(please note:  by no means am I dismissing the severity of those who suffer from alzheimers, or the suffering of those who journey at their side )

I was discussing with a friend, how my sermon came across today, and I came up with an interesting concept.  The danger of suffering from “sinsheimers”, something I think many of us, myself included suffer from.  I highly recommend reading the sermon first -it’s here on the blog, and is entitled:  Cleanliness is next to Godliness – Right?

Please go read it – then come back.
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Welcome back!

My friend asked me a few questions, specifically about an illustration on the cover, which I adlibbed into my greeting, then into the sermon.  It pictured a kitchen full of dirty dishes.  (think of the first apartment you had, or the kitchen the first your folks left you alone for the weekend… Same thing!

We all be pharisees at times my friends, those convinced that we can clean up our acts by ourselves, and like a 14 year old doing dishes, well, let’s just say no one would eat off them after we got done cleansing them.  Matter of fact, the health department should shut the kitchen down, as a toxic waste supersight.  We have the dirty dishes, and we need to call in the pros.  Well, the PRO.

SO my friend was thinking about the dirty dishes, and wondered how it works, do the “dishes” of our lives always stay dirty, or do we just get them washed by Jesus at the next feast?  ( The idea really worked when inviting people to the feast celebrating Jesus cleansing our “dishes”  ANd if we rejoice in His cleansing them each time we commune, we don’t have to stress, my friend asked.  “or is it not that we’re always dirty, but that we’re always clean, as the thoughts were processing.

And that’s where I came up with Sinsheimers.

A state of confusion, and inability to remember whether we are cleansed or not, and the fog that sin can cause in the life of the one who trusts in Jesus.

Are we cleansed, why does it still look like there are dirty dishes, didn’t Jesus promise to cleanse us?  did He?

You see – the imprint of the dirty dishes, our sins in thought, word and deed is fairly deep – and it is hard to overcome.  We trust in God.  We think one thing, we see another.  We trust that God did clense us, but then we heard the words we use, and the way we use those words, and there is a massive dissonance, a confusion, and the memory of what God promised us is lost in the fog, and we even struggle to discuss it with anyone.  Our confusion grows, and the struggles continue, as we wonder why sin’s bondage isn’t broken.  The more confused, the more distant we believe we get, the more anxiety builds… then anger…

Are we horrible sinners, or miraculous saints?

As my friend said, :I think I get it now but understanding it is one thing and actually feeling it is another…

yeah – I understand, for I too suffer from this, a  struggle that usually ends up with me resembling the pharisees – acting the role, saying the right words, but is my heart behind them, or not?  Am I nothing but a actor, a pretender?
I suffer from Sinheimers.  BIG TIME

Unlike  Alzheimer’s, which I daily pray they find a cure for, Sinsheimers does have something very effective to stop its effect.  A strong dose of Word, and Sacrament, and Worship and Praise.

Word and Sacrament, because there God strengthens my confidence in His work, cleansing me (and you!) as hearing His promises, seeing them demonstrated in the logos revealed on every page, creates by the power of the Spirit a level of trust – an expectation of how we know that God is working in our lives, even if we cannot see it.  Hebrews 11 tells us that faith/trusting in God is being absolutely sure of the things we expect, and to have every expectation that what we can’t see (but God promised) is true.
Like His poured over the head of someone cleanses them of sin – because He promised He would do that when He washes us (see Ez. 36:25 again)

Like that bread and wine – yeah, it is really His precious Body and Blood, a gift freely given to you,,which guarantees the forgiveness of sins!

That a bunch of us, whose lives resemble a 2bedroom apartment with 8 guys living it, have had the Son of God, cleanse us, set us free, and call us into a relationship with Him, even thought we can’t always feel, or realize we are.

That is where worship is so… important.  FOr the more we express praise and thanks, the more we become aware of His work, the more we are in awe…. awe that sinheimers is revealed to be nothing but smoke.

An awe that wipes away the clouds and brings site to the blind, that helps the deaf here, and brings healing and wholeness to His people.

So go – and worship the Lord who freed you, who cleanse you, whose presence is always there!