The police in Chelan arrested a young man this week for starting the 4^th of July Chelan fire that resulted in lost homes, untold amounts of stress, and death. The young man who was arrested is 18 years old and apparently was among several teens (more arrests are expected) who were throwing lit fireworks at each other’s cars. Can we all imagine that scene? Don’t we all know someone, perhaps from our high school days, who might have done something similar? I do.

I don’t know more details than this. However, it doesn’t sound like they meant to hurt anyone, though the behavior still hurt. Regardless of intent, I’m glad he was arrested so there can be some process of reckoning with the hurt and damage that was done through an impressive display of immaturity.

Gregory of Nyssa was a theologian and leader of the church in the 4^th century, who had thoughts on immaturity and sin. He’s most known for his writing and defense of trinitarian theology and was one of the contributors to the Nicene Creed, which we recite on Trinity Sunday and other special days. He also wrote about sin and he argued at one point that sin is primarily a function of immaturity. When we say we are captive to sin, Gregory of Nyssa argued that this is so in part because we are only so mature at any given point and can therefore only function so well. If you read murder mystery stories like I do, or perhaps just watch the news, you’ll be witness to death and calamity that could likely have been avoided if people had the maturity to manage their big feelings and have honest conversations.

I’m fairly confident none of us here would throw fireworks at our friends, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still bound by sin that may largely be rooted in immaturity. Afterall, we’re not free from sometimes lashing out because we misinterpreted a situation. Each of us is capable of being unkind or blaming when we want to avoid responsibility. Each of us is way more skilled in identifying someone else’s faults and failures than our own. We have all sorts of ways of missing the mark of Jesus’ commandment to love one another as he loves us. We have lots of options of how to do that, but pretty consistently these options are based in our failures to manage our fears, shame, or reactivity, which ultimately means it has to do with how grown up we are.

I see this is in myself quite clearly. In fact, I decided on my 49^th birthday that the next year was going to be the year I’d finally “grow up.” Then I discovered one year was not enough time. Two years have now gone into this same project of “finally growing up” and I’m getting some headway, but the truth is there will always be opportunity for growth and that’s likely true for all of us, to one degree or another.

The sins Jesus is referring to in the gospel is likely the kind of sin caused by immaturity, because he’s talking about the kind of sins that happen in communities. And he’s likely talking about the abuse of power within congregations. I say that, because Jesus was teaching about not causing little ones to stumble and how we should be prioritizing the lost sheep right before our text today. So, the sin Jesus is talking about is relational sin.

One of the things I love about Celebration is the relative lack of this sort of sin. I can honestly say I’m not fearful that I’ll stand up here and be talking about abuse of power within congregations and worry that people will be silently thinking I’m talking about them. We don’t experience that a whole lot and I’m thankful. But that doesn’t mean relational sin doesn’t happen in our lives, our communities, and in the world. Additionally, I’d say most folks I know could do with some help in how to set healthy boundaries and repair relationships, which is also what Jesus is talking about.

My project of finally growing up that I mentioned is meant to address my immaturity in how poor I can be at taking care of myself. So, allow me to toot my horn for a moment. This year, I went to the doctor when I’m supposed to, got my eyes taken care of, went to the dentist, got a new counselor, and am even exercising every day. Yay me! Year two is looking pretty good.

However, taking good care of ourselves means more than just these basics that I probably should have mastered decades ago, and so the journey continues. Now, my years of not really taking care of myself doesn’t seem particularly sinful. However, the neglect of oneself is still the neglect of one of God’s beloved children. That’s not to mention the consequences that come from inadequate self-care, such as the impatience that comes with being tired. So, in this way, my habits of self-neglect are sinful, not because I want to be a menace to myself, but because I had yet to grow up in that particular way and I’m still working on it.

Our emotional immaturity, no matter how young or old we are, will cause us to act in ways that hurt rather than connect. It will cause us to smolder in our anger and be unable to healthily resolve conflict. It will cause us to be inattentive or uncaring about how our actions and choices impact others. We may not mean it but it still causes hurt and that shows us we’ve got some growing up to do.

In the Romans reading, even Paul is essentially telling folks to grow up. He tells the Romans to get over your silly ways of wasting your lives by getting drunk when the call is to take on the ways of Christ, love people, and change the world. We are called to give up our silly ways and be reborn in Christ, aka grow up!  

When it comes to reconciliation of a hurt community, Jesus is telling us that we can decide when and if it is time to let people have a second chance. He says, “If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  If this person won’t enter into an honest and fruitful conversation about the problem (like about abuse of power, let us remember), then you can treat them as one who is outside your community. You can ask them to leave. And if you determine that they aren’t welcome back, they aren’t welcome back. The ones who are causing harm due to their inability to listen, take responsibility, apologize, and make amends are not required to be given space within the group of people. We don’t have to sign up for or allow ongoing abuses of power by someone who hasn’t really grown up and allows the temperament of a child, perhaps even a toddler,  to continue in their adult life which causes harm when you’re an adult. 

The responsible communication and boundary setting during conflict suggested in the gospel demands some serious maturity on our part to do well. I think we all know what it looks like when we don’t manage conflict well. Some of us explode in anger while others hold it all in, giving ourselves headaches or just not sleeping. (That’s my preferred method.) Or we ghost people, gossip, and all the rest. However, to do it right takes some serious adulting.

As much as Jesus loves children, he does not seem to celebrate extended immaturity in adults, which can be so harmful. Again, just watch any British murder mystery and you’ll likely see a tragedy that could have been avoided with some solid emotional intelligence and a good pair of “big girl panties.” The fights in our lives and the wars we witness are not tremendously different, particularly when that immaturity is acted out by powerful people. There are real consequences in the world, particularly for the poor and the vulnerable, when powerful people don’t know how to manage themselves. 

I don’t know what will happen to the young people who so harmed Chelan through their actions. It is devastating for everyone, I’m sure. And yet, adulthood comes with power and real consequences, even if it is simply the power of how to handle fireworks correctly or, in my case, basic self-care. We have tremendous power to love or to harm while we also are all truly mixed bags of maturity and capacity. Heaven help us, truly! So, let us pray that God will lead us always into growing up, to be fully capable humans who can indeed take the shape of Christ and learn to let love guide the power each of us holds.

AMEN