Sermon: "Intentions Pave the Way"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." How often I have heard that saying quoted - usually by people in authority … people interested in actions rather than only in words and in results rather than only intentions. Many times I am sympathetic to that perspective, for I, too, believe in action. A verse from the Epistle of James read several weeks ago resonates with my spirit: "Someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith" (2:18). Good intentions without good works, therefore, do often seem frivolous and inconsequential.

And yet - and yet - we need to question that quite reasonable perspective. We question it as Christian people who do not rely ultimately on good works to get us to heaven. When I really think about it, I believe that the road paved with good intentions leads to heaven rather than to hell. Surely we should follow our intentions with appropriate actions in order to lead authentic lives. However, our intentions serve to pave the way. Intentions, therefore, provide the necessary way for our actions to follow.

Let me offer you several examples which I hope will make the point this morning.

In the baptism of an infant or a young child, parents and godparents make certain promises for themselves and on behalf of the child. One question asked of such parents and godparents is this: "Will you be responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life?"(BCP, p302). And the response is "I will, with God's help." The intention is clear, quite clear - accepting responsibility for raising the child as a practicing Christian, in faith and in life. Now, do parents and godparents follow through in this statement of intention? Sometimes, on good days, in the best of cases. However, I believe that all of us who have been parents or godparents will admit to some degree of failure in following that intention, affirmed at baptism.

In the case of confirmation, those candidates make promises that others may have made on their behalf at baptism. The candidates for confirmation and reception, then, take those promises on themselves. Their intention to make good on their promises is quite clear.

Soon after those promises, another question is asked - this time to the entire congregation gathered. "Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support this person in his life in Christ?" (p303). And we respond, "We will." Do we - all of us - do all in our power to support this Christian life? I suspect that we do not.

Good intentions. ... good intentions, followed by failures, at least occasionally. The question for us today is this. Should we neglect to state our good intentions because we know ahead of time that we will be unable to follow them - at least, completely? Or, on the other hand, should we continue to try to pave the way with good intentions - the way to the life ahead for which we hope?

Here is another example of intentions, this time for the order of creation. In our Old Testament reading, the Lord God brings before the man all the animals which are created. The man is told to name each animal, for in the naming of a thing, there is dominion - authority - exercised. The Lord God indicates therefore that the man is to be ruler over all creation.

Since that time, have human beings - have we - been faithful in exercising dominion and in caring for this sacred trust? We need only consider briefly the animals which are now extinct and the creation itself which has suffered under our stewardship to recognize our failures in this regard.

However, does that make the intention invalid in the first place? I think not. The intention that human beings be faithful caretakers for God's creation continues to be completely appropriate. That intention paves the way toward God's plan. And the fact that we deviate from that way does not deny the validity of the way itself. Indeed, the way provides a judgment of our works. And this world desperately needs to understand that our works do have consequences, consequences which involve judgment from God Almighty.

We turn next to our Gospel reading and to the institution of marriage for another example of stated intentions. The biblical witness is quite clear that marriage is intended to be a life-long union of one man and one woman. Once again, intention paves that way toward God's plan. Such intention is affirmed by each party in a marriage in this church, for we ask each one if he or she "will live together in the covenant of marriage" (BCP, p4234). That covenant is explained as an agreement which affirms these characteristics: to love, comfort, honor and keep one another, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to the marriage partner as long as you both shall live.

Once again, the intention paves the way toward God's plan. And once again, we fail to stay on that way. What marriage partner here can dare claim complete obedience to all marriage vows? Yet, in our failures, do we deny the appropriateness of the intention? No, indeed.

The passage from Mark deals a bit with one deviation from the intended way - divorce. In the time of Moses, a man could simply throw his wife out of the house, for no reason at all. Then, the man could marry again, but the woman could not, ever. Thus, the woman, who had been dependent on the man economically, was relegated to the position of a beggar for survival all the rest of her life. Even her family would not take her back if her husband had thrown her out and, therefore, disgraced her - and them.

The law of Moses allowed for a certificate of divorce so that the spurned woman would have some legal status. With that certificate, she at least had the possibility of remarrying.

And thus, you see, from the time of Moses we have dealt with God's intention for marriage and with our deviations from the intended way. Moses, Jesus, and all of us have dealt at some level with failures to follow the way paved by God's intention and by His created order.

One final point remains to be made, and it involves faithfulness to the Gospel of Christ. The Gospel affirms that intentions and the works which follow will not ultimately lead us to heaven. The collect for the day suggests the point: "Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior."

Intentions pave the way toward God's plan for us. We follow that way - sometimes well, sometimes not so well - for we, by our works, try to show forth our faith. Yet, our works alone will not carry us completely along the intended way of God Almighty. We depend on another source for that power.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, when all is said and done, I will not stake my life on how well I am able to live out my intentions. The intentions are valid, and they pave the way I try to follow. However, neither they nor my actions nor both will bring me to my destination. Rather, I will - and do - stake my life - my eternal life - on the mercy of Almighty God. Therefore, I do not need more laws to govern my intentions. What I do need is more faith to rely on God's mercy.

Copyright © 2006 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee