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Peter 1:17-23
Some
words do not have a happy history in church, and “purity” is one of them.
Christians have stumbled over that word for centuries, and that’s largely
because we tend to think of it in terms of clean and unclean: what is pure is
clean and what is impure is . . . usually about sex. Seriously, this is a
problem for us. A “pure virgin” is pure because that person hasn’t had sex.
When we say that people are guilty of “impure thoughts,” we mean they’re having
“dirty thoughts,” i.e., thoughts about sex. I suppose there are many reasons
for this, but let me just be very clear here: I’m going to talk about purity
today, but I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about the First Letter of
Peter, and its important message for us today.
So
right now lay aside all the baggage that comes with that word, and remember
that to purify something is to distill it down to its very essence. To be pure
in that sense is to be undiluted. The author of First Peter says that you have purified your souls by your
obedience to the truth. That truth is the revelation of God in Jesus
Christ, a revelation that reaches its purest expression in Jesus’ death and
resurrection: the essence of God is self-giving love, a love that is
invincible. And as this passage today puts it, to be obedient to that truth, to
honor it as The Truth, purifies us so that we see the essence of our own being,
which is also self-giving love. And so the writer says, Now that you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that
you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. Jesus
reveals who God is and who we are, and It all comes together in one great
undiluted expression of Truth. As Paul writes to the Romans, God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom. 5:5). At our purest, we are love.
I
think we are living through a time of real purification, a time when we must
distill our religious practice, our faith, down to its very essence. We have no
choice, really. We can’t meet in our beloved church building. We can’t listen
to our choirs sing; we can’t enjoy the beautiful liturgy, the vestments or
lovely flowers. We can’t ponder the mystery of why some pews have cushions and others do not. Well, I suppose we could
still do that. But in large measure we have been stripped of the familiar
trappings of our religion and forced to confront the essence of who we are,
which is not a building, nor a society devoted to the enactment of ancient
rituals. In essence, we are a community of lovers, a varied assortment of
people who experience God’s love and share God’s love. Even the Holy Eucharist,
the core of our common life which I miss terribly, distills our faith down to
the same truth: God is love and so are we.
And
that process of purification, by the way, is going on at every level, from
individuals who live alone and families who live in very close contact with
each other all the way up to what’s happening in the world around us. At the heart of every commonwealth,
be it a town, city, state, nation, or the whole planet is a sense of the
commonweal, the mutual support we need to function well as a society.
Ultimately, what makes our world work best is not competition or warfare, but
love — not sentimental feelings, but giving of ourselves for the good of all.
As difficult and painful as it can be, by staying home and practicing social
distancing, we are loving each other and helping to prevent greater devastation
and to save lives. Apart from love, all of this does not feel very doable. With
love, it all makes sense. And with love, all things are possible. The process
of purification shows us this is true.
But
let me bring this down to a personal level. Mature faith looks to see God in
all circumstances and to grow in all circumstances. Ideally, this pandemic will
purify us and we will emerge from it as a more loving church and a more loving
world. But that comes down to each one of us. So let me ask you: how might the
Holy Spirit be leading you to love more during this season? That Spirit is alive
in all of us; we already are, in essence, love. Growing spiritually just means
becoming our truest and purest selves. So how is the Holy Spirit leading you to
love more right now, this week? I was talking to a parishioner recently who
told me she is enjoying calling people up on the phone and talking to them,
something she normally doesn't get to do much of. But she is being led to do it
now, and the result is more loving contact with others. Maybe something similar
is happening with you, or maybe you are realizing that you really could be more
patient with your children or that you really need to forgive that person you
keep stewing about. I don't know how the Spirit is leading you, but I know each
one of us is one with Christ in the Spirit and that the essence of Christ and
the essence of our souls is love. We were made to love. We want to love. God
will help us to love. That’s the pure, undiluted truth, so let’s go with it. Now that you have purified your souls by
obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another
deeply from the heart.
