The Origin Story of Sin

February 26, 2023 First Sunday of Lent Year A The Origin Story of Sin Prelude Welcome Call to Worship Happy are those whose sins are forgiven. Happy are those whose sins are cast away. Rejoice in the Lord! Be glad! Sing out! Shout for joy! Rejoice in the Lord! Rejoice! Amen! (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Bill Hoppe) Opening Prayer God of Grace, as we begin this Lenten season, thank you for the ways you surround and sustain us, even when we turn our backs to you. Help us repent – turning once more to fill our hearts, minds and spirits with you. Teach us once more to keep our eyes focused on you as we travel this 40 day journey of prayer, repentance and sharing our financial resources with those who are in need. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Song What I Survey the Wondrous Cross UMH 298 Children’s Sermon So everyone should have gotten a piece of peppermint when you came in. I know, this is the perfect candy for passing out and eating in church. As you come into church, you have your candy – and told that you couldn’t eat it. The candy represent our theme for today -temptation. The more we are told not to do it – the more we want to do it anyway. What was your reaction to being told not to do it – did you say who are you to tell me I cant do something, were you like now I really want to candy. Or were you like okay. We are all different and have different reactions to being told no. Today we focus on two different reactions. We focus on the story of Adam and Eve and how they were told not to eat something – and they just had to eat it. And Jesus who was told to do whatever he wanted, and he was able to say no. Are we supposed to be more like Adam and Eve or Jesus? Of course like Jesus. Lent is our time to practice being like Jesus – and realizing that I don’t have to do everything that I want. How can we practice being more like Jesus in our everyday life? PRAYER OF CONFESSION O God, you offer us so much, forgive us for sharing so little. You have called us to your ways, forgive us for ignoring your call. You have given us the gift of family, forgive us for not giving thanks. You have given us countless blessings, forgive us for taking your love for granted. And now, gracious God, be merciful to us in our sin and indifference, through Christ, our Savior. Amen. From Joel N. Martínez and Raquel M. Martínez, Fiesta Cristiana: Recursos para la Adoración (Abingdon Press, 2003), 148. Psalm 32 UMH 766 Scripture Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Sermon The Origin Story of Sin Someone once asked me, "Where was the Garden of Eden located?" I looked at him and said, "The Garden of Eden was located at 803 Blue Street in Hope, Arkansas." A surprised look crossed this man’s face. For a moment he was speechless and then he asked, "Arkansas? I thought the Garden of Eden was supposed to have been someplace in the Middle East." "Well," I responded, "I don’t really know where the biblical Garden of Eden was located. But, I know that my Garden of Eden was on Blue Street in Hope, Arkansas. I was only a young boy (four or five years old) and I did something that I knew was wrong. My father usually put his change in a caddy on his dresser. I took a quarter without asking and went down to the store and bought myself some candy. As I ate the candy, shame overwhelmed me, guilt gripped at my heart, and sin became a reality for the first time in my life. My Garden of Eden was lost and I was embarrassed by my sinfulness. The lush, secure world of a little boy had evaporated and I headed home from the store aware that what I had done was wrong. Sin was no longer something only found in Bible stories. Sin was now a reality in my life." Imagine being set in a lush garden with all kinds of flowers, plants and trees. There are lemon trees, fig trees, olive trees, date palms, oranges and apples. Thhe Lord says, "You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat." How hard could it be? All those trees, boughs lush with so many succulent and delicious choices. How could you get caught with your mouth full of the forbidden fruit! The subtle pressure of a smooth-talking snake doesn't seem sufficient to explain such audacity or stupidity. Put us in a garden and perhaps we could handle it! Or how about a desert? Jesus is in a swirl of sand and sun, of Satan's remarkable and recurrent presence, of prowling beasts and the beat of angels' wings. We might believe, foolishly, that set in a garden or a wilderness we could resist temptation. Give us a chance to try it in a space set apart from the routines of our daily lives -- to mark the tree, to identify the enemy and gather grace to resist. A garden is a beautiful place to start our Lenten journey. The Garden of Eden is full of metaphors and meanings. It is the origin story of sin, humanity, suffering, and our journey in life in general. Adam the first human lived in a garden. A garden is a plot of land that has been cultivated, planned and is intentional. That is in contrast to the gospel story of Jesus Temptation when he goes into the wilderness – plot of land which is wild, natural and untouched by human hands. Adam is the first man and Jesus is the new Adam. – But as they go into nature, both are challenged by temptation. Both are seeking a relationship with God – but on the other hand their journeys are very different. One of them pulls us all into a world of sin, the other shows us the way out. Our reading for today conveniently skips all of the verses that talk about Eve. But in this sermon, Adam and Eve are a couple- they are working together with a shared destiny. So, Eve is implied in everything that I said about Adam. So Adam and Eve live in a lovely garden – not paradise, but a place in earth. They are free to go wherever they want, do