Everyone’s a Winner
The Rev. Canon George M. Maxwell, Jr.
The Cathedral of St. Philip
Atlanta, Georgia
Proper 9
3 July 2005 -- Year A
It’s almost time for the thirty-sixth running of the Peachtree Road Race. This race has long been the highlight of my Fourth of July celebration. It’s the highlight of my celebration because it always presents what I think of as “Easter moments.”
I know that, at almost any time during the race, I will be able to look up and see an incredible array of different kinds of people celebrating what they have in common. On one side of me, I might see a young white mother running by herself just as she passes a middle aged black man running with his family. On the other side, I might see two people talking to each other in what sounds like a language from Asia running beside two people talking to each other in what sounds like a dialect from the Bronx. One year I even saw a bulldog running next to a yellow jacket.
We will all be sharing a common experience. We will all drink together from the same water tables. We will all laugh together at the same silly costumes. We will all grimace together on the same hills. And, in the end, we will all wear the same T-shirt.
We will all be celebrating America. Unlike other countries, we won’t be celebrating a race of people called Americans and most of us won’t really be celebrating a particular place where we were born. Most of us will really be celebrating an idea.
We will be celebrating the idea of freedom. We will be celebrating the idea that we are free to make decisions for ourselves. We will be celebrating the idea that we have a right to equal justice and equal opportunity. We will be celebrating the idea that if we can see ourselves as individuals who are all part of the same community, we can literally change the world.
And, in the back of our minds, we will be celebrating what we have done with our freedom. Because of hard work, thrift, patience and tenacity we now live in a society that enjoys an unprecedented level of openness, stability, innovation and development. These things are in fact changing the world.
I always feel a new sense of hope in these moments. Everything seems to be within our reach, and nothing seems to be beyond our grasp. It makes me proud to be an American.
And I’m always tempted to ask – could we actually create the perfect society? Could we actually build the other-worldly “City on the Hill” that our founders imagined?
In his letter to the Romans, Paul seems to be saying “no.”
He seems to be saying “no,” because he believes that the power of sin is stronger than we are. He describes it as a force that dwells within us and makes us do things we don’t even really want to do. It is a force that narrows our focus to ourselves, causing us to forget about other people. It feels like the gravitational pull that lurks in childhood dreams and pulls the dreamer over the side and into the abyss despite her best efforts to resist it.
We can see this power at work if we look at our motivations for doing what we do. Although we might describe it with more precise psychological terms, we can find the power of sin behind our sense of self interest that sometimes dictates what we do. It can even cause us to do what we know to be wrong by convincing us it is right.
In our individual lives, it can poison the development of our selves and our relationships. Think about the father who always works late. Is he motivated by a desire to do well in his job, or to avoid the chaos of caring for his young children at home?
Think about the mother who always sacrifices herself for her children. Is she motivated by a desire to nurture her children or to avoid the anxiety of creating an identity for herself outside of them?
In the life of our country, the power of sin can convince us to use the power that our freedom has given us to take away the freedom of other people. Think of examples from our history in which our ambition or fear has caused us to lose our sense of justice and fairness. If we are honest with ourselves, we won’t have to look very hard, and we will feel a sense of shame at the arrogance that caused us to forget their rights to freedom.
Even today, we are struggling to understand our real motivations behind decisions we are making about racism, poverty, capital punishment and war.
Paul wants us to understand that sin is not just a list of things that we should make sure we don’t do. Sin has a power all its own that can take away our freedom. Sin is a force that we cannot ultimately control by ourselves. And, of course, we lose even our ability to fight it when we lose our ability to recognize it.
I think Paul wants us to understand the power of sin because he knows that we have to accept that we can’t control sin before we will accept that we need love. The power of love is a force that can also dwell within us, if we let it. It is a force that expands our focus to include others, without causing us to forget about ourselves. We can’t overcome sin, but love can overcome sin.
And, for that, thanks be to God!
So, the task for me as I celebrate the Fourth of July is to take a moment to look at the motivations for my celebration. If I have an awareness that all Americans have not enjoyed the same freedom that I have, and a sense of gratitude that I have been allowed to live when and how I have, then I think I am feeling the power of love. It is easy for me to move from this feeling to a desire to make my joy available to other people. And I find that I’m participating in a spiritual economy of abundance. The more that I give, the more that I receive. Eventually, even strangers begin to look like brothers and sisters.
If, on the other hand, I begin to feel a sense of entitlement – a sense that I have earned what I have – then I think I am feeling the power of sin. It is easy for me to move from this feeling to a sense of anxiety about how I am going to protect my status. And I find that I’m participating in a spiritual economy of scarcity. The more that I give, the less that I have. Eventually, even my brothers and sisters begin to look like strangers.
I remember finishing the Peachtree Road Race one year to the enthusiastic voice of a volunteer who yelled repeatedly over her megaphone – “Congratulations. You are all winners. Everybody’s a winner.” It was one of those “Easter moments.” I don’t remember my time that year. I don’t remember if I started too fast or finished too slow. But, I do remember the guy in the Uncle Sam costume. I do remember the runners I was with as we climbed Heartbreak Hill, and I do remember the first person I saw after I crossed the finish line.
We were all winners. But, we were not all winners because we were good. We were all winners because we were loved.
And for that, thanks be to God!
Comments? Contact George Maxwell at: GMaxwell@stphilipscathedral.org