Meditating on Proper 13: Cleanse and Defend Your Church

 

Proper 13    

The Sunday closest to August 3

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your
Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without
your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Preface of the Lord's Day

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There has been a lot of criticism of the Church (with a capital C) over the last number of years. Probably for the past twenty centuries, if we’re honest, but definitely the past hundred years, and why not? It’s not as if there is “The” Church. There’s practically a church on every corner; there are hundreds, if not thousands of denominations and sects. Many claim to be “THE” Church, to which others respond, “Nuh-uh; WE are the true Church.” It’s all so exasperating.

I try not to turn up my nose at such well-meaning arrogance (well-meaning because their desire is for people to join them so as to get to heaven. Arrogant because they stand in God’s shoes in order to pass judgment on who’s in and who’s out – it’s enough to give God a foot cramp!). It’s really no better if I stand in judgment of them as they stand in judgment of me. Oh the irony.

I suppose that’s why our prayer today begins on a note of humility, acknowledging our persistent need for God’s continued and continual mercy, as well as our need to be continually cleansed (made holy) and defended.

The request for defense is an interesting one. The first image that comes to mind is that of a child who is being bullied. They may be too small or weak to defend themselves, or their opponents too tough, mean, or nasty. Jesus makes it very clear that God is interested in the weak and oppressed. We (the Church) are expected to stand up for (and stand beside) widows and orphans, prisoners and strangers, the sick and the marginalized. 

But there is another body that needs defending, isn’t there? How about those who do wrong, who sin, who bully, who deceive? When a police officer arrests someone, they read them their “rights,” amongst which is the right to an attorney. When we ask God to defend us, I can’t help but wonder if we aren’t asking God to stand beside us and defend us against charges that may well be true! We may be innocent of many things, or even most things, but are we innocent of everything? Have you broken the Sabbath? Have you ever taken the Lord’s Name in vain? Have you ever lusted after someone not your spouse? Have you ever taken something not belonging to you?

Oh sure, we confess our sins quite regularly, and God forgives them willy-nilly just as regularly. Once confessed and absolved, how much time do we spend “feeling” guilty or making amends or “truly and earnestly repenting of our sins”? How readily do we lean on cheap grace to get us out of jams and go about our lives barely changed, if at all?

The Church (which includes us, for we make up the Body of Christ both corporately and individually) stands before God guilty of a multitude of sins: the way we treat women, children, the poor, those who speak foreign languages; the way we sweep our most grievous faults under rugs; deny our part in atrocities carried out in Jesus’ Name.

It is too easy to gloss over these and our other many faults and sins of omission and commission. So our prayer invites us to go deeper. We confess we cannot go forward in safety without God’s abiding presence.  We’re not asking God to keep us safe from the consequences of our actions, but to bring us into conformity with the Law and the Prophets, with love of God, neighbor, and self. We’re literally asking God to stay by our side so that no matter what we face, God is there. Even when we are at our most guilty, God stands beside us and assures us we do not face the Judge alone; “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous …” (1 John 2:1). Jesus stands before God and assures the Divine One, “Don’t worry; they will do better. You have My Word on that.”

Our job, then, is to live into that reality, live into that righteousness, live into that “goodness” for heaven’s sake. Let us go and “do thou likewise” in Jesus’ name. Amen.