whatever they want and even eat as much as they want. With all of that freedom – they start to focus on the one thing that they can’t do – eat of the tree of knowledge. Now most of us learn in adulthood that freedom always has some limits. – you can’t do everything that you want. But most of us, like to focus on our limits and not our freedom. If there is one thing we cant do- that is what we want to do. For Adam and Eve it is the tree of life. That is the first step into temptation – an unwillingness to accept limitations as humans. The second step for all of us into temptation – the need to have all of the answers. That is the whole point of the book of Genesis – it gives the answers to all of the questions about life – who are we, where did we come from, why do we take care of the earth, who was the first man, how did our families start, why is life so hard, why do we have fear, what is the point of shame. Genesis answers all of those questions, but the more answers that we get, the more we need to know. The young man and his father were headed into New York City for a Saturday outing. It had been some time since they had spent much time together, and the father reasoned that a day such as this was just what was needed. As they crossed The Tapanzee Bridge into Fun City, the son asked, "Dad, what is the name of this bridge?" The father answered, "Son, I don’t know." Later they were driving along Fifth Avenue and the son asked his father, "Dad, is that the Empire State Building?" Replied the father, "Son, I don’t know." Later still, they were driving along Riverside Drive and the son asked his father, "Is that Grant’s tomb?" And replied the father, "Son, I don’t know." Nevertheless, they had a grand time of it and their closeness was restored. As they headed home in the evening, the son felt a bit remorseful about asking his father so many questions and said, "Dad, I’m sorry I bugged you with so many questions." Answered his father, "Oh that’s okay, son, how else are you going to learn?" Undoubtedly, the father would answer in the affirmative the question around which we want to build our talk together: Must we have all the answers? Sometimes I think it is not the questions that get us in trouble, it is the need to know everything. In Adam and Eve’s case, God tells them that not everything is their business. No matter how much we may know – we can just never know all about God. For matter, there are things that we can never understand about life – and yet we continue to ask why is this happening to me. Maybe we ask so many questions so that we can feel that we are in control. We want to be in control in our life. I have told this story before. There is an ancient story about the time God was confronted by a man who argued, “It’s easy for you God. You tell us we must do this and we can’t do that. What do you know of the struggles of people like me? You are God. It is easy for you.” But God argues, insisting that being God was no picnic either. “You only have to look after your own little self,” said God. “But I have to look after the entire world and that is not easy. In fact, just to show you, Ill change places with you for 24 hours. You’ll see then. So God gave the man one day to see what a hard job is was to rule the world. Twenty four house later, God returned and said, “You see? It wasn’t as easy as you thought”. Then God prepared to be God once more. But the man wouldn’t give God back his power. He found that he liked playing God. Since that time, man has played God. That is why the world is as it is today, so the legend goes. That is probably why lent is so important. Occasionally, we have to be reminded of what it means to be human – in relationship with an omnipotent God. The story of Adam and Eve is not a story really about sin – there is nothing in the bible that says that they were wrong. It is more a story about them being human – and doing things are human nature. They struggled with what it means to be human, in relation to God. – so do we. When God comes to look for them, God does not know that they did what he told them not to. But they know, and they start to have fear, doubt, and shame. And instead of taking responsibility – they place blame. That is what happens when we go against God’s intentions for our lives. “Not Responsible for…” Have you ever gone to a restaurant, hung up your coat, and noticed a sign warning that the management is not responsible if it gets lost or stolen? Ever read the small print on your airplane ticket? The airline takes no responsibility for any delays or missed connections, and if your baggage is lost, they only have to pay an amount agreed upon at a convention they held in Warsaw in 1955. Park your car in some high-priced garage or lot, and a sign will tell you that management is not responsible for any items lost or stolen from your vehicle. Do those "Not responsible for..." disclaimers bother you? They do me. It seems no one takes responsibility for anything anymore. I read about a man who was suing a hospital. A doctor had performed staple surgery on his stomach to help him lose weight. A couple of days after his operation, he raided the hospital refrigerator and stuffed himself with everything he could find. This tore open the staples and forced another surgery. He was suing the hospital for having a refrigerator near his room. He claimed the temptation was too great. Thus, his complications were not his own fault but the hospital's fault! A little girl was sent to her room for misbehaving. Sometime later her mother happened to pass by her door and heard her praying. "God, I am stuck up here because of YOU, you know. Last night I prayed for you to help me be a good girl. Well, you didn't, so it's your fault!" David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc. Along with shame and blame