Serenity and Wholeness in life with God Steps 8 and 9

Pentecost 18 year B 12 Sermon 
A 20th century follower of Jesus…is famous for saying ‘there is no way to peace…peace… is the way.’ [A.J. Muste, said this, not Gandhi as many have romantically assumed]

On the road to serenity and wholeness in life with God
Jesus gives his followers in every age…
a strong directive on the kind of behaviour 
that makes for peace…listen to Jesus words again… 
they’re meant for us to think about 
before we walk in here…on Sunday morning

Jesus says…when you’re offering your gift at the altar… 
and suddenly remember your brother or sister 
has something against you…
leave your gift in front of the altar. And first

Slide words
go and be reconciled to them; [pause]
then come and offer your gift

First…. go and be reconciled…
there can be no peace with God…while we refuse to make peace with those we’ve harmed. 
Make it a priority in your lives…to restore justice in all your relationships…make restitution…
say sorry for your part in what’s happenened.

For God’s sake…Jesus is saying…make peace first…
do peace…as a priority…

Let the Shalom of God… take precedence over religious ritual…Let Shalom take precedence 
Why is this important for us on the road to serenity and wholeness in life with God?

I think that great kiwi song writer, Shirley Murray captures it very well in her hymn O Christ Who by a Cross 

O Christ who by a cross made peace your sign,
       who gives your peace in water, bread and wine:
O Spirit Christ who is our spirit's home,
       teach us the secret of the true shalom.

We speak of peace when in our hearts we war
       and, unforgiving, keep our grudges sore,
we promise peace while yet we strive to win,
       and in our enemy, see not our kin.

Two deaths now face the starving and the fed --
       the blinding bomb, the simple lack of bread;
with riches of the earth at our command,
       from weaponry to welcome, turn our hand.

The selfishness which is our human curse,
       the arsenal of hatred which we nurse --
all are dispelled when in our hearts we say
       "There is no way to peace: peace is the way."
Shirley Erena Murray Words © 1992 Hope  Publishing Company

Slide words
Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God.

What matters most to God…what we do in church 
or how we do our relationships? 

Sunset slide 12 Steps
For the past six weeks, we’ve explored steps toward serenity and wholeness...in life with God. This far we’ve learned seven out of twelve…spiritual tools 
which come from the life and teaching of Jesus…

slide words wisdom
In the first…we gain wisdom to discern…
what we can and can’t control.

slide words restoration 
next we seek the restoration to wholeness …
only God can bring 

slide words surrender
in step three we surrender our will and our lives to the care of God… 

Slide words reflection
And in the fourth…we begin to reflect honestly… and fearlessly… on our own motives and actions…past and present…good and bad. 

Slide words Confession
And then in Confession…we bring the whole unvarnished truth about ourselves… to God

Slide step six
And last week… taking steps six and seven…
becoming entirely ready and willing…
to submit to every change God wants to make in us. 
Humbly asking God to do it. Giving our consent 
for God to re-shape us in any way…so God’s will be done

Blank slide
Seven out of twelve so far… 
every single step of faith… building on the spiritual foundation… of the one before…

Slide words resolve 
Today we’re ready to face… steps 8 and 9. 
And we resolve…to do whatever it takes to bring about God’s Shalom…whatever it takes for justice and peace to prevail…

Whatever it takes… we’re willing to leave the alter…
and get out that door to be reconciled 
with our brothers and sisters in the world.

Ouch…sounds a little like taking up our cross to follow Jesus doesn’t it. There’s clearly more work to be done 
on the road to serenity and wholeness in life with God.

To do step 8…it helps once again…to get out our old fourth step inventory and examine it closely. 

Slide words Step 8
Because step eight is about making a list…
of all those people we’ve harmed… 
and being willing to make amends to them all.

What! All of them…even people we swore 
we’d never speak to again, even the ones cross the street to avoid, even the ones who live on the other side of the world or are already dead?

Now don’t put the cart before the horse here…
we’re just talking about writing down names and becoming willing. For now we’re only trying to take one step at a time. And in Step eight…all we have to do… 
is make a list and become willing.

Those I know who’ve taken this step…
have found it helpful to list those they’ve harmed under four headings…

Slide words
Family Friends Community World

Oh dear Diane…um I’m not sure I’ve got any community and world harm…in my inventory. 

