Major League Grace

     This is from In the Grip of Grace by Max Lucado and and was called "Major League Grace." I put it in my own words. It was a great message for our Saturday evening service.     

     Think back to 1995 major league baseball season. Remember what baseball was like that year? That was the year the players all went on strike, major and minor league players.

          The owners were set on going ahead with the season so they invited anyone who knew anything about the game and could perform all the basic plays with energy and excitement to come and play.

          It was a different year. Batters hustled to the plate, some questionable calls were made but they went uncontested; umpires were actually being thanked after the game and fans returned the foul balls they caught.

          These guys weren't in condition and they huffed and puffed as they chased fly balls and ran the bases. But, boy did they have fun. They were playing ball because they loved playing ball.

          I read that in Cincinnati the general manager stepped out on the field to thank the fans for coming out to the game. The Phillies gave away free hotdogs and sodas. And the Cleveland Indians gave 5 players to the Cincinnati Reds for free!

          They weren't the most exciting games to watch but it was neat to see men playing for the sheer joy of playing a game they loved. They were living a dream, a life they didn't deserve. It was pure luck they were able to be there. They were chosen because they had a particular skill; they were picked because they were willing to play. And they knew it!

          Never did we read about any of them arguing over the poor pay they received. They wasn't any grossing over the fact their names weren't stitched on their jerseys. No strikes were threatened. No one was trying to get someone else's position. They were all just happy to be on the team.

          Now, in light of the passage we heard read from Romans, do we deserve to be here? No, but we don't want to trade the privilege for something else either. God's grace has given us a place on the “dream” team.

          Because of God's grace we've also received blessings. Blessings of peace, hope, joy, and love. Paul said, “Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God.”

          Peace with God...just because we have faith! Imagine that! This isn't just peace with our neighbors or our family or even other countries, this is real peace...peace with God. Salvation brings peace...with God.

          Max Lucado told a story about a monk and his young apprentice traveled from their abbey to a nearby village. They parted for the evening and met again the next morning.

          The apprentice was unusually quiet the next morning so the monk asked if anything was wrong. The response was short and snappy, “What business is it of your?”

          The monk could tell that his brother was troubled but he held his tongue and continued the walk back to the abbey. The distance between them grew  greater and greater as the apprentice walked slower and slower. When the monk arrived at the gates of the abbey he stopped and waited for the apprentice to arrive.  He asked him, “Tell me, my son, what troubles your soul?”

          The boy started to snap back but stopped when he saw the warmth and compassion in the monks eyes.  “I have sinned greatly. Last night I stayed with a woman and abandoned my vows.” “I'm not worthy to enter the abbey at your side.”

          The teacher put his arm around the student and said, “We will enter the abbey together. And we will enter the cathedral together. And together we will confess your sin. No one but god will know which of the two of us fell.”

          Isn't that a good description of what God has done for us. We keep our sins silent. We withdraw from God. We see him as our enemy. We try to avoid being in his presence.

          But when we confess our sins, lay our faults at his feet, our perception is changed. God isn't our foe anymore, he's our friend. We are at peace with him. He did so much more than the monk did for his friend. He didn't just share in our sin, he was crushed for the evil we did. He accepted the shame. He leads us into the presence of God.

          Because of what God did for us through Jesus we have a place with God. Jesus has brought us into that blessing of God's grace that we now enjoy. In the Greek that is translated as being ushered into the presence of royalty.

          In Ephesians Paul said, “It is through Christ that all of us are able to come into the presence of the Father. Now we can come fearlessly right into God's presence...

          Christ meets us outside and takes our hand and walks right in with us into the presence of God. That's where we encounter pure grace, no condemnation, no punishment, just mercy. We wouldn't have been able to gain an audience with God with Jesus being by our side.

          When Jesus takes our hand and walks with us into God's presence it's a little bit like one our children walking in with a friend we've never met. We welcome them because our child has their hand. They're okay since they're with our child. If they just showed up at our door and wanted to come in for supper or to play we might not be so quick to let them in.

          When we become friends with Jesus we're able to gain access to God.  Because we're his friends we have access to the throne room in heaven.

          This isn't just a one time event but a permanent “access by faith into this grace by which we now stand.”

          This is where we're different than those baseball players. Their time playing on the field was only temporary where our privilege will last as long as God is faithful, and his faithfulness has never been questioned. Paul told Timothy, “If we aren't faithful, he will still be faithful, because he cannot be false to himself” (2 Tim. 2:13).  David said that the Lord's faithfulness “reaches to the heavens” (Ps. 36:5).

          Notice the sequence of these blessings. One is in the past; we have peace with God because he's forgiven our past errors. And the second deals with our present. We have a place with God because Jesus presents us to the Father.

          And the next blessing is our future. “We are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God's glory.”

          We were washed up but now we are called up and put in. How do we share in God's glory you ask. Friends, that will have to wait for another time.

          God loves you my friends and so do I. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

The Holy Spirit

          Jesus ascended to heaven. Before he went home to his Father he gave the disciples one last command. That was to, "...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

          They didn’t get right too it until after this day that we heard read about today from Acts. They didn’t begin until they’d received and been empowered by the Holy Spirit.

          After they’d received the Holy Spirit many God-fearing Jews became believers in Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. If we’d have read further in the chapter we’d have discovered that about 3,000 were added to their number that day. Can you imagine 3,000 people came to believe in Jesus as the Christ?

          Let me ask you a question, “Did the disciples accomplish this all by themselves?” No, it only happened after they’d received the Holy Spirit.

          So, if the command that Jesus gave the disciples was also meant for us then shouldn’t it also mean that before we are able to make disciples and baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit we would need to receive the Holy Spirit?

          The point I want to make is this, we aren’t able to bring people to know Jesus as the Christ without help from the Holy Spirit. There’s just no way that we can accomplish this through our own willpower.

          But some of us think that’s what we’re to be about, leading people to Jesus so that they can be baptized, saved, and assured of eternal life. We don’t want anyone left behind so we want to make sure that all our friends and family are saved.

          That’s a good thing but sometimes we fail to talk with God about it. We fail to take the time to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in this endeavor.

          When we forget that God is the one with the plan and that we are his servants, his workers, then what we’re trying to do could become a little chaotic because we’re trying to do it all on our own.

          I’m not saying that leading people to Jesus is wrong. What’s wrong is trying to do it without letting God be the One to lead the work of bringing salvation to people.

          When we don’t let God be the one in control it could become something like what happened at Babel, a whole lot of confusion and chaos. And who do we think we are anyway that we do this all by ourselves?

          Sometimes, I think, God just lets us go on our way and then he puts his finger into it and kind of stirs the pot in a different direction. And sometimes, Jesus, himself, gets involved. And then we begin to squirm and wiggle and are a little embarrassed because we didn’t leave room for that kind of thing, the excitement, the unpredictability.

          We think we’re in control but this is something we can’t control or manage. When God gets involved in the mix he threatens to overthrow everything we’ve worked so hard on. We don’t like it when our plans get changed or turned around or upset kind of like the merchants tables in the Temple.

          We’re afraid we could lose something if Jesus shows up because he reveals what we’re really worth. Face it we put a fence around this house of prayer sometimes and we narrow the field trying to keep the Holy Spirit within the bounds of our faith.

          We don’t like the risk. But that’s what Jesus asks us to do, take the risk to trust him and let him be the guide for this work of making disciples.

          We want order and God keeps messing it up by asking the Spirit to remind us again and again what Jesus taught. It was all about love and peace…and grace. Love of God, love all his children, and be open to receiving God’s abundant grace.

          All of that is risky stuff and it scares the pants off us. Friends, the lesson for us today is to be talking with God all the time and be open and aware of the working of God’s Spirit in and around us. The Spirit will provide just what we need at just the right time with the right folks.

          Friends, the disciples didn’t really know what to expect on that day that probably began like so many others and I’m sure that we aren’t too sure ourselves. The disciples waited… until God was ready and that’s what we should do to.

          God loves you my friends. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

A New Thing, Love Everyone

          Take a minute to look around the sanctuary. How many different shoe sizes do you think there are? How many different shades of hair color do you see? How would you group the different ages represented here? Look around at the clothes we’re all wearing. How many different styles do you see? How many different colors?

          There’s quite a bit of variety here this morning, different colors, different ages, different shapes and sizes, a lot of diversity. Yet, we’re all here to worship our God…and he doesn’t discriminate because we’re different. He loves us one and all because we’re his creation, his children.

          It hasn’t always been like this…and it’s still not where it should be. Look back in time to the Civil War that divided this country…and remember the racism of the 50’s and 60’s. Remember when women didn’t have the privilege to cast votes. Remember when women were first elected elders.  Remember the first women ordained as Ministers of the Word and Sacrament. And what about the discussions today, about same sex marriage and the civil rights associated with those…discussions that have and are dividing churches and denominations and families. And racism has it been totally eradicated? What about those coming across the borders looking for work so they can support their families back home? Is our nation making them welcome here?

          How does our reading from Acts speak to us now? Are we living the gospel we heard read today? Or…are our hearts convicted by these lessons?

          Changing our paradigms isn’t easy. Look how long it’s taken us to get where we are today and we aren’t anywhere close to where Jesus asked us to be.

          So, how do we get from where we’re at today to that place Jesus spoke of, that world where we all love each other, that place where everyone is accepted just the way they are?

          God sent a vision and an angel to Peter and Cornelius…and they listened and believed. Jesus spoke directly, face to face, to his disciples instructing them to love each other as he loved them. For the most part I think they did that. So, what’s happened?

          Where’s the love today? Where can we find examples of this total inclusion God showed to Peter?

          I believe there are people working to bring an end to racism, genocide, and prejudice and bigotry but doesn’t it seem to you like they’re fighting a losing battle? Why?

          Friends, we need to look within for the answers. We need to ask ourselves, “What am I doing to spread the love of God in the world?” What am I doing to end racism, prejudice, and injustice in my community, in my church? How am I supporting those who are in the frontlines of this battle?

          Friends, it’s no longer “us and them.”  If we truly believe what we say we do then it’s all of us together, one people, one church, working to share God’s love with the world no longer believing that these folks are where they’re at because that’s what they deserve.

          They deserve our love. They deserve a place here in our sanctuary. They deserve a place at our table.

          Christ died for them…and us. We’re all his children and we don’t deserve such love yet he loved us anyway. He loves us anyway. That’s grace.

          We’re asked by Jesus to love one another as he loved us. We’re asked to share the grace of Jesus Christ with everyone, not just those we think have earned it. No one can earn God’s grace.

          That’s really what these scriptures are about, grace, God’s grace. And we’re so miserly we can hardly part with even a little bit of it. Yet God still loves us.

          God’s love doesn’t have any fences around it. He doesn’t have any laws that prevent us from receiving his love so why do we think some don’t deserve it?

          Just think where we’d be today if the old laws were still in place, the Law that God gave Moses. That’s not a pretty picture. The priests would be busy full-time, 24-7, offering sacrifices for our sins.

          Jesus said that his yoke was easy. Isn’t it easier to love one another than to try and keep all the commandments? Yet, when I listen to the news apparently it isn’t.

          Friends, if the world is ever going to be a better place to live then it begins right here in this place today with you and me. If not us, then who?

          I beg you right now this very minute make a commitment that you will love every one you encounter this week, everyone. Even the ones who are like sandburs in your sock. Love them unconditionally. We can with God’s help. We can with Jesus. The Holy Spirit reminds us all the time what Jesus said, “Love one another as I’ve loved you.”

          If there was a law against being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict any of us? This day, this week, let’s begin to change the world beginning right here in our church, in our community.

