Proper 16, Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Dr. Deborah M. Dresser
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.
What does Paul mean by referring to our bodies as a living sacrifice and how does one do that, if one wants to?
I became most interested in the language of sacrifice as I began to notice over a long period of time as a priest celebrating the Holy Eucharist that in Rite I, the often used Eucharistic Prayer at an early Sunday morning service, the word sacrifice comes up five times. This is in comparison to the prayers in Rite II. In each of those four, the word sacrifice is used only once. Why is this? It is a question I will return to in a minute but first let us consider how the word sacrifice is used in our common parlance.
If you are a baseball fan you know that a sacrifice is a bunt or a fly ball that is pretty sure to be caught by the opposing team. That’s the idea. While the ball is in the air or in the act of being caught the runner tags a base or even comes home.
In today’s economy we hear a lot about sacrifice, the sacrifice that families that are making to keep financially afloat. Nancy, who runs the ice cream store down the street, told me yesterday that her family has given up the newspaper and Fios TV. Her son Chris is not returning to college this fall, because, as he said, "I need to take care of things here". I think I know what he means—the sacrifice that he is making is his tuition for the sake of the family.
Those of you who grew up in the depression or the 2nd World War are well acquainted with sacrifice. But somewhere in the 1960s the idea of sacrifice has not had much popularity. Perhaps this is because as a society we had more than we needed. Then again, a word like sacrifice has a lot of powerful cultural connotations and I think that it was in the ‘60s that the language of sacrifice was identified with forms of oppression or debasement. This was a time when society was thinking a lot about liberation – social ethics, women’s liberation, and class liberation. For many who were not sharing in the riches and power of society the act of making a sacrifice was experienced much like being a doormat to someone else’s power trip.
Perhaps this cultural connotation has something to do with the limited use of sacrifice in the Rite II Eucharistic Prayers, which were afterall written in the late 60s.
So, we need to think about how Paul’s audience heard his exhortation back in the first century. How did they hear this opening line in the twelfth chapter of his letter to the Romans—present your bodies as a spiritual sacrifice. What was their experience with the language of sacrifice?
Sacrifice has always been essential to the act of worship and in Paul’s time whether the people who read his letter were Jews or Pagans, their association with sacrifice was a terrible smell—literally the smell of dead animals. Sacrifice was all about animals being slaughtered before an altar and burned to a crisp. So, on top of being smelly, it was noisy, and just down right messy.
Sacrifice was all about appeasing the gods or, in the case of Judaism, the God . Sacrifice was all about making restitution for sin or making a thank offering for some special blessing.
Before we get to the "how on earth does one make a living sacrifice?", let’s remind ourselves of what Paul has been talking about in the first eleven chapters of his letter.
In a nutshell, Paul is telling his readers what God has been doing since the beginning and what God’s intention has been in Jesus Christ. The burden of his text is this: this is what the Christ has been and has done for you. Yes, Paul talks loquaciously about the role of Abraham and the other forebearers; he speaks eloquently about the role of the law and of grace but the essential point is that he has built a case in favor of Christ.
And then he comes to that wonderful word that shifts his rhetoric: "therefore". Like the good lawyer that he is, Paul has built a solid case, so that he can appeal to his brothers and sisters, on the bases of God’s act in the world how it is that they/we are to act—to live their/our lives in such a way that they/we will be holy and acceptable to God. As God has done for you, so you too must do for God.
That’s pretty much a tight balance sheet. BUT If that were the final word, we would be in great trouble. There are preachers who will say, "Get it together, don’t let God down—after all he has done for you!” Not even Paul was that glib. Paul is well aware, as he says in a variety of ways throughout his letters, 'I know what God has done for me—he has set me free to love—I know what God is asking of me, I know what is the right thing to do, I know the difference between good and evil, BUT I just can't seem to pull it together much of time'.
He knew conflict, he knew sin—up front and personal—but he also knew the power of grace that far out-balanced his human efforts and human failings. Without that grace-fulfilling love from Christ, that has the power to pull us up and out from our sin, we are no better off than those who came offering cattle, lambs and pigeons to be sacrificed.
Paul is offering to his readers and therefore to us a completely different way of understanding sacrifice. While his readers might have envisioned a pageant of death, Paul is urging us to offer ourselves, our souls, our bodies, to be transformed into the body of Christ—to be united with Christ and to be made whole with him.
Paul confirms that sacrifice is an act of worship and as such it costs something. A living sacrifice suggests that our transformation is connected with our will to let go of the destructive behaviors and self-centered opinions that limit and harm others. It suggests, as Jesus enacted, a way of living that supports and values all humanity.
And, lastly Paul underscores that this living sacrifice is holy, in other words it is set a part for God, recognizing the preeminence of God in all of life.
Sacrifice the Pauline way, the Christ centered way, is not about tit-for-tat theology—God did this, I will do that, It’s not about fear of reprisal; nor is it a means to get aboard that ride into heaven; nor is it a roll over and let the world walk all over you.
No! The Gospel shaped meaning of sacrifice is about gratitude. It is a stand-up-and-take-account-of-yourself style of spirituality; a vigorous quest of the mind and heart for God’s presence. It is a seeking to accept the gift that God has given to you through his son Jesus the Christ. How can one not be filled with gratitude in this realization? It is this response that makes our life a living sacrifice of thanksgiving and transforms the way we see ourselves and our relationships with those around us.
And, when we, as did Paul, fail to live in that gratitude, we are reminded that it is God’s grace that has the power and desire to pick us up in a divine embrace and encourage us to take the next step. And, for this too, we are filled with gratitude.
Amen
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The Reverend Deborah Dresser
Deborah Dresser is a priest in the Diocese of New York since 1985. Most recently she served as Priest-in-Charge of St. George’s Church in Newburgh from 1996, retiring in 2010. Before coming to Newburgh, she headed in a multi-parish configuration in Rockland County. Prior to that position she was the Assistant Rector of Grace Church, White Plains. Mother Dresser holds a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a Doctor of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary. She also holds a certificate of accreditation in spiritual direction from the Center of Spiritual Direction, Bronx, NY.
Before being called into ordained ministry, Mother Dresser was a graphic artist (pre-computerization) and continues today executing design work for not-for-profit organizations. She is the Vice President of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, a humanitarian NGO that supports Palestinian Christians through our sister Episcopal Church in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. She is also active in the promotion of chamber music through the Newburgh Chamber Music organization. And finally, she continues to be active in Episco-Build, a consortium of Episcopal parishes in the Region that partner with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh—an organization that she founded.
Deborah and her husband, Bob (retired priest), live in Newburgh with their two noisy corgis. They have four daughters—all married with children—making a lively family that unfortunately does not live next door.