comes guilt. There once was a stern-faced, plainly dressed man who could be seen standing on a busy street corner in the heart of the city. As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch and business appointments, he would solemnly lift his right arm, point to the nearest person and loudly yell, "Guilty!" Then, without any change of expression, he would resume his stiff stance for a few moments before repeating the gesture. Then, again, he would raise his arm, again he would point at the nearest person, and again he would yell, "Guilty!" The effect of this strange pantomime on the unsuspecting pedestrians was extraordinary. They would stop in their tracks, they would stare at the man, they would hesitate for a moment, they would look to see if he was, perhaps, pointing at someone else, they would look at the strange man one more time, then they would hurry on their ways. One man, who had been singled out, turned to his companion and asked, "But, how did he know?" "Guilty! Everyone is guilty," is what this strange man on a busy street corner seemed to be saying. And so we are! We are guilty of sin and we know it. We have struggled with right and wrong and we know that there have been times when we have given in to sin. We know the reality of sin in our lives. We are all guilty of something. We are all guilty of being human. We are not perfect, we don’t have all of the answers, we have limitations – we all have something to work on in our relationship with God. The bible defines sin as disobedience to God’s laws, doubt of God’s word and a desire to be like God. Sometimes it is just getting ahead of ourselves. There are a lot of things that remind us to slow down – like lent. Jesus was an example for us in dealing with the hardship of life. Jesus is a better example of how to deal with temptation then Adam. Jesus is an example, because in each test that he faced, he had an opportunity to not just do the right thing, but to be the person God called him to be. He was the son of God. He had integrity to live out his calling. Not only did he know who he was – but we also got to witness his character for ourselves. His temptation was a test. A chance for him to fulfill his true hunger. Jesus does not have to serve 2 masters. He trusted God, so God can trust him. He remained faithful to who we was called to be in the midst of a test. God didn’t ambush him, God examined his character. The key to Jesus being faithful, is that he knew his scripture. Every response that he gave the devil is a verse in the bible. Psalm 32:10-11 says that the bridge between temptation and obedience is hope and trust. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: Jesus was able to overcome the temptations of the devil just by being the person, God had called him to be in the first place. Temptation is anything that leads us to live life in any way other than what God intended. We all know that at the end of chapter 3 in Genesis – that God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden of eden – They have to go live in the harsh real world. From there, Genesis reports the first murder, the affects of jealousy in a community, violence in the family. It all stems from that original temptation. As I read the rest of the story of their family in Genesis, I am not sure that they ever get beyond fear, shame, blame and guilt. Jesus story of temptation is a lot different. Jesus moves beyond temptation. He walks out of the wilderness on his own, and he begins a life of service to God. We should try to be more like Jesus. Lent is an opportunity to follow Jesus. Forty Days for Recommitment Lent was originally established for new Christians, those who experienced a call. They were to spend forty days and forty nights preparing for their baptism. If at the end they still wanted to follow Jesus, then on Easter Eve they would be baptized as the sun was rising in the east, signaling the new day, the new era, inaugurated because of the Resurrection. I am sure it had a powerful significance for them, to have prepared for their vocation as Christians the same way that Jesus prepared for his vocation as the Messiah: forty days of introspection and self-examination. But later the Church used the forty days as a time of renewal for those who were already Christians, because at a certain point everyone in the empire became a Christian, everyone was baptized as infants. So the time of Lent was used as a time of renewal and recommitment to the Christian life, examining our lives in light of the one we are supposed to follow. Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc. We don’t have to move beyond being human, as a matter of fact we need to accept that we are human. Human in relationship with an omnipotent God who loves us fiercely. We don’t always have to have all of the answers, but we do have to have faith. "BELIEF--which is an act of the mind "TRUST--which is an act of the heart "OBEDIENCE--which is an act of the will." (2) There is a lesson that we can learn from Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the garden for giving in to temptation. It was all a part of God’s plan. Perhaps God never intended for them to be in the garden forever. In moving forward, their faith in themselves and in God grew. They would have never thought that God would be with them in the midst of all of the hardships of life. Their fear, shame and blame turned into belief, trust and obedience. Their newfound faith set the stage for Jesus to come and show us all how it can be done. I wonder how our faith needs to grow right now? Amen. Song Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley TFWS 2112 Pastoral Prayer Loving, Creating God, you are in covenant with your people. You have pledged to be our God and ask us to be your people, trusting in you in all our ways. But