Lavish Grace

The way you picture God makes a difference in the kind of person you are becoming. Many of the most strident adversaries of Jesus were those who imagined God was more ready to kick people out than welcome them in. Consequently, they found one opportunity after another to pronounce judgment and to find reasons to exclude people from the community of faith. Throughout the gospels, you find them repeatedly grumbling that Jesus was welcoming sinners and eating with them.

Jesus offers a very different picture of God.  Over and over Jesus portrays God as one who does everything possible to make sure whatever is lost is found. Furthermore, God is the one who rejoices in the finding. God's mercy is not laxness, but love. In other words, God is bent toward mercy, toward lavish grace.

Early Christianity and early Methodism understood that part of becoming “bent toward mercy” was to begin practicing acts of mercy toward others. These acts of mercy were understood to be among the “ordinary means of grace.” Practicing works of mercy opens your heart to the grace and mercy of God, creating pathways for the Spirit to continue and bring to completion the entire bending of your heart and life toward love.

There are so many temptations to become judgmental in our increasingly polarized and self-justifying culture. There are so many who welcome the opportunity to step into the role once occupied by the Pharisees. The challenge during this season of Lent is to remove whatever is keeping you from believing, receiving, and sharing this lavish grace of God.

As a community of faith let us remember that our task is not to judge people for where they are on their journey, but rather to help them identify where they are and offer solid support for them to take the next steps in cooperation with God's sanctifying grace.

As this picture of a loving God becomes more real for us, may the lavish grace of God at work in us convert us into people who will go running after the lost, even while they are a long way off—not out of compulsion, but out of the joy of love.

Our Generous God

If you have been to Forsyth Park on a Saturday morning in the last week or two, you may have been surprised to find a score or more of vendors selling the produce from their gardens. February—and even the first few weeks of March—are not the time when you tend to think of bountiful harvests. This wet and rainy season seems much better suited to finding a warm cozy spot inside to pour over the seed catalogs, make lists of crops you want to harvest, and sketch out plans for ways to fit everything in the space you have to garden.

Nevertheless, a stroll down the sidewalk at the south end of the park is a powerful reminder that, even in the middle of winter, the earth is producing a rich and varied harvest. While the palette is mostly green, there is such a diversity of shapes, sizes, and textures that it is nearly impossible to come away unimpressed.

The season of Lent is a time when Christians are encouraged to consider their practice of the traditional spiritual disciplines—prayer, the study of scripture, fasting, and works of service. It is also a time when the faithful are asked to reflect on the habits and inclinations that have led them away from God; and to admit that they need to turn away from those things in order to return to God. Psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually this can feel much like the wet, rainy days we have been living through—especially if you believe that God is holding out on you.

Let me remind you that God loves you. God is not holding out on you. God is ready to bless you and full your life with good things. God is always more ready to forgive than we are to repent. You don’t have to earn God’s approval; you have to accept the grace, mercy and love that God is waiting to give you.

God is more concerned with what you are going without, than with what you are giving up. Consider these words from the prophet Isaiah: “Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food” (55:2).

Here’s the good news for Lent: “Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

A New You

Even though it has been almost 45 years since Sammy Davis, Jr. recorded his hit single, "I've Gotta Be Me," some people seem to think they invented the phrase. They use it to explain their peculiarities, to justify their decisions, and to excuse their lapses in judgment. They would lead you to believe the most unreasonable thing you could do would be to challenge them to move out of their self-defined comfort zone. They complain, “That's just not me!”

While there is certainly some value in knowing yourself—your strengths and weaknesses, your good and bad habits, the way other people interpret your personal relational style; most people are not content to live a life that offers no promise of improvement. Indeed, many more people are frustrated that they can’t make the changes they would like to see reflected in the mirror, than are content to just accept the status quo.

The forty-day season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday. It has been a time when the community of faith has turned its attention to spiritual preparation, repentance and reconciliation. A time when the whole congregation is reminded of the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. A time when we reclaim the hope that “anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

It is also a time when we recall that “all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ” (5:18). No one is able to recreate themselves entirely from their own resources. By self-examination and repentance; in times of prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading and meditating of God’s Holy Word; those who seek God’s will for their lives, remember that only by God’s gracious gift are we given everlasting life.

     Lent is a season when we are challenged to exercise some discipline. As we enter this season together, let me encourage you to notice the beauty all around you as flowers spring from the earth and trees and shrubs are covered with blossoms. Let that be a reminder of the transformation God wants to work in your life as God’s grace changes you. That will make this Easter a particularly significant celebration of new life.

Destined for Greatness

A little over ten years ago I was serving as the Minister of Youth at St. Luke in Columbus. During the summer the group traveled to Six Flags over Georgia for a Christian music festival. While we were there we heard a new group from Australia perform at one of the late night stages. The youth really liked the group and their music, so we talked about inviting them to our church to do a concert that fall.

After we set the date and negotiated a contract, I called one of our church members whose family owned a local radio network to ask him if he would help me promote the concert in the area. He had never heard of the group and asked me if I could bring him one of their tapes. I took him the one cassette I had purchased at Six Flags and he passed it on to his program manager.

The concert date was getting closer and I hadn’t heard anything from either the church member or from the program manager. Some of our youth had not made the trip to Atlanta and I wanted them to hear who we had coming so they could tell their friends to join us for the concert.

When I went back to the radio station to retrieve my cassette tape, the program manager was a little embarrassed that he couldn’t find it at first. When he learned it was my only copy, he went back to his office and looked again. In a few minutes he returned with the tape in hand. “I threw it in my ‘junk’ box,” he explained.

I was more than a little disappointed that he thought it was “junk.” The concert was just a few weeks away and now it looked like we were not going to get much help from them to let the community know who was coming.

The band was “The Newsboys.” Over the last ten years they have sold over 8 million units, garnered six Gold albums and 28 #1 radio hits. They have been nominated for four Grammy awards and won five Dove Awards. Their website reports: “Just last year they captured the headlining slot on the world’s biggest tour, the Winter Jam Tour, playing to more than half a million people.”

Peter, James and John had spent over a year with Jesus before they went up “the mount of transfiguration” to pray with Jesus. Even after they saw his “glory,” they still didn't know how to respond.

Let’s pray that the Spirit will help us recognize and testify to God’s glory whenever and wherever it appears. 

Scandalous Love

Perhaps this has happened to you. You choose a gift for someone. You wrap it, present it to them, and step back and wait for their reaction. You have to wait, because you can never be sure exactly what kind of reaction you will get.

If they are busy or distracted, they may look up from their work for a moment, accept the package, and toss it to the side without missing a beat. Then again, they may be a little more gracious. They may take a moment to thank you; but—and you’re not sure why—it’s seems they have been expecting you to show up and they are more than a little disappointed that it has taken you so long.

Then there are those folks who seem sincerely surprised and honored that you have thought enough to remember them with a gift. You might hear them say, “You shouldn’t have”—and it’s not because they now feel obligated to reciprocate. It’s these occasions that remind us of what Christmas is truly about.

Christmas is the occasion when God gave the gift of his Son to you. Jesus came to live among us, as one of us. The Incarnation is the revelation of God’s scandalous love affair with humanity.

We often fail to understand just how scandalous God’s love for us is, and how radical it is that God would show that love by lowering himself to be born in human form.

The Christmas story exemplifies how God’s ways are not our ways. God works miracles in unexpected places, in unexpected ways.  God loves us with a scandalous love.

To experience a different kind of Christmas means to not only appreciate and accept God’s scandalous love, but also to respond to the challenge to love others in that same way. What are society’s expectations of who you’re supposed to love, and who you’re not supposed to love? What kind of scandal would it create if you were to go out of the way to demonstrate love toward someone who’s not supposed to be loved? How would that be different from the safe, cautious ways we often show Christ’s love in the world?

To whom or in what way can you show “scandalous” love this holiday season because of the great love God has shown you? This is truly what Christmas is about. 

Giving Up on Perfect

The vast majority of Christmas cards that are sent each year feature scenes that depict the beauty and wonder of that silent night. The hills where the shepherds watched their flocks are perfectly manicured and bathed in a heavenly light. The wise men look especially regal as they move effortlessly through the last few miles of their journey to find the newborn king. The holy family looks especially serene as they gaze at the baby who is smiling happily from the finely crafted wooden box lined with golden strands of hay.

While these pictures help put us in the mood for a happy holiday season, they may also keep us from remembering the first Christmas was really quite messy and uncertain. Whether it was a barn or a cave, if it was the place where the animals were kept overnight, it smelled like animals. Even after travelling for a couple of days and spending the night in AAA rated facilities, most people tend to become travel weary—and it shows. I’ve been to Bethlehem—the hillsides around the city have never been at risk of being mistaken for a golf course.

If that is not enough, consider all the messy and uncertain personal and relational struggles that are a part of the story. Mary is still unmarried when she learns she is going to have a child. Joseph is caught in quandary. Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth—who is decades older and now a few months more pregnant than Mary—makes some incredible predictions about their children. On top of all that, everyone in the region has their agenda reordered by the command of the leader of the occupying foreign power.  

The first Christmas was not the neat, tidy event pictured in our nativity scenes and greeting cards. If you want this to be a different kind of Christmas, you need to give up on creating the “perfect” Christmas and remember that God shows up in the middle of the mess to bring us a message of hope.  

The miracle God wants to accomplish through you may start when you focus on helping someone you know who is struggling. Commit to praying for them, ask how you can help, and follow through with help and encouragement.  Or maybe you should consider how God can use your current struggles to help others this holiday season.

Even in the midst of the unexpected, the messy, and the devastating, you can still fully expect God to show up. May God give you eyes to see the Savior’s gracious presence in the midst of our messy, uncertain lives. This is truly what Christmas is about.

Expect a Miracle

It’s a message that is hard to avoid. It seems to be everywhere. Billboards, catalogs, and commercial after commercial on television all promise a better life for you, your spouse, your children, your family, your friends, your coworkers; if you will just give the gift they are offering. Sometimes it’s a new toy. Other times it’s a piece of jewelry. You will even see new cars with red bows parked in some driveway before December is done.

It is tempting to believe this siren’s song: the secret to filling the life of those I love with peace, love and joy can be charged to my credit card. The people in the pictures look so happy. Maybe this is the gadget or game or gem that will make this the Christmas they will always remember.

It is essential that you resist this message if you want to experience a different kind of Christmas. When you focus only on those gifts that come in brightly wrapped packages adorned with ribbons and bows, you risk the danger of failing to recognize the good gifts you have already received . . . and the even better gifts God has prepared for you.

Over the years I have received some pretty great gifts, but I must admit that even the greatest of those gifts pale in comparison to the gift of Immanuel—God with us. When you really begin to grasp the significance of that gift, it fills your heart with a gratitude and a spirit of generosity that makes it possible to celebrate the miracle of God’s gift over the materialism of more and more stuff.

Let me challenge you to consider creating some new traditions this year—traditions that focus on the miracle worker instead of the materialism. Consider some traditions that emphasize the people in your life, rather than the presents you expect to receive. Remember to make space in your schedule and in your heart for the presence of Jesus, too. Once you receive the miracle he has for you, you can become God’s conduit for delivering miracles to others.

A miracle is a unique event in the world that God does through people like you and me. God does miracles through ordinary, simple people like Mary and Joseph. We have the power to do amazing things . . . if we are willing to sacrifice some of our own comfort for the good of others.

What new traditions in your own holiday planning could focus more on Jesus’ presence than on presents? For a truly different kind of Christmas begin to pray about one or two ideas that you feel might be God-initiated dreams for you to pursue in helping change this world for God’s Kingdom.