than trying to impress each other with our spiritual furniture; even our spiritual scales and plungers. If you spend your time trying to impress either each other or God, you'll have no time to do anything impressive!
As Christians, we are more than "Extreme Makeover," where a family leaves, others gut the house and hope when the family returns they'll like it. We work to insure that each comes to know we're ready to, indeed, be "Trading Spaces" with each other to, for a time, be burdened that someone else might get relief and know they are loved and cared about. And we don't "broadcast" it to everyone. To quote Neil Diamond's new CD: "It's not about you, it's not about me; love is all about WE." Being a Christian is "not about you and it's not about me; being a Christian is all about WE." We "trade spaces" with someone by praying for them, working for justice, finding out how we can ease their burden. In so doing each of us becomes
"We."
As you return to your home, look at your furniture. Just like each of US - it can be new, old, covered in plastic or tattered and worn. Look around and see what is important, how it is placed, what it means to you. As you return to your home, see what is important - look at the Cross how it is placed in the room of your heart, what it means to you. Through the Sundays of Lent we will be doing something a little different. As we examine the meaning and centrality of the Cross in the furniture scheme of our lives, consider the "Extreme Makeover" of Creation that allowed us to be "Trading Spaces" with Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One. Now that is more reality than you'll ever see on any TV show! Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