we find many excuses to prevent us from really trusting you. We erect barriers before our faith journey even begins. Our time, obligations, energy, all become part of the bricks and mortar which fashion this barrier. We can give lip service to the journey; we can daydream about what it would be like to truly place our hands in yours and follow you. But when it comes to actually making the journey, our time constraints and weak commitments loom largely before us. Help us to tear down this barrier. Make us ready for the journey by replacing the fear in our hearts with a sense of joy and challenge of self-discovery and discipleship. Remind us that in service to you, helping others, we will also find our selves made more fully whole. As we have spoken the names of our friends, and family members, and others situations in which healing and comfort are needed, let us remember that we, too, stand in need of prayer and healing. Make us ready to receive your good news and then to be witnesses to your love to all your people. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Stewardship Moment Invitation to Offering In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, Satan appears to Jesus, asking him to turn his back on God. Instead, Jesus offers scriptural responses to each of the three temptations, rejecting what Satan held out to the famished and exhausted Jesus. This 40 day season of Lent gives us time to get clear about we can offer from our own lives (whether we’re famished and exhausted, simply plugging along, or filled with energy and enthusiasm). For some, Lent is a time to “give up”. For others, these 40 days provide enough time to form a new habit, “taking on” the traditional 3-prong prayer, repentance and alms-giving. Is there some outreach or mission effort you might support with a weekly gift for these next 6 Sundays? Do you want to support a particular ministry of this congregation (name a specific one, if you can)? Are you eager to join with others in a new church-wide response to a need you can identify? This first Sunday of this season is a great time to launch our own Lenten discipline of giving. Consider what you might do, and make a start today! Prayer of Thanksgiving Holy God, thank you for your steadfast love and presence. We’re eager to let our actions help share your love with a weary and worn world. Please accept these gifts, the good intentions of our hearts, and the deep desire we have to help grow your Realm here on earth, as it is in heaven. Fill us with hope and confidence in you, even as you help multiply these resources and our energies for action. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Beloved people of God; I invite you, in the name of Christ, to observe a holy Lent by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by works of love, and by meditating on Gods’ word. May the grace, hope, peace and love of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer be with us all, now and forever. Amen. (Book of Common Worship) Community Time Benediction As you depart this space and enter the wilderness of the world, know that God is with you. Whatever may come, let God be your safe place to go and your soft place to land. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Tena Nock) Additional Illustrations The Really Big Sale He had finally got his chance to make the Really Big Sale. He was going into the final interview on the biggest contract he had ever written. As he was ushered into the office of the executive buyer, an assistant brought her coffee and left. The atmosphere was cordial, and he knew he was giving his best presentation ever. Then the assistant tapped on the door, re-entered the office and spoke briefly with the executive. She stood and said, "I apologize, but I have to tend to a matter. I'll just be a minute or two." And she followed her assistant out of the room. The sales representative looked around the beautifully appointed office. He saw her family pictures on her desk. Then he noticed a contract on her desk. She had evidently been studying a bid from a competitor. Leaning forward, he could see the column of figures, but it was obscured by a diet soda can. He was tempted to move the can and see the bottom line of his competitor's bid. What harm possibly could there be in reading her private information? After all, she had left it out in plain sight, almost. After wrestling with himself a while, he finally decided to take a peek. As he lifted the soda can, he discovered that the can wasn't filled with soda at all. Instead it was a bottomless can filled with 1,000 BBs which gushed out, and ran all over the desk and cascaded onto the carpet. His attempt to short cut the competition was exposed. Not every temptation is so obvious. Not every failure is so embarrassing. But every temptation is a challenge. Not even Jesus was spared the choosing. Mickey Anders, Six Flags over Jesus Deliver Us From... A mother was teaching her 3-year old daughter the Lord's Prayer. At bedtime, she repeated after her mother the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. Mom listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us some E-mail. Amen. Traditional We Help Each Other When Edmund Hillary, who passed away just a few weeks ago, was at the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, he had a partner in his success. He had climbed the mountain all the way to the top, the first man ever to do that. The thing that impressed me about the whole story was not that Edmund Hillary climbed the mountain, but that he had a companion who climbed the mountain with him. Nobody ever hears his name. His name was Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing, however, climbed the mountain with him and on the way back down the mountain, Hillary fell and was almost lost. He would