Didn’t Jesus mention the least of these… 
in one of his talks…the sick and the hungry and the imprisoned…well that’s ok if you forgot…you can always go back and add these in as you work through the steps…it’s never too late…

Ok family friends community and world…
Once you’ve made your list…you’re going to notice some people on it who are in the ‘over my dead body’ category… so to keep this step honest we need to create three rows down

Slide words reveal
People I will never ever make amends to…
People I might one day make amends to
People I’m ready to make amends to …now.

You got this tool for step 8 when you came in.

It going to take a while to be willing to make amends 
to them all isn’t it…so we start with the easy ones…

Blank slide
and as we grow in wisdom and courage and serenity 
we we find mysteriously…some people we swore we’d never say sorry to… just seem to slip down…into the category below…until there’s no one left at all…
in the ‘never ever’ list…

and gradually over time…in obedience to Christ’s call 
to be reconciled with our brothers and sisters in the world…we find there are no names left… 
in the ‘maybe one day’ list either. Maybe you’ll be a hundred and five when that happens… 
but keep working on it. 

It’s a process…a practise…of making ourselves ready and willing to allow God to shape us… into his children…into peacemakers. It’s the very foundation of restorative justice around the world…between communities and nations…between rich and poor…
It’s Jesus. process. It’s Jesus’ way. [pause]

As soon as there are any names on our… 
‘could do it now’ list…we can begin to practise step nine … and start saying sorry and making amends 
to those people at least.

Word slide
Where once there was no peace…we can begin to make peace. And taking step nine we make direct amends where ever possible, except when to do so would produce more harm. [pause]

When I was in hospital with cancer as an eighteen year old…there was a warm and very outgoing Hispanic porter on my ward… his name was Jose. 
It was Jose’s job to move machinery, transport patients to and from the operating theatre… and generally ensure the nurses and doctors could do their work smoothly.

When Jose came into the room… the atmosphere brightened considerably. I liked him…everybody did.

Well, one day I left an unposted letter to my boyfriend lying around in which I referred to Jose using labels any Hispanic person would find racist. 

Now I pride myself in not being racist…
but there you are…I used those words in a letter…
just to entertain my boyfriend. 

Unfortunately Jose picked up the letter when I was down having my stitches out… and read it. 
And maybe he shouldn’t have read it but he did. 

When I got back to my room…Jose shook his head at me and said ‘Diane, I thought you were different.’ 

But I wasn’t different was I…I had used language that objectified and ridiculed this kind and generous human being. In spite of myself I had sinned against him. And that would have been true had he never seen the letter. Obviously God had something to teach me.

Twenty years later… when I was working on my 8th and 9th steps…I put Jose on my list. What I did had always bothered me…and while I was certainly willing to make amends to him… it wasn’t going to be easy… 

because here I was in New Zealand and heaven only knew where he was. And all I knew was his first name. 

The only thing I could do was write a letter to him care of the hospital I was in and ask the administrative staff for their help to find him. 

I never heard anything back… but I feel comfortable
I what I could to say how truly sorry I was. There were many others on my list I spoke to face to face.

Now I grant you… had I stolen money from him, 
or run over his wife under the influence …
then much greater amends would have been called for.
But this story makes an important point about step nine. 

Making amends is part of your and my own spiritual growth…making amends may or may not be beneficial to the person we’ve harmed…they may or may not forgive us… for what we’ve done…that’s outside our control isn’t it…

but we do our best to make peace anyway because that’s what Jesus asked us to do. 

And did you notice the bit about not making direct amends when it would produce even more harm?

Well that’s a safeguard… 
against hurting people by making amends to them. 
What if they don’t know what we did…or their current relationships disrupted if we reappear in their life…
In that case the best way we can make amends is just not to do whatever we did to hurt them… anymore.  

When we take steps 8 and 9 we begin to play our part in healing a broken world…
starting with our family and working outward 
to a world we’ve harmed through our indifference 
and selfishness and greed. And the good news is steps 8 and 9 liberate us from the burden of perpetual self-justification…

And you may even find 
some people need to come off your list…like the mother who’s unhappy with the husband you chose 
or the father who’s disappointed at your choice of profession…choices that were right for you 
…choices that did them no harm…

And one more thing…before we pray together…
when you make your list…
there’s one person you must remember to include…

Yourself.

