Teach Me Your Paths

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
March 5, 2006
First Sunday in Lent

Teach Me Your Paths
Gen 9:8-17
Mark 1:9-15

The text for both our Psalm of Confession and our second hymn
came from Psalm 25.
I think it is one of the most powerful of the 150 Psalms
that are to be found in the Bible.
It is a wonderful text for any time of year,
but it seems particularly appropriate as we begin Lent.

We are not sure who wrote this Psalm.
Throughout history we have attributed the Psalms
to King David and his son, King Solomon,
but there were probably many authors.
The Psalmist wrote this text as a plaintive cry to God
for two things: forgiveness and instruction:
forgiveness and instruction;
mercy and guidance.

The Psalm begins
“To you O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I put my trust.”
Right there we have a perfect prayer for each day in Lent.
The words are so simple.
What an ideal way to begin each morning
with those words:
“To you O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I put my trust.”

The season of repentance that takes us to Easter
reminds us that when we lift up our hearts to God
we should always begin by acknowledging our guilt,
our sins, all those ways we have turned from God,
so that we can repent, and turn back to God.

The more completely you can look at yourself
and acknowledge what you have done wrong,
the more completely you will feel yourself washed clean
and renewed in the Holy Spirit.
If you open your heart and pour out your sins,
if you open your heart, and look deep within yourself
as you are doing your Lenten spiritual housecleaning,
you will be ready then to look to God for guidance,
for instruction, for teaching.
You will be ready to say to God,
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me…”

Looking deep within ourselves does not come easily to us, though.
We humans are proud, often arrogant;
Doing an open, honest assessment can be a struggle.
We rationalize our behavior,
our mistakes, our errors:
“Oh, it’s not that big a deal;
or, “Well at least I am not as bad as so-and-so.”
We don’t come before God in humility,
with penitent hearts.

The Psalmist reminds us of the importance of humility:
“Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instruct sinners in the way
He leads the humble in what is right
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees”
The Psalmist goes back to the covenant
that God made with his children
and all living creatures through the rainbow.
An everlasting covenant of goodness, mercy, and love.

The Psalmist in his humility does not deny his sins,
his transgressions.
He knows he has sinned and humbly seeks forgiveness.
Unhappily, in our society, we find it difficult to confess our faults.
We are quick to cover up our own faults,
even as we busily point out the faults in others.
We seem to be a more and more irresponsible society;
where we don’t want to take
responsibility for our actions.

The prayer I included in the March newsletter
was written by William Barclay, and in it he asks,
“why do we evade responsibility for our sinfulness?”
Why are we so ready to point out the faults of others,
yet so resistant to acknowledge our own faults?

Two years ago I was asked by Christian Century magazine
to review a half dozen books
that had been written on the corporate fraud
we were reading about in the newspaper – the Enrons, the Tycos.
In the article I expressed amazement
at how many men and women in the business world
were so unwilling to acknowledge their errors;
so quick to say it was someone else’s fault,
even when their guilt was clear.

I wrote a new prayer of Confession for these people
to reflect the changing times:
“Almighty God, I may or may not need your mercy,
for I am neither admitting nor denying that I have transgressed.
For I would come to you with a penitent and contrite heart,
if I were guilty of sin, which I am not saying I am,
and I am not saying that I am not.
I may have turned from your love and your path,
but I am confident that any such allegations made against me
will in time be proven unfounded.
For all these sins which I may or may not have committed,
forgive me, even as I deny any specific need for forgiveness.
Wash me clean and restore in me a right spirit,
notwithstanding the fact that my present spirit
may require neither washing nor restoration. Amen”

We waffle!
We seem so unwilling to admit our sins.
But don’t you see: we cannot do that
if we hope to grow in faith and obedience,
if we truly hope to learn from God.
We cannot say to God, “Teach me your paths.”
without first saying, “I keeping selecting the wrong paths”.
We cannot say to God, “Teach me your paths.”
without first saying, “without you, O God,
and your guidance and instruction,
I will always choose the wrong paths.”

In a wonderful essay on Lent, Edna Hong writes,
“There is no motivation for works of love
without a sense of gratitude;
[There can be] no sense of gratitude without forgiveness;
[There can be] no forgiveness without contrition;
[There can be] no contrition without a sense of guilt;
[and there can be] no sense of guilt without a sense of sin.”
(Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent, 24)

We begin to grow in understanding
when we first acknowledge our sinfulness,
acknowledge to God and ourselves,
remembering that God already knows our sins
and is waiting to say, “You are forgiven.”

Only when we acknowledge the wrong paths we have taken
will we be able to say “Teach me your paths”
with any meaning.
We cannot get to instruction and learning,
much less transformation,
without acknowledging that our Lord and Savior
went to the cross and died for our sins:
yours and mine.

Hong concludes her essay with these words:
“the purpose of Lent is to arouse:
arouse a sense of sin,
a sense of guilt for that sin,
so that we move to contrition
as we seek forgiveness,
And then through forgiveness,
open ourselves to new life.”

Come to this table in real humility;
Come to this table with penitent hearts;
Come to this table in genuine humbleness.
As you wait to be served,
acknowledge your sins, acknowledge them to God,
who already knows them
and who is waiting to forgive you.
Then you will be ready to learn;
then you will be ready to grow.

In this Lenten season, seek forgiveness
that you might really know
the promise of the covenant of grace
God gives us so faithfully in Jesus Christ:
the one who died
that we might have life.
Amen