have been lost without Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing Norgay literally pulled him back up the cable and saved his life and Edmund Hillary lived to tell a great story because of this help from an unknown man. When someone asked Norgay why he didn't make more of it, why he didn't brag about it, he said, "We mountain climbers help each other." What a great model this would be for our church. We Christians have no need to be on television or make millions of dollars putting out a show. It is time we reversed the process and touched people and say very simply, "We Christians help each other. That's who we are." Calvin Miller, Moving From Entertainment to Servanthood No Easy Buttons Staple's, the huge office supply chain store, has a new commercial out that illustrates the power of the devil's various temptations. In their ad whenever an individual confronts a difficult situation, all they have to do is reach over and push a red, over-sized, glowing button that reads, "easy." Got to pick up three kids, make dinner, finish that report at work, and be supportive to your spouse? No problem, just push the big easy button. Need to do a risky surgery never performed before? Hey, just push the big easy button. Faced with the need to balance economic growth and stability with environmental safety and the welfare of worldwide ecosystems? No problem, just push the big easy button. Big problem: there are no easy buttons. There's no easy button to free us from the trials and tests of diabolos. Jesus taught us to pray, not "save us from temptation," but "lead us not into temptation." Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Even When We Know Better: Our Temptation We are often tempted by material things, opportunities, and possibilities of contemporary life - items that we generally know will only lead us away from God. The choice to avoid such temptations is ours and, thus, we must be wary of their allure. A Native American folk tale describes this problem: One day an Indian youth, in an effort to prepare for manhood, hiked into a beautiful valley, green with trees and decorated with many lovely flowers. There he fasted and prayed, but on the third day he looked up at the surrounding mountains and noticed one tall and rugged peak capped with snow. He decided that he would test himself by climbing this mountain. Thus, he put on his buckskin shirt, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, and set out to climb the peak. When he reached the top he looked out from the rim to the world so far below. Then he heard a rustling sound and, looking around, saw a snake slithering about. Before he could move, the snake spoke to him, "I am about to die. It's too cold for me up here; I am freezing. There is little food and I am starving. Please put me under your shirt where I will be warm and take me down the mountain." The young man protested, "No. I have been forewarned about your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up you will bite me and I might die." But the snake answered, "Not so. I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special to me, I will not harm you, and you will receive whatever you want." The young man resisted for some time, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful diamond markings. At last the young man tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down the mountain. Once in the valley he gently placed the snake on the ground. Suddenly the snake coiled, rattled, and then bit the man on the leg. "You promised me!" cried the youth. "You knew what I was when you picked me up," said the snake, which then slithered away. Richard E. Gribble, Sermons For Sundays: In Lent And Easter: Building Our Foundation On God, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. In August of 1991, a priest, Father Alexander Borisor, demonstrated how the power of faith was greater than the power of fear. It was the Christian''s greatest weapon. Fear was beginning to grip the hearts and minds of the Russian people. So this man of God, propelled by faith in God, found himself passing out Bibles right smack in a midst of the uprising in Red Square. The Soviet military was in position to silence the voice of the people yearning for freedom. He took to the streets with Bibles--the military was ready with bombs and bullets. So the priest and the members of the local bible society actually climbed onto the tanks and began passing out Bibles. They passed them out to the soldiers on the streets. They stopped the tanks with nothing but arm loads of Bibles, and when they had opportunities they would climb on top of the tanks and throw the Bibles inside. One morning a soldier was given a larger size children''s Bible because they ran out of New Testaments. It was larger than would fit in his front pocket. Realizing this and wanting to keep the Bible with him, he emptied his pocket of bullets so the Bible would fit. Yes, when faith in God replaces the fear and timidity in us--the giants of life fall down in defeat before us. Yes, the power of fear can be deadly. However, the power of faith can be transforming and victorious. We believe, because Jesus Christ is Lord, that the Bible and its truth are always greater than bombs and bullets. A legend from India tells about a mouse who was terrified of cats until a magician agreed to transform him into a cat. That helped him to control his fear for a while . . . until he met a dog. So the magician changed him into a dog. The mouse-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger--so, once again, the magician changed him into what he feared. But when the tiger came complaining that he had met a hunter, the magician refused to help. "I will make you into a mouse again, for though you have the body of a tiger, you still have the heart of a mouse." (1)