Pentecost 15                                                Rom.12:1-8                                                    8/24/08
                                           “What Will We Do Without Phone Booths”

What will we do without phone booths???!!!  Have you noticed that those time honored kiosks that used to stand on many city or large town corners are gone?  Find even one for me today.

No wonder we have so many bad things happening in our world.  Without phone booths, all kinds of evil, those enemies of society so long controlled, are free do as they please. No longer can mild mannered Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet be transformed into Superman, that supreme fighter for truth, justice and the American way!

For those of you too young to have been acquainted with Superman, he was a person from the planet Krypton who was lost on earth when he was a baby.  A nice, unsuspecting couple, found him and raised him as their own son.  Little by little, Clark discovered he had the power to see through solid walls, repel bullets, and fly through the air like a rocket.              

Superman used these powers to stop bank robberies, catch women falling from high buildings, bring bad guys driving quickly from a crime scene to a dead halt, and generally put the enemies of good order in their place while earning the adoration of Lois Lane, a fellow reporter who had no idea that socially awkward, bespeckled Clark is actually the love of her life.

And all this is lost because, thanks to cell phones, we no longer have phone booths.  Since he can no longer run into one when evil appears and be transformed, Superman seems to be forever locked inside  Clark Kent.  I guess he finally married Lois, had kids and retired to Florida or the Shady Rest Home for Aging Newspapermen.

If only we could find our hero, we could let him in on the secret that St. Paul is sharing with Christians in Rome (and with us) in today’s second lesson, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,...”

You see, Christians have had the secret of how to be transformed for over two thousand years.  We received power in our baptisms into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We don’t have to have been born on the planet Kryton and we don’t need to wear a special outfit with a red cape - all of which would probably look pretty silly on most of us anyway - to exhibit unusual gifts. 

We need only resist the urge to be conformed to this world with all it’s greed, lust, hate, violence, self centeredness and apathy.  This isn’t easy.  In fact, it does take super powers.  We must grasp hold of these super powers repeatedly every day.  Each time we are confronted with temptation or whatever form evil takes, we need to return to our baptisms so that we can draw on the super power of the Spirit.

Remembering our baptisms, we reassured of God’s love that was so great He gave His own Son to save humanity from themselves.  Remembering our baptisms, we  are reassured that through Christ nothing can separate us from that love, not even our own sinfulness.  Remembering our baptisms, we  are reassured of forgiveness that frees us from guilt and shame.  Remembering our baptisms, we are assure that we have the ultimate super  power of the Spirit to draw on as we face battles with evil in our lives.

Also, our super powers are renewed each time we meditate on Scripture, partake of the Sacrament of Holy Communion, engage in conversation with God through prayer or act to overcome evil by seeking justice and peace, by witnessing to God’s love in Christ and by helping others.  This is to avail ourselves of the power of truth that comes from God. 

As we immerse ourselves in the truth of God’s love we are strengthened by the power of the Spirit within us.   We then see once again that the sin that weakens us is buried with Christ in His death.  To be buried with Christ is a way of acknowledging that we are powerless over sin, that we need  the grace of God that brings forgiveness and the strength to overcome the evil in our lives.

This is not an immediate transformation.  While our salvation was won for us as a one time act, our growth in power takes time.  Each time we do one of the things mentioned previously our faith is strengthened and we grow in grace.

We are enabled to say what Martin Luther proclaimed when he felt the assaults of temptation, “I am baptized!”  Understanding and experiencing the power of baptism into Christ’s death, we take another step on the road to freedom.

In this freedom we are able to look beyond the guilt and shame that so often keep us centered on ourselves, make us hide in the garment of self-righteousness and lead us astray.  Freed in this way we can accept others and help them in their struggles to experience the love of God. 

Then, joining together under the power of the Spirit we are united as one strong body.  In this unity, each of us can recognize,  appreciate and use the particular gifts God has given us.  We can also see and support others in the use of their gifts.  United as God’s church, we become an unbeatable force for good in our communities and the world.

Thus we become fighters for truth, justice and the Christian way.  With our priorities formed by God’s will, our concerns focused on what is truly important, and our identities transformed into empowered disciples of Christ we can defeat evil wherever we find it.

Thus transformed, we become super heroes bearing the cross of Christ before us.  This is the call we received in baptism, the call that gives our lives more meaning than any gold medals won in an olympic competition, wealth accumulated through worldly wise business deals, adulation of crowds based on fragile notions of beauty or other worldly success.

Clark and Lois Kent can rest easy in their retirement.  A greater power  working from inside out to transform us will take up the fight against all evil.

And all of this without having to find a phone booth.  Yes, that’s right.   Transformed by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, we no longer need to find a phone booth for an external transformation because that greater transformation is happening all the time inside us.

So, now with that good news, please take out your cell phones and dial,
“A-M-E-N”.  That’s our fast dial for “Yes, it will be so.”  Amen