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Whew, definitely not sure about this one, but I got more positive comments than usual (which probably just means people are happy to see me go next week;) ) Several interesting homiletical issues in the sermon.  First, it deals with two texts which I always find so tricky because it’s easy to shortchange each or have them talk to each other in ways either too simple or too fake.  Second, it’s a teaching sermon rather than a “go do this” sermon.  The topic makes it such, but so also the theological content with which I bet most are unfamiliar.  Apparently the ten commandments are rarely discussed at St. C, if at all.  Third, one must be careful when dealing with OT Law and NT Gospel and not pulling the age-old heresy of a split between the God of the OT and Christ of the NT.  Finally, it’s a Lutheran sermon format with a Presbyterian third use of the law ending (ok, I’m a huge nerd).  The form is: 1) Law, 2) Gospel, 3) Law revisited in light of Gospel to find that the Law really is Gospel to begin with–and that’d be Calvin’s third and and primary use of the law.  Whew…and it has jokes too:) and somebody yelled out when I mentioned Bush, hilarious.

Ayr: St. Columba Church
11:15 am Worship Service

Adam J. Copeland

Singing the Commandments
Exodus 20:1-17, Romans 6:1-11

After going-on ten months in Scotland, it’s an interesting practice to reflect back on life in the US. As happens when living abroad, my perspective of my own country has significantly changed.

For example, I will never look at an American nicely written, clearly displayed street sign the same way again. After ten months of driving all over Ayr, passing street after street, turning around, and then again, trying to find a street sign that might be a foot off the ground on a wall, or thirty feet up on a house, or hiding behind an overgrown hedge, or just not there at all, I have gained a new appreciation for America’s street signs and simple street numbering system.

I’ll miss many Scottish things, of course, like fish and chips, constant cups of tea, Scottish cheese (which I think is completely under-appreciated), folks actually driving the speed limit (thanks to speed cameras, mind you), fantastic golf courses, having four seasons in a day–ok, I won’t miss that, but Scotland’s weather does instill a certain go-with-the-flow approach to Scottish culture which I will miss.

I’ll return to the states with a renewed sense of how enormous America is, with a reminder that though Americans complain about our petrol prices, they’re only about half us much as Scotland’s, and thankfully, the with knowledge that at least the majority of some country can see what a disastrous president George Bush has been.

And when I return to the states, I may be struck by the many plaques, posters, billboards, and monuments that display the Ten Commandments. I can’t recall seeing a list of the commandments at all during my time in Scotland, but at home you’ll be driving down the highway and see a billboard with them, or your neighbor may have a list of them in his yard, and especially if you live in the south, you may find the ten commandments on the wall in the courthouse, or on a towering monument in the town square.

When I see these displays of the ten commandments, I’ll see them with new eyes after having lived in Scotland for nearly a year. And I’ll wonder, “What do these displays mean?” There’s many possible interpretations.

Maybe these displays of the ten commandments serve as a reminder of America’s history, of our Judeo-Christian foundation, that the folks who founded America did so with certain religious principles in mind.

Or maybe the displays of the ten commandments represent our best hopes for the country. American culture has always had a certain idealism, a belief in the inherent goodness of our neighbors, a hopeful attitude that hard work and wholesome values will lead to a better tomorrow for our children. Maybe the ten commandment monuments are an expression of that hope. That when we are at our best, we follow these commands.

On the other hand, maybe the plaques and monuments are pointing in another direction. Maybe they serve as testaments to how we’ve lost our way–DO NOT KILL as a indictment of the war in Iraq, DO NOT WORSHIP IDOLS as a word against our consumeristic culture, DO NOT COVET as a rebuke of our addiction to other people’s oil, goods, and labor.

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When I came to Scotland, I didn’t know quite what to expect of the Church of Scotland. I didn’t know Ayr nor St. Columba, all I could really do was imagine a stereotype the Church of Scotland.

As I came to know you more, that stereotype gradually faded away, but it also seems to have been one based in some reality–mostly of the past, and of some churches in Scotland today.

That stereotype of the Church of Scotland was one of a church that preached hellfire and brimstone, in which every sermon somehow got back to sin, our moral depravity, and preachers emphasized, every Sunday, sin, and hell, and our lost ways. Thank goodness this is not Fraser’s approach, nor, as far as I can tell, the approach of any minister I’ve met. Certainly, it doesn’t do anyone any good to preach sin sin sin every week ad infinitim. Thank goodness that’s a danger now mainly avoided.

But, there’s another extreme which we must not venture toward either: the danger of becoming so positive, so affirming, that we forget that we make mistakes, we separate ourselves from God, we do not lives worthy of the calling to which we have been called.