It’s part of your healing…part of your growing in serenity and wholeness in life with God…
to recognised the harm you’ve done to yourself.

Let us pray the Serenity Prayer together.

Serenity and wholeness in life with God Steps 6 and 7

Pentecost 17 year B Sermon Mt 21:28-31  

In the powerful parable you just heard…Jesus becomes the ultimate prophet…speaking truth to the powerful…

telling them off without fear or favour…
shining the harsh light of truth…into the very heart of religious authority…and exposing the emptiness there.

What they say they believe…just doesn’t match what they do.

They collude with the Romans…they extort money from the poor…they exclude the sick and the unclean and the sinner from their tables and the Temple…so when Jesus popularity grows …they’re defensive and suspicious and full of self-justification

Like the second son in Jesus’ parable…the priests say they’re prepared… to play their part in bringing about the reign of God…but somehow they just don’t get around to it…

…something is missing… a condition of the heart and mind and spirit…is missing. And Jesus the storyteller… wants us to see it’s obvious the priests lack something…but what? [pause]

In their heart of hearts…they lack the willingness…
to change…to turn…to repent…

Against this background listen again to Jesus’ parable

blank slide
“What do you think? Jesus says. There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son I need you to go to work in the vineyard today…

Nah…I don’t really feel like it…
the first son replies from under the blankets and pulls his pillow over his head…but later he changes his mind and goes out to work.

And then the father goes to the other son to ask the same thing. Sure Dad…says the other son…all smiles…
but he doesn’t go to work.

Which of the two did what his Dad wanted? Jesus asks the priests

And gritting their teeth the priest answer…snarkily…
… ‘The first son’.

Well if you’re right Jesus says… the truth is tax collectors and the prostitutes… are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  

Remember when my cousin John came… to you to show you the way of righteousness? You didn’t believe him…
but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.

And even after you saw this, you didn’t repent and believe him. You had no change of heart…you weren’t willing to change. [pause]

And that’s the key to today’s message on the sixth step…
a change of heart…a transformation…a conversion of will…
a willing heart…

sunset slide 12 Steps

For the past five weeks, we’ve explored steps toward serenity and wholeness...in life with God.

So far…we’ve learned five out of twelve spiritual tools
which come from the life and teachings of Jesus…

slide words wisdom

In the first…we gain the wisdom to discern …
what we can and can’t control.

slide words restoration next we seek the
restoration and wholeness …only God can bring

slide words surrender

in step three we surrender our will and our lives over to the care of God… praying in every situation …
to be open to God’s guidance…

And then with the faith and courage we’ve gained…

Slide words reflection

we began to reflect honestly… and fearlessly… on our own motives and actions…past and present…good and bad.

Word slide

And last week exploring the fifth step…we brought the whole unvarnished truth about ourselves into the light… in the act of Holy Confession. Admitting to ourselves…to God…and at least one person we could trust…the exact nature of our wrongs

Five out of twelve so far… each new step of faith…
building on the spiritual foundation of the one before…

Slide step six

And so today we arrive at step six…willingness to change…

And become entirely ready… to submit to every change
God wants to make in our character.

As Jesus said on the mountain top…

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.

Blank slide

we looked fearlessly in the mirror…we placed our entire lives under scrutiny…and we’ve fallen to our knees before God …confessing where we’ve missed the mark… [pause]

And now the rubber hits the road… on the path to serenity and wholeness in life with God…

Now we must be willing to let God change us…to allow God to remove every defect in our character that gets in the road of God’s kingdom…now we must be ready… entirely ready…
for God to re-shape in us whatever is necessary…
for God’s will to be done…

Oh dear…where do we start…

Well of course we already have a great blueprint of our character… having taken the fourth step… the inventory we made of our lives… past and our present…good and bad.

Hopefully …in taking stock of our lives…
we’ve already compared our behaviour and our motives …
to the standard set by Jesus in his sermon on the mount, and in the first and second greatest commandments…not to mention the ten targets Moses brought down from Mt Sinai. Maybe we even looked for the fruits of the spirit in our lives
as we assessed the good we’ve done…

Because we’ve taken the fourth and fifth steps…we can now see ourselves clearly…and trusting in God’s grace…
we’ve confessed our sins without fear…so what’s the problem [pause]

Well if you’re anything like me…when it comes right down to it …there are some ways of relating… to other people and to God you just don’t want to stop…even if they do fall short of the mark. Let’s face it…there are some shortcomings...we don’t really want to let go…

And so we won’t let God near them…

I was thinking about this yesterday morning after breakfast when Reg and I were sharing our devotions…I was impatient to get on with it so I could start working on my sermon...