          God loves you my friends. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

Letting Go

          The journey of faith isn’t easy. We listen to new ideas about this mystery of God and faith; we experience God in different ways…and we have to let go of some things that no longer fit with our encounter with God.

          The people we’ve heard about today in the Scriptures began their life journey going one direction but God through Jesus changed them and their journey took a different path than they were on at first.

          We’ve heard how Saul went to the high priest asking for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, search warrants to try and ferret out the followers of the way. Saul was like a rat terrier in his desire to weed out and destroy those whom he thought were poisoning the Law of God.

          Saul knew he was right in what he was doing. He studied the Law under Gamaliel so he knew the interpretation of the Torah. He knew this is what God wanted him to do. It was the “right” thing to do. In his mind there was no question that he was right.

          But…something happened on the road to Damascus. There was a light…and a voice. He didn’t recognize the voice and he didn’t understand what was happening to him. He couldn’t see a thing. Everything went black, black as the deepest, darkest cave. His friends had to help him find his way into town. 

          It’s ironic in a way that his friends took him to Judas, the one who lived on Straight Street. He didn’t realize that his live was going to take a turn he never envisioned. His journey was going to be anything but straight.

          There he was blind as anyone could ever be. He didn’t feel like eating or drinking all he could do was talk to God and hope that he’d hear his prayers for help. It was beyond anything he could imagine when in this blackness he had a vision. There was man, someone called Ananias, praying for him and laying hands on him. He didn’t know any Ananias. And so, he continued to pray.

          On the third day there was a knock at the door of Judas’ home. He heard a voice and then there were hands on him. From the sound of the voice he could tell it was a man. He said his name was Ananias and Jesus had called for him to go to Straight Street and find this man named Saul who’d been struck blind.

          Ananias put his hands on Saul and he prayed for him. Saul had never experienced anything like this. His sight returned. It was like scales fell from his eyes.

          Just like that he realized he was starving…and very thirsty. So, he ate. Then he went to the temple to preach and teach that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. He stayed there quite a few days.

          What do you think it must have been like for Saul to experience hearing Jesus’ voice, to be struck blind, to have someone, a Christian, a follower of the Way, pray for him and lay hands on him? The very people he’d been hunting down and sending back to Jerusalem were praying for him, feeding him, and now he was teaching them about Jesus the Christ.

          Just imagine the emotional trauma he must have experienced as his Jewish faith was tested. Imagine the conflict in his mind, in his very soul, as God revealed Jesus to him as the Christ. It had to be painful, pure torture at first, until he began to feel the hope that Jesus’ sacrifice meant for him and the Gentiles and the people of Israel.  And he was forgiven completely.

          God called him to carry the Good News of God’s kingdom to the Gentiles in Asia and eventually to Rome. Imagine the turmoil that must have been going on in his head. No wonder God waited 3 days before sending Ananias to him. Think of all those things he had to discard and bury so he could begin his new life.

          A seed had been planted. It took root and in three days Saul was ready to do what God called him to do; take the Message to the Gentiles. Wow!

          Compare you journey with Saul’s. Has your journey been anything like his? Have there been any detours or 180’s?

          When we invite the Lord Jesus to walk with us most times the journey is anything but straight. There’ve probably been a few bumps, a few hills to climb, maybe some steep descents.

          Don’t you wonder why we choose to stay with it, to continue doing this work for God again and again and again?

          Jesus sent his disciples out with next to nothing. Think about what we have and what we could do with it to make disciples, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

          Journeying with Jesus is a challenge. It will change us. Living with and for Jesus may even change how we live.

          Saul was blinded by the light. He struggled with his demons for 3 days, not eating or drinking. Then a man he’d never met came and prayed for him. His eyes were opened and he was a completely different man.

          In those 3 days Jesus showed him what suffering he’d have to endure to tell this story he’d been given. Think what that must have been like for someone who thought he knew the law inside and out.

          That’s what Jesus did for Saul. What do you think he’ll do for you? How is he calling you today? Is there a battle going on inside your heart over what Jesus is asking you to do? Do you need someone to put their hands on your head, around your shoulders and pray for you so you can see clearly again?

          Friends, we can do that. This life is about more than coming to worship, singing three or four songs and listening to prayers and then going home. This life following Jesus is way different. There is suffering. There is hurt. There is conflict. There is hate…and there is love and healing and peace. Are you ready for that?

          God loves you my friends and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Your Journey

          Think about the current direction you’re traveling right now. Are you going in the direction God wants you to go? How do you know for sure?  Do you have signs you’re following that point the way you should go? Or have you received a vision like Saul did? Have you been blinded by the light of Christ’s love? Did you have an Ananias come to you and pray and lay hands on you? Have you had someone come and prepare a meal for you because you’d been fasting for 3 days like Saul?

          Think about you life to this point on your journey. Has anyone ever played the role of Ananias for you? How did they do that? Did you have to call them to come or did they just arrive at your front door? Did they come right in and tell you Jesus had sent them to pray for you?

          We are all on journeys, I believe. Some of us know where we’re going and some of us just wander willy-nilly through this life without much of a plan. And then there are those who actually talk with God…and listen to Him for directions.  And then there are those whom God smacks right between the eyes with a 2 X 4 to get their attention before he gives them directions. Which one are you?

          Saul thought he knew exactly where he was going. He knew he was going in the right direction. He knew that he was doing exactly what God wanted him to do. But we see now that he didn't really know anything about what God had planned for him. Maybe he was talking to God but he wasn't doing the listening part.
          Let consider for a moment what we’d do when it looks like God is going to ask us to do something really hard? Are we really quick to say, “I can’t do that because I don’t know how,” or, “I’m afraid I might make a mistake or someone might not like it?” Or has it ever happened that God did to you what he did to Saul and just dumped it in your lap and told you to get to it. Sometimes that’s the way it works. God doesn't give us time to say yes or no because he’s God and he just needs us to get it done. Or, do we just turn our backs on God and walk away, kind of like Jonah? I wonder if God had been talking to Saul before the blinding light on the road to Damascus but he just wasn't listening. I wonder…
          Has what God been asking you to do ever seem so hard that you did walk away from Jesus or thought about doing so?  Weren't you a little afraid to do that, knowing God was calling you to a particular task. I’ll tell you if his mind is set on you doing it you’d just as well listen because it’s going to happen sooner or later. Just look at Saul and the drastic measures God went to to get his attention.
          So, how does Jesus call us back when we try to ignore him?  How has he called you back? Is God calling you to a particular task today? Are you listening? Are you digging in your heels? Friend, I pray that you will heed God’s call to serve him. I’ve found that even though I don’t think I can do something when I decide to give my problem to him everything falls into place.  I don’t mean to say it’s easy. It’s usually not but it does get done.

          Good friends, pay attention to word Luke has for us about Saul’s conversion and his change of direction for his life. Take time to listen for God’s voice and if he’s nudging you to go in a certain direction I pray that you’ll go because I believe that the rewards will be great.

          My friends, God loves you and so do I. Amen.

Questions

          We're using the Spill the Beans liturgy material put together by this group of Scottish folks from the Church of Scotland and other denominations again this year. We believe it's great material and that's why we keep coming back to it. 

          This lesson takes some of their words and a few of my own to tell the story to those who came to worship with us yesterday. My thanks to Roddy Hamilton and his friends and of course God for leading us to them. And by the way the stones have left the sanctuary to tell their "story" to this community.

          Every Easter Sunday don’t you have questions ricocheting around in your brain? I do.

          There was a stone rolled in front of the tomb and there were guards there to prevent anyone from stealing the body of Jesus…and yet the stone rolled. Didn’t anyone hear it?

          And those who went to the tomb early in the morning, what did they expect to find behind the stone? Why didn’t they plan on how they were going to move it?

          Haven’t you ever wondered, who folded the grave cloths and why were they left there? Who would have thought that after Jesus was risen that tidy and neat were important?

          And…how can death be turned back into life? Everyone saw that Jesus was dead. Joseph and Nicodemus carried the body to the tomb and wrapped it in spices. They surely knew that the stone was rolled into place and that guards were stationed at the front. 

          I guess no one ever said that it would be easy to believe the tomb would be empty.

          Have you ever wondered how people could go from yelling “alleluia” one day to “crucify him” the next day so quickly? Are people really that fickle? Didn’t they think it a little strange?

          Questions, that’s all there are. How can it be? How can Jesus be resurrected?

Do you think we’ll ever stop asking the questions?  I hope not.

Preparing for the Journey

          Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem, to a cross on a hill, to a borrowed tomb, how can someone prepare for a journey like that? What could anyone possibly do to get ready to die…for a whole world of sinners?

          In the last few years most of us have heard people talk about their bucket list. In fact I think there was a movie made about two guys who had bucket lists. You know what a bucket list is, don’t you? It’s those things you want to do before you die, kick the bucket, go to be with the Lord, you know.

          Jesus knew; he knew his ultimate destination. He knew and he tried to prepare his friends, the disciples for what he knew was inevitable. How did Jesus, the human part of Jesus, get himself ready for this? How would we get ready?

          Ash Wednesday is the first day of a rather lengthy time of preparation for the journey of Lent.  Think about how you prepare for an extended trip, say around the United States. What do you do to get ready? Or how do you prepare for the new arrival of a child in your family. Or what’s involved in getting ready for a wedding?  What’s the first step?

          This season is similar to these events…except…we aren’t preparing for a joyous celebration. We’re preparing ourselves for a time of repentance. We’re being asked to think about the ways we’ve turned away from God. We’re being asked to repent, turn completely around, make a U-turn and go in the opposite direction from what we’ve been going. Repentance is about turning back to God.

          How do we do that? How can we reconcile ourselves with God…with our friends…with our family…with the stranger in our midst?

          Fasting is an important theme during Lent.  Fasting reminds us that we aren’t passive, helpless human beings at the mercy of the world surrounding us. We’re able, with God’s help, to take control of our lives, to reject those things that hurt and harm us…and our neighbors. Fasting is a tool to help us prepare for reconciliation.

          But, I’ve got ahead of myself. What steps do we take to get ready for a journey, to go on a trip? Some of us make lists. Some of us make lists of our lists. Some of us find the lists we used the last time we took a trip.

          So, what kind of list would we make for this Lenten journey? What do we need to take with us? Do you have any ideas?

          Our lists may contain a variety of things. I would think I’d have my Kindle with 2 or 3 different versions of the Bible. I might commit to spending time each day reading and reflecting on a Lenten devotional. I might decide to give up something, something from the world that keeps me from talking with God, something to remind me to sit and talk with Him or Her. And I would most certainly make time throughout each day to sit and talk, pray and listen, with God. I might see if I could locate a like-minded group of folks who might like to get together and read and dissect God’s word, and pray with and for me and I for them. I think that would help me on my Lenten journey.

          What would you have on your lists? What might be helpful to us is to see what Jesus did as he journeyed to Jerusalem and the cross.

          When we read the gospels we find that Jesus went away, to be alone, to talk with his Father. He did that many times. Sometimes his friends had no idea where he’d gone. He went to the Temple or the synagogue to worship and hear God’s word read and proclaimed. And…he was with the people…healing, teaching, touching, laughing, and eating. 

          We don’t read that Jesus fasted (I'm mistaken here. Jesus fasted for 40 days & nights in the wilderness. How could I miss that?) but if we think about it he did give up things. He had no possessions other than the clothes he wore. He depended on God to take care of him through his friends. What he really gave up was his life…for us…so that we might live. That seems like a major sacrifice to us. And it was when we consider the pain and torture he endured. That makes giving up chocolate for Lent not such a big thing…or Facebook.

          So, good friends, this evening is the beginning of the journey. Are you ready or do you need to make your list…or find your list?  The journey begins tonight. Let’s go with together, praying, listening, touching, and holding each other up when we need a little help.

          Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.