Sermon for May 3rd, 2026

Ezekiel 16:8-22 (OT p. 781)

8I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. 9Then I bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you, and anointed you with oil. 10I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric. 11I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck, 12a ring on your nose, ear-rings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. 13You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric, and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen. 14Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor that I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God.

15But you trusted in your beauty, and played the whore because of your fame, and lavished your whorings on any passer-by. 16You took some of your garments, and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore; nothing like this has ever been or ever shall be. 17You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images, and with them played the whore; 18 and you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with choice flour and oil and honey—you set it before them as a pleasing odor; and so it was, says the Lord God. 20You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your whorings were not enough! 21You slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to them. 22And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood.

Romans 7:15-25 (NT p. 157)

15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

Music & Message of Taylor Swift: Part 2 - The Fall

Last week we heard several love songs by Taylor Swift, and we looked at the biblical book Song of Solomon as an example of how love between two people can sometimes reflect and point us to the divine love between God and his people. Today, we're going in the opposite direction--we're going to talk about sin, depravity, and how we all have fallen from grace at one time or another. And we're starting with the perfect Taylor Swift song, appropriately named, You Should Have Said No.

[Should've Said No]

Taylor Swift is famous for scathing break-up songs, and that one, from her debut album, was among her first. But just like we saw last week with the Song of Solomon, people have been writing break-up songs for thousands and thousand of years. Including God himself, who through the words of the prophet Ezekiel in today's scripture reading, compares his relationship with his people to a love story gone horribly wrong--a love story about God's faithfulness, and the unfaithfulness of his people. This is actually a great metaphor to understand sin. Sin isn't just breaking rules or doing "bad things." It's betraying those whom we love, and especially God. Everything good that we have in this world comes from God... but when we start to worship the gifts instead of the giver--when we put our trust in other things or other people (including ourselves) above our trust in God, then we are being unfaithful to God, and we're setting ourselves up for a fall (and a heartbreak).

But there is hope for the hopeless sinner. The first step is recognizing that you should have said no. The second step is admitting that you did not. And in the church, we call that "confession." Which leads us to our second Taylor Swift song, "I Did Something Bad."

[I Did Something Bad]

Taylor Swift is often described as a "confessional" singer/songwriter. Mostly that just means that she writes a lot about her own experiences, her own emotions and inner thoughts. But often when doing this, she is painfully, brutally honest. The song we just heard is not a confession--it's more of a recognition of an inner struggle. "They say I did something bad, but why does it feel so good?" The Apostle Paul comes to a similar observation in his letter to the Romans: I do not understand my own actions," he says. "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. . . I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my body another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my body."

Taylor Swift acknowledges that she "did something bad," but also says that she'd do it "over and over and over again" if she could. So this isn't exactly a confession--not yet--but it is a pretty honest reflection. And honestly, for most of us, that wouldn't be a bad place to start.

The next song, however, IS definitely a confession. And in a world where most Hollywood celebrities, politicians and tech-billionaires spend countless words defending how amazing and brilliant and talented they are, I'm actually super-impressed that one person put out a song saying the exact opposite: It's me. Hi! I'm the problem, it's me." This song is called Anti-Hero.

[Anti-Hero]

True confession begins when we stop blaming everyone else (including God) for the mess we find ourselves in, and when we acknowledge that we can't get out of that mess on our own. We need God's help. And we need each other. In 1st John chapter 8, the scriptures teach that "“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

So we've talked about Love, and we've talked about Sin. Next week, we'll wrap things up with some more songs, and we'll talk about Redemption. But before that, we do get just a little sneak peak at what redemption looks like, because today, in this time and place, redemption looks like... a table. The Lord's table, where we gather together as God's people to remember and to share and to join with other believers in every time and place. This is a table for people who should have said no. This is a table for people who did something bad. This is a table for those who are the problem. This is a table for me, and for you--because the one who said, "Do this in remembrance of me" is the same one who redeems us, who loves us, and who makes our broken lives whole again.