Now remember patience is a fruit of the Spirit…

and what is its opposite? [ask]

You got it…

Well most of the time when I feel impatient… my agenda becomes paramount…when this happens I want to manage other people’s time…and the people in this case is my husband.

the problem with this strategy is I spend so much time looking at the clock and hinting for Reg to hurry up…I actually slow down the process…and I annoy…yes I admit it…I annoy and frustrate my darling husband…

So yesterday morning when I was tempted…and I say tempted on purpose…when I was tempted to be impatient…
I decided to practise step six…and I prayed for the willingness to give up my impatience.

I brought my relationship with God into consciousness.
I prayed and it worked… I stopped seeing Reg as an obstacle to meeting my schedule…and began to see him clearly again as the man I love… and we finished in plenty of time.
.

Step six was good for my relationship with Reg and my relationship with God.

Another way to look at this… is when I’m focussed only
on getting where I want to go…anything that gets in the road looks like a stumbling block…Reg becomes a thing…
an object in the way…

and the entirety of Jesus teaching…is that people aren’t objects …they’re all brothers and sisters made in the image of God…

When I take step six…and willingly give God room to work
on my motives and behaviour…naming my impatience …suddenly I can see Reg clearly…as a person loved by God and by me.

When we take step six… we become willing to see others…
not as objects but as people with needs, and cares and fears as real as our own. We can’t sin against an object…

I’ll bet when you finally complete your inventory and are confessing to God just how you missed the mark

I’ll bet you’ll be able to see…amongst all the good things…of course… just how often and how easily you saw others as objects to be used…or as obstacles to getting what you want…
I certainly saw that in mine.

Whenever we view a person or a group or even a nation as an object…well we fall short of the glory of God.
What’s scary is that most of the time
we have no idea we’re doing it…

And when zoom out… from the picture of our own lives…
to view what’s happening around the world …
we discover this objectification I’m talking about

is as the heart of all war…

See how it works… a small group of misguided Christians betray the teaching of Jesus by making the prophet Mohammad an object of ridicule…

in revenge… crowds of angry Muslims attack the objects of their rage…

In relation to those made in the image of God…
objectification of any kind is diabolical.

We don’t forgive objects …do we…
we don’t show mercy to objects…

Objects aren’t interested in the truth so we don’t have to be honest with them. It doesn’t matter if we betray them or laugh at them or label them…we don’t have to care…how objects feel or what they need…. And we certainly don’t have to negotiate with them… or be reconciled to them or ask their forgiveness.

Objects can be discarded when they’re no longer useful …
or productive… or beautiful.

With a clear conscience we can trade them in for something else that will better meet our needs. If they’re in the way we can just step over them or kick them out of the road.

No matter what we do… to or with an object…
there are no relational consequences…it doesn’t matter…

Objects don’t matter…

But people do…

So Jesus comes to reveal the truth about how God sees humanity…not as playthings or possessions…or rubbish to be thrown on the fire…How God sees the nations…not as religious chess pieces but as homelands where people live and work and love

Jesus reveals the truth about us too…that we’re created for relationship…with God and with each other.

And today… now that you’re learning about step six…
and I hope considering what it might mean
for you to become entirely ready… to submit to every change God wants to make in your character…now that you’ve come this far

I’m going to give you a bonus…every time you take step six every time you become really willing…

well then it’s ok to take step seven…

Word slide Step 7.

All you have to do

is consent to God’s work in you…
and humbly ask God

to remove your shortcomings. Let us pray

Serenity and wholeness in life with God Step 5

Pentecost 16 year B Sermon 12 

Title slide

In the presence of the living God…Isaiah and Paul
are only too aware of their frailties…

You might say they see themselves clearly…
in the metaphorical mirror...in the dazzling light
of God’s loving presence…God with us…Emmanuel …

Encountering the glory of God…Isaiah and Paul
work through the first four steps we’ve been learning…

very very quickly indeed.

Sunset slide

The first four steps of twelve... toward serenity and wholeness...in life with God. Twelve spiritual tools
which come from the life and teachings of Jesus…
Emmanuel…………..God with us [pause]

slide words

In taking the first step…we gain the wisdom to discern …
what we can and can’t control.

slide words

Taking the second...we seek restoration to wholeness…only God can bring

slide words

And in step three in faith… we surrender and…
begin the life long process…of turning our will and our lives over to the care of God…revealed in Jesus Christ…

praying every day…in every situation …
to be open to God’s guidance…

And last week after learning… the first three steps…
we had the faith and the courage to take the fourth

Slide words

And begin to reflect honestly… and fearlessly…
on our own behaviour and motives... past and present.
Good and bad.

Slide words

Gaining Wisdom seeking Restoration

Surrendering our will… Reflecting on our lives…

Each new step of faith…
building on the spiritual foundation of the previous one…

And once we complete… this searching and fearless inventory of our lives…well then we’re well equipped…

Word slide

to take today’s step…the fifth step…and bring the truth about ourselves into the light…we’re ready for Confession.

Word slide

Ready… to admit to ourselves…to God… and to at least one person we can trust…the exact nature of our wrongs

In taking the fifth step…we pick up the spiritual tool
Martin Luther never intended us to lay down…in the Protestant Reformation. The baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The sacrament of holy confession.

And we remember when Jesus’ said ‘…go and learn what this means:

Slide words

‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I haven’t come
to call the righteous…but to call sinners.’

Emmanuel God with us Jesus… calls sinners to himself …calls us …and if we aspire to be pure in heart
well then we have only one option…

Blank slide

To humbly place our shortcomings… before Jesus…
that we might receive…the grace and and forgiveness already offered freely and with love…
how else can we receive it!

By our presence in the Christian Community…
we commit ourselves…to break the unhealthy patterns
which cause us to turn away from God…
and God’s way of love…  revealed in Jesus. In the company
of other broken and fallen people… we begin to heal…
we’re not alone…we even begin to feel better about ourselves

When Jesus said… let the one who is without sin…
cast the first stone…every one of those self-righteous religious terrorists…bent on punishing the woman caught in adultery …every one of them… were stopped in their tracks at Jesus’ rebuke…every one…lay down their murderous intent
and turned away in shame…
from the evil they were about to commit.

Jesus opened their corporate eyes. Jesus shone the fierce light of love into the darkness of their… judgementalism…and self-righteousness. Jesus rebuked the inner demons…
which seduced the mob into viewing the woman…
as an undesirable object…to be destroyed…
not a person made in the image of God…

and when they see her humanity…her frailty…her nature alongside their own…the scales fall from their eyes…
and it makes all the difference in the world.
The difference… between life and death.

As the rioting and chaos in the news this week… shows……
we can yield… to the demons of violence and revenge…
and do our level best to make this earth a living Hell…

or we can forgive those who sin against us…
and call other sinners like ourselves…to join us at the table with Jesus.

For as it says in 1 John… when we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Now you might be asking uh…excuse me Diane
I can understand why it’s a good thing to confess our sins to God…but why does step five encourage us…to confess to another person we can trust? [pause………]

Well, it’s because sometimes we need help from another sinner…to break through our denial and self-deception…

They could be a minister…but they don’t have to be…
they could be a trusted prayer partner...

but it’s not a good idea…to ask someone in your family or your workplace …because you might hurt them…or yourself by exposing what you’ve done… and that’s not the objective.

Taking this step is like lancing the boil of your heart…cleaning it out…and cauterising the wound. And it’s with a pure heart that we desire to approach the Table of our Lord…
where we receive and share…
the concrete sign of Emmanuel… God with us…
That’s why we confess our sins…before sharing the bread and the wine… are made clean by the grace of God. [pause]

Isaiah slide

And so before we gather at this table…
I want you to imagine yourself as the prophet Isaiah…
as he places his inventory… before the Glory of God. [pause]

In the year that King Uzziah died,

Large Isaiah slide

I saw the Lord…high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple…Above him were seraphim, each with six wings…With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet…and with the other two …they flew. And were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty;

    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I’m a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” [pause]

Then one of the seraphim flew to me
with a live coal in his hand, he’d taken with tongs from the altar. And with it he touched my mouth and said,
“See…this has touched your lips;
your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned.”

Blank slide

My friend Lee Kearon imagines the scene this way.

Don’t look… said the cowering man with the unclean lips

Too late; he is already seen

‘keep me silent,’ said the man with the unclean lips

Too late; God’s already heard you

‘But’ I’ll not blacken your presence with my polluted mouth,’ said the man with the unclean lips…..Too late;

the brand of the Lord has left its scorch. The flames licked clean his words and deeds.

‘Don’t consider this worthless frame!’ says the man with the scalded lips as he gathers his singed clothing around him.

‘Much too late!’ said the Lord like a voice which had spoken long before, and only the echo remained.

‘My grace has stripped you bare!’ Your guilt is cast aside;
your sin is atoned for – see, how it lies on the floor, discarded, like a pile of burnt and blackened rags. It’s just you and me, Isaiah.

‘Now…who shall I send? Who’ll go for us?’

And the man with the scalded lips stands naked and pure before his God…

and says ‘Here I am. Send me.’[i]

And as sinners gathered together…seeking pureness of heart …let us accept the gracious invitation of God
as we sing together In Christ Alone.

---

[i] The Grace of the Calling Part 1 Isaiah 6:1-8 Isaiah’s Lament by Lee Kearon of Gore

Serenity and wholeness in life with God Step 4

Pentecost 15 year B Sermon 12  
 Looking in the mirror

Did you ever dream a mirror... could be a spiritual tool...
a tool for finding serenity and wholeness...in life with God?

Well the author of James just gave us a clue that it could.

Word slide

But be doers of the Word, not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

For if any are hearers of the Word and not doers,

they’re like those who look at themselves in a mirror;

and when they walk away...
they immediately forget what they were like. [pause]

Blank slide

I forget what I look like all the time.

This is particularly convenient when you’re over 60…
I go around feeling… thirty five maybe...but….whoa…

that’s not what the mirror tells me.
And the mirror… can be sobering.

Of course the author of James...
wants us to understand the mirror...metaphorically.
Wants us to recognise.... how important it is...

to have a clear understanding...of who we are....

and what we’re really like… warts and all…

and above all...wants us to compare what we see...
with the standard set for us by Jesus Christ…
the Word of God made flesh. [pause]

Of course… looking in the metaphorical mirror…
taking stock…making a courageous and honest
inventory of ourselves… is much easier…
when we’ve mastered the first three steps…

sunset slide

of the twelve... we’ve been learning to take…
toward serenity and wholeness... in life with God.
Twelve spiritual tools we’re learning…
which come from the life and teaching of Jesus… [pause]

slide words

In taking the first step… we learn wisdom to pray for
that we might discern… what is and isn’t
within in our power to control.

slide words

Taking the second...we seek the restoration that comes from God...believing…
that God can and will restore us to wholeness.

In these two steps… we admit something about ourselves ...

and we accept something about God.

Slide words

And then last week we learned… to practise the surrender…
of the third step… [pause]

Slide words

And we begin the life long process...of turning our will and our lives…

over to the care of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

And we understand the third step isn’t once and for all...

because in our human frailty...we have to work at it...
over and over again… praying every day…
in every situation … to be open to God’s guidance…

Taking action of course…making plans of course…

placing those we love into the care of God… of course...

Trusting as the prophet promised...there will be a voice behind us saying...this is the way...walk in it...

Trusting that even if we stuff up…
God can work for good… out of any situation

Practise practise practise…disciplined practise …[pause]

spiritual discipline. [pause]

And so having turned our will and our lives over
to the love and care of God…

Slide words

Now we have the faith and courage…
to look at ourselves in the mirror...
and so we’re ready to take Step four

Slide words

And we reflect …honestly and fearlessly

on our own behaviour and motives... past and present.

As it says in the book of Lamentations,

 'Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.'

Only when we look into our own hearts…
can we begin to see ourselves as God sees us...
lovable… and flawed.

And we admit as reality...what Jesus makes clear…in our reading today…that it’s not from outside us...
but from within… that evil intentions come...
and that failure to honestly examine ourselves...
only leads us… deeper into sin.

