11 March 2012
The word atonement can be defined by picking it apart the way I did in the sermon title: At One Ment. Atonement means repair of something that is broken into pieces, making it whole again. Atonement in practical terms is restorative justice: like the program of the same name, that provides a way for young offenders to repair the damage they did when they broke somebody’s window or vandalized a public building. Atonement is fixing the window, and cleaning up the mess, and promising never to do anything so stupid again. But more than that, atonement is repairing the broken trust, the trust that allows people to live together in community.
Theologically, atonement is repairing the broken trust between God and people, becoming at one with God. Scripture says that we are made in the image of God, male and female. Scripture also says that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. We are dust animated by the spirit of God which is within us. Which means, at-one-ment with God is our natural state. We come from God and to God we return. It’s the middle part that is tricky, the part where we grow up and move out of God’s house, to make our own way in the world. It isn’t easy for us; but any parent can guess that it isn’t easy for God either.
During this season of Lent, our first scripture lessons have been the covenant stories of the Bible: The rainbow covenant after the flood, the covenant with Abraham, and today, the covenant at Sinai, also known as the ten commandments. These covenants trace the history of God reaching out to creation, like a parent reaching out to a lost or estranged child. God said to all creation: I am sorry about the flood. That was wrong, I was too harsh, I learned my lesson. I declare a unilateral disarmament. Here, I will hang up my bow: I put it in the clouds. Whenever you see my bow in the clouds remember: I am for you.
And later, God reached out to Abraham as he wandered from his home: Saying, Abraham, walk with me. I will be your God, and you will be my people, you and your descendants forever. I give you a name, and a land, and descendants, and my presence, always.
And when the people were enslaved in Egypt God called them out, and taught them how to live, so that it might go well with them. The commandments were given not so people could break them and give God a reason to retaliate. The commandments were given so that people could live, so that it would go well with them. They had been slaves, whose only rule was, do what your master says. God knows freedom isn’t easy, and God said, this is what freedom means: you have to be accountable to each other now. Here’s some guidelines. This is how you walk with me.
From time to time, God sent prophets to remind the people of the covenant on Sinai. You wonder why things aren’t going well, the prophets said, you wonder why your enemies surround you, you wonder why the people rebel? Remember the covenant. Remember the way God taught you to go. How’s that working for you? Oh, you forgot the covenant? Well, turn around! Repent!
What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. Walk with me.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, sin is not original. Sin isn’t a sickness, sin isn’t an inevitable state of being. Sin is wandering from God, wandering away from the paths of righteousness that God mapped out for us at Sinai, the paths of righteousness and justice, the paths of mercy and compassion. And we make atonement by turning around, which is what repentance means, turning around. Turn back!
In the fullness of time, God sent Jesus, to be the living embodiment of God’s covenant. Jesus was the rainbow, the sign of peace. Jesus was the promise to Abraham, the one through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. Jesus was the living Word, faithfulness personified. Jesus was the way, the living map of the paths of righteousness. Jesus’ life is the map, Jesus’ resurrection is the sign of victory snatched from the jaws of death.
Jesus is the key to living the life that is truly worth living, in the meantime. From God we come, to God we will return; in the meantime life can be hell, or life can be at one with God. We, the church of Jesus, we, the followers of Christ have a mission: To keep to the paths of righteousness, as best we can, with the help of the Spirit; and to seek out and save the lost from their living hell, to help them find the way of at one ment with God. May the Spirit help us in our mission, and keep us on the right paths, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