Certainly we don’t need to place the ten commandments on Ayr High Street, or Burns Statue Square, but it would do us well to remember God’s commands, to reflect on how we fall short of our best hopes for ourselves, and God’s greatest desires as well.

The first four commandments,

• you shall have no other gods before me
• do not worship idols
• do not take the name of the Lord in vain
• honor the sabbath, and keep it holy

These first four commandments have to do with how we relate to God. And if we’re being honest, we probably hear a bit of a rebuke in there.

In today’s world, it’s so easy to place other gods of consumerism, or fashion, or family, or social standing before God, the Lord. We worship the idols of television personalities, football players’ weddings, and take the name of the Lord in vain when we give ultimate power to money or goods, rather than God.

And we probably don’t fare too well with the last six commandments either.

• honor your father and your mother sounds good, and we try, but certainly we fall short of giving true respect to those who deserve it
• do not kill stands as a daily reminder against our global-warming lifestyles
• we commit adultery in our wide variety of unfaithful relationships

And on and on and on…

Thank goodness that old stereotype of the damning Church of Scotland minister doesn’t function any more, because I don’t know about you, but I’d get depressed hearing that every week, weekly reminded of our inability to escape our basic sinful condition.

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In this morning’s second reading, we look in on Paul and the Christian community in Rome. Chapter 6 picks up just as Paul makes an essential pivot in his argument.

You see, the Romans were struck by this same sinful condition in which we find ourselves, in which the whole world finds itself. The Romans must have had a newage Church of Scotland preacher the week before, because they seemed to be stuck less on sin, and more on Jesus.

They were thinking, wait a second, if Jesus Christ died that I might have life, if Jesus Christ wiped away all my sins, if Jesus’ love is so great that God forgives all–now and forever–then what’s to stop me from sinning away, from breaking the commandments, because we are assured that in Jesus we are forgiven.

Paul puts the question this way, “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

By no means! he says. Heck no!

Paul is certain that because of Christ, we too might walk in newness of life, changed, restored, renewed to a new way of living in Christ.

[this section influenced by Bartlett's presentation of general knowledge at WorkingPreacher.com]

Paul explains this change several ways, but his main description is baptism. In our baptisms, we are baptized into Christ’s death. In our baptisms, we are sealed into Christ’s love. In our baptisms into Christ, we have been freed from our old ways and are no longer enslaved to sin, for we live with Christ.

Some baptismal rituals emphasize just this dramatic change. Some churches ask the those about to be baptized to face the west, where darkness sets, and they ask the questions, “Do you turn from evil and sin?” “Do renounce the devil and all his ways?” And the person to be baptized stamps a foot at each answer, physically representing the renunciation. And then the whole party turns to face East, the direction of the rising sun, and the newly baptized confesses faith in Jesus Christ. The physical turning from evil and to Christ symbolizes the change Christ already made for us.

Paul shouts it over and over again: something has changed. In Christ, we have been made new. In Christ, our sins have been washed away. In Christ, we see a new way to live.

Our baptism signals this change. Turning away from evil and towards Christ.

Or, as the Romans may have done, being fully emerged in the baptismal river and coming up sopping wet, wholly different, putting on a white robe to signify in Christ, something has changed.

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Paul emphasized baptism, but he doesn’t stay there. His argument flows on and he writes, “But if we have died with Christ (in baptism), we believe that we will also live with him.”

We wish to live with Christ. We do live with Christ. We live with Christ as our leader and the commandments as our guide.

By virtue of our baptism, we have been freed to live out the gospel, freed to follow the commandments not out of fear, but in response to God in Christ.

When we approach the commandments as good guides for living, they take on a positive, freeing, uplifting tone.

Do not kill becomes also a good guide to live with respect towards one another, to treat one another as equals, to honor life in all its fulness, that God forbids us to harm one another because we are all created in God’s image, all precious and loved by God.

One can read all the commandments in this way. Do not lie reminds us to use our words carefully, respectfully, with love and honesty. Do not commit adultery points us to healthy relationships with all God’s children. And so on…Living in response to Christ, living still wet from our baptisms, approaches the commandments as teaching tools for healthy living.
Those American ten commandments monuments are still rather difficult to understand, but they remind me of another culture’s tradition, that of singing the commandments.

Singing the ten commandments to a light folk tune. Singing the ten commandments with a rhythm in your heart, a lilt in your step. Singing the ten commandments because Christ calls us to live in him. Singing the ten commandments in response to Christ’s great gift. Singing sopping wet from our baptisms, full of gospel love.

Now that’s a stereotype with which all Christians can be proud.

To the God of all grace,
who calls you to share God’s eternal glory
in union with Christ
be the power forever! Amen.