Blank slide

In the book Glittering Images…Christian novelist, Susan Howatch...

tells the story of a married Bishop in the Anglican Church...

a man so certain of his righteousness and self-control...
that when a very attractive and emotionally vulnerable young woman…flirts with him aninvites him out for lunch

… to discuss matters of faith of course…

The Bishop accepts her invitation without a second thought.

And just as leaves the house to keep the appointment...
he looks in the mirror alright…to adjust his clerical collar and the angle of his hat…and then… full of unreflective self-confidence...

the Bishop gives the Bible on the foyer table
a thoughtful tap...and steps out the door…
and straight into peril. [pause]

At such moments we’re so blinded…
by the shining image of our own self-righteousness …
we just aren't interested in seeing ourselves clearly...

But I assure you… had the bishop taken the fourth step toward serenity and wholeness in life with God...
he may never have agreed… to meet that…
vulnerable young woman when and where he did... [pause]

You see…without a searching and fearless inventory
of our lives…we’re much more likely to fall into sin...
and hurt other people and ourselves…

without a searching and fearless inventory of our lives
we have no idea of our part in what happened in the past
and like the Bishop...we can’t see our part
in what’s about to happen…

Slide words

Thankfully Paul reminds us that we all fall short
of the glory of God...{adlib arrow target and anomie]

it’s a human condition that affects us all… you might even call it a family disease… and that’s because our failure to examine and admit… our own part in what’s gone wrong... affects not only our own life…
but the lives of those we love... [pause]

So where do we begin to take Step 4?

First reveal

We’ll its actually very simple… Today we're going to get a head start on the process and get our tool kit ready.
First we take a fresh clean piece of paper like the one you got as you came in today... and fold a quarter of it toward you like this.

Now turn the paper over and work on the unfolded side.
At the top write 'my searching and fearless inventory' …

under the title draw a line right down the middle.

And underneath that... label the left side ‘hitting the target well’

 ….and now label the right side ‘missing the target badly’

And that's the good news...in taking the 4th step...

we have to look honestly at our assets too...not just our liabilities ...the good we've done as well as the harm. Otherwise we can’t see ourselves as God does...loveable and flawed.

We have to do both sides because some of us think everything that goes wrong is our fault…and others of us think… everything that goes wrong… is someone else’s fault. Without God’s help we see only part of the truth. We deceive ourselves…we betray ourselves…and honesty my friends is the cornerstone of serenity and wholeness in life with God.

Now turn the paper over and at the top of the blank column write the title…'significant people and events in my life'. Ok that’s your tool kit prepared.

Second reveal

The next thing you do when you leave church today is to schedule an appointment with God… set aside time…
to fill in the list of significant people and events in your life and on this list you must include God Father son and Holy Spirit…and you must include yourself.

Maybe it takes you ten minutes a day for a month.
Or maybe you book in a weekend retreat and do it…but as a spiritual discipline you make time just to make this list.

When your list is finished…and of course you can always add bits in if you forget anything…
when the list is finished…

Third reveal

you pray deeply and sincerely that God will open your heart and your mind as you read carefully over your list.

And we pray for Gods help…because we know that
without it...we just won’t see ourselves clearly in the mirror.

Now comes the final part of step four…we honestly and fearlessly identify our own contribution to the good and the harm in the lives of each person on the list including God and ourselves…in every significant event in our lives....
[whew] that’s why we pray first…of course…

Blank slide

the process isn’t easy…taking the fourth step may take weeks and months or even years. Once some people get started
they don’t want to stop till it’s all done…but most of us are too busy to do it in one go.

But when we’ve completed this step…we are ready for step five. And the good news is we don’t have to do it again…

it’s done… [pause]  And if you think you’ve done it already…then good for you…it won’t take you very long at all.

word slide
Now you can see why it’s important to take the first three steps… before attempting the fourth … because without these earlier spiritual tools…
we wouldn’t have the humility or the trust …
in God’s power to restore us.
We have given up the illusion of control

and we have stopped taking everyone else’s inventory…

This wisdom we’ve already gained sets us free…
to focus on our own restoration…as we surrender our will and our lives to the care of God.

And in Letting Go and Letting God…
we give others the freedom to look in their own mirror.

And we ourselves are free in light of God’s love for us…
to reflect fearlessly on our own lives…

as we pursue a pure heart…

And as Jesus’ promised:  

Slide words

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God!

Let us pray the Lord’s Prayer together once more.