The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is an Episcopal parish in the Diocese of Pennsylvania that is centered on the worship of God, the ministry of all baptized persons, and the call to be agents of Christ’s love in the world.

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Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
8000 St. Martin’s Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19118
215.247.7466

The Rev. W. Jarrett Kerbel

Just Grace: Sermon October 30, 2011

By The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel

Yesterday afternoon, I was shoveling the walk of the church in preparation for a wedding, when an SUV pulled into the church driveway flashing blue and red lights and a siren.  My heart leapt into my throat and my mind raced suddenly full of guilt.  What had I done?

Does Chestnut Hill have an ordinance against clergy shoveling snow on Saturdays between noon and 4 p.m.?

Out of the car stepped my friend Stephen Harding who has his car rigged with the lights and the siren for his work as Chaplain for the FDNY.  Stephen and his wife Storm Swain generously offered to shovel for me so I could prepare for the wedding. My guilt instantly faded and turned to gratitude for his kindness and generosity.

In a second my perception of the world switched from guilt and fear to gratitude and peace.  Once again I was reminded that the guilt comes out of me – it is something in my head and my heart - it colors my world a certain way, but the gifts and the generosity come from the world God has made and gives us day by day.

We are observing Reformation Sunday today because Martin Luther led the church from its reliance on fear and guilt into a renewed proclamation of grace and gift.  Luther’s famous summary, “Salvation by grace through faith,” is a liberation for all of us who still believe in our hearts that we need to earn God’s attention and make ourselves worthy of God’s love.  God’s love and acceptance are already given.  In the resurrection, God responded to all the hostility and rejection humanity could muster with the gift of even more love and more light and more connection.  Our only spiritual work is to accept that we are accepted, to receive the love that is already given, to wake up to a new creation already underway.  Gratitude for the gift is the gateway to faith.

At my last church I met with an older man who had called me out of the blue.  He said he was a “Failed member of the church” and he wanted to know if I would still do his funeral when the time came. Of course, I said.  He went on to describe his wonderful life to me; a successful career, family, a long first marriage to a beloved wife.  I could feel his gratefulness.  But, he said, “Reverend Kerbel, I have never been able to really be a person of faith.”  After some silence and thought, I replied, “You sound grateful for a gifted life and that is the beginning of faith.” 

What makes our hearts grateful?  Our beloved children or grandchildren, our spouse or partner or devoted friends, a beautiful day, a walk in the woods, meaningful work, moments of prayer, the hearing of the Gospel, the sharing of communion.  This perception of gift in pure simplicity is the root and gateway of faith. 

God is not withholding and distant. God is overwhelmingly generous and present and our work is tune our souls to God’s ultimate reality in the midst of all the static that competes in our hearts; the static of earning God’s attention, deserving God’s love.  I won’t lie, switching from the world of guilt and fear, feels like a loss of self, because we are so accustomed to living in that world. So I end with the words of Jesus which are so wise and so true “Those who humble themselves…”