This is the sermon I prepared for Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 12, 2010.

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Readings

Exodus 32:7–14
Psalm 51:1–10 (antiphon v. 1) [Psalm 51:3–12, NAB]
1 Timothy 1:12–17
Luke 15:1–10

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Prayer

Father in heaven, with the Psalmist and your Son, we pray in your Holy Spirit, “Have mercy on us, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out our transgressions.” Amen.

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Message

“Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness;
in your abundant compassion blot out my offense.” (Psalm 51:3, NAB)

Have mercy on us, O LORD.
We know we have offended you.
We have turned our backs on you.
We have ignored your commands.
We have picked other gods for ourselves.
We worship money and leisure, status and praise.
We charm ourselves with the sound of our own voices,
rather than listening to your Word.
We amuse ourselves to forget our troubles,
and when we do, we neglect your presence in the midst of our sorrow.

Be gentle when you discipline us.
Do not treat us harshly,
but see your Son’s obedience blanketing our disobedience.
Like a sponge soaks us a spill,
wipe away the mess we have made of our lives.

“Wash away all my guilt;
from my sin cleanse me.” (Psalm 51:4, NAB)

Ready yourself with washcloth and soap and water, LORD God.
Draw a bath for us, deep and fresh,
with just the right mix of water and Word.
Make it fragrant with salts and scents
of your Son’s sacrifice for our sins.
With his blood, rinse away our guilt
and cleanse us from our sin.

Hold us gently in your arms as you plunge us
into your cleansing waters.
Take us down deep,
immerse us, submerge us, scrub us all over,
wash us until we are clean,
forgiven, refreshed, renewed.

“For I know my offense;
my sin is always before me.” (Psalm 51:5, NAB)

Your Law is a mirror, holy Father.
We can see ourselves in it—
clearly, with no illusions, no deceits.
We wander from your ways.
We neglect to keep your day holy.
We disrespect our parents and others in authority.
We hurt the people you have brought into our lives.
We break the bonds of trust.
We take what does not belong to us.
We speak ill of others.
We fail to help others keep what is theirs.

This is what we see in your mirror, O LORD.
The picture is grim and grimy.
But you do not let us ignore our reflection.
Your Law shows us the truth of our offenses.

“Against you alone have I sinned;
I have done such evil in your sight
that you are just in your sentence,
blameless when you condemn.” (Psalm 51:6, NAB)

It is true, LORD.
All that we have done
that breaks your Law,
we have done against you, you alone.
It is all evil and disobedience,
sin and destruction.
You are clear, you tell us what you desire,
and yet we do not listen.
We turn from you and your ways,
we ignore your prophets and apostles.

That is the truth of our sad lives.
In the light of your truth,
we see that you are just.
We hear the sentence of death,
and we know that you are not to blame
for condemning us to die for our sins,
for wanting your wrath to burn hot against us,
for planning to consume us with fire and to begin again.

“True, I was born guilty,
a sinner even as my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:7, NAB)

As far back as we can remember, O God,
we have been this way,
guilty, sinful, broken, depraved.
So far back, and further still,
back to the beginning,
to the moment of our conception.
We are the sons and daughters
of Adam and Eve.
We inherit the human condition.
You create us in your image,
but we develop twists and wrinkles,
cracks and deformities.
We are born with original sin.

“Still, you insist on sincerity of heart;
in my inmost being teach me wisdom.” (Psalm 51:8, NAB)

We hear the voice of your Son, Father in heaven.
We hear him speak of the joy
that comes to you and your angels
when even one of us repents,
when just one, by grace,
shows sincerity of heart,
and turns from sin,
turns to you, turns from death to life.

Make us to be sincere in our devotion.
Lead us to pray to you each day.
Pour out your Spirit of truth.
Make us wise with your foolish wisdom
and fools according to the world’s ways.
Teach us the math of the kingdom,
where one out of a hundred
is a sum for celebration.

“Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure;
wash me, make me whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:9, NAB)

We come to you, O God,
so that you may cleanse us from our sin
with the grace of your Son
that overflows upon us
with the faith and love
that are in Christ Jesus.

Sprinkle us with the waters of baptism
into his death and resurrection.
Make us pure through his sacrifice.
By his blood, wash us, make us whiter than snow.

We trust that you will make us clean,
that only you can forgive us our sins.

“Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” (Psalm 51:10, NAB)

We lift our voices in praise, O God.
We sing to you a song of thanksgiving.
You make us whole,
make us one with your Son in your Spirit.
We cannot keep silent.
We must praise you for your gifts.

We had been broken by sin.
Through it, you broke us down, that you might raise us up.
We have been crushed, but now we are restored.
Because you raised your Son from the dead,
we know that you will lift the bone-crushing weight of death
once and for all in your kingdom.

With Ezekiel, your servant,
we witness you keeping your promise
that the bones of our broken lives
will rejoin, bone to bone,
and will come to life
only because your Son lives.
And so we dance and sing.

“Turn away your face from my sins;
blot out all my guilt.” (Psalm 51:11, NAB)

Do not look at us, LORD God.
We are sinners and we have sinned against you.
“We are, by nature, in bondage to sin
and we cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” (“Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness,” Lutheran Book of Worship, p. 56)

Do not look at us in our filth.
Gaze instead upon the purity of your Son.
Look at our Lord, Jesus Christ.
See his righteousness and not our faithlessness.
See his obedient heart and not our wandering desires.

“A clean heart create for me, God;
renew in me a steadfast spirit.” (Psalm 51:12, NAB)

You are our maker, Father in heaven.
We are the creatures you have made to speak with you.
You molded us from the earth.
We are clay in your potter’s hands.
You fashioned us in your image.
We reflect your likeness.
You breathed into us the breath of life.
We live and move only by the gift of your Spirit.

Come to us now and feed us with your Meal.
Satisfy us with the body of your Son in the bread,
his life-giving blood in the wine.
By these gifts, create clean hearts in us,
hearts that love you above all,
hearts that follow your Son to the end,
hearts that beat steadfastly by your Spirit.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be forever. Amen.