'Stepping out in Faith!' sermon for December 22nd, 2013 || Nicole Collins

‘Stepping out in Faith!’

In last week’s sermon I shared my friend’s experience within a “graceless wilderness.”  This past week I once again was talking with him on what next steps he was taking on his journey to answering Christ’s call.  What he told me was a great example of stepping out in faith, a great risk, full of uncertainty… BUT Praise the Lord, he did it!  As he put it: “I’ve relied on God’s Prevenient GRACE thus far, why should I back down now?”  I admire his bravery for there is NO certainty that anything he is planning is going to go into the direction he would like it to go…  But that’s the luck of the draw as they say!

Relying on God, holding fast to the strong arms of faith—GRACE as that wonderful guide!  The Psalmist today sings boldly of this great stepping out: “³Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.⁵They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation. ⁶Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.”

God took a big risk when you come to think of it!  To our understanding (which is the problem or stigma to most all of our sins) this makes no sense:  Why would God risk coming down to us enfleshed in our humanity to enact the spark of the beginning Life of GRACE?  Why do we need to be saved for that matter?  What is the purpose and function of discipleship?

We are like Ahaz in the Prophet Isaiah’s foretelling of Immanuel: “¹⁰Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. ¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. ¹³Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. ¹⁵He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”

“I will not ask, I will not put the Lord to the test…”  We may say this but we put God to the test all the time! We cower away from taking on the challenge of murky, “scary” things and condemn, oppress and control other people in the name of righteousness or order!  Are we in the Christmas season or are we really in the days of shopping to make ourselves feel good and ready with return receipts to get what we want?..., …

Our Gospel text this morning shows the cultural challenge Joseph faced when finding out about Mary.  If Joseph hadn’t heard from the angel, would he have taken such a strong risk in “dismissing” Mary quietly?  Or would he have followed the law of the time which was to publically take Mary out into the streets to face a public stoning!  That’s how they dealt with Mary’s situation… so basically Mary risked death!  Joseph couldn’t have just been relying on hearing God’s angel instruct him, there was something about Joseph that made him stand back for a moment and think. 

Standing back for a moment and thinking from a different place—the heart—was both the Old and New Testament’s place of discernment in turning towards God.  There was something there already within Joseph to aid his HEARING of the angel’s instruction about Mary… Immanuel means God IS with us.  God’s incarnation with the Christ child is breaking into our stream of consciousness—literal reality but God has always been with us in some form or fashion.  God’s stepping out enfleshed as the baby Jesus however made the world of Mary and Joseph much more than something about Mary and Joseph—a 2,000 year old peasant couple in the ancient middle east.

I don’t know how many of you are, “mild” Adam Sandler fans…  I like some of his films such as ‘There’s Something about Mary’ and his later film ‘50 First Dates.’  What both of these films have in common was that in both stories, the main character took upon himself a great risk in trying to get to know/ win over both the lead character women in the stories.  His brave efforts would be to the point of being of course, completely ridiculous and absurd attempts… BUT he kept on going…  In the end as the stories grew, he would win over the leading ladies and there was the completion of a seemingly impossible odds, with victory!

Getting back to Mary and Joe, a virgin birth?!  Okkay… Well yes it DID happen, God’s Holy Spirit risked coming down into our crazy world in the womb of a teenage peasant girl, Mary.  Joseph, a good working class carpenter in ancient Palestine took a huge risk. He was defying the law as well as defying the illogical or impossible circumstance his young bride-to-be was indeed experiencing!

What does this say to us really—here and now in our well-established, comfortable worlds—this being the world around us and the world of the church?  We are thousands of years past this moment of God’s incarnation breaking into the reality of our world literally as the Christ.  We have experienced centuries upon centuries of the witness of the martyrs brave testimony to the world about the power, magnificence and manifestation of the Good News—the Gospel of Christ…  But what have we done with it in our own lives? 

Yes that’s a statement or mirror of the Law I just plainly put out there… BUT it needs to be proclaimed—it needs to be the gauntlet of challenge to our everyday lives!  St. Paul treatise of GRACE begins this morning challenging the Romans to bring about the obedience of faith—stepping out!

(From Epistles Now!): “Do you realize that we have, every one of us, been selected and set apart for God and His purposes?  This is that Good News that was first promised and proclaimed through the prophets in the ancient scriptures.  Now it has been fully revealed through the resurrected Christ, God’s Son and our Lord and Master.  And it is through this Christ that we have been commissioned and empowered to communicate this Gospel, this Good News of God’s saving Love, the human family throughout the world. This is something to celebrate!  The Blessed Word of God has been enfleshed in us—and in our brothers and sisters about us.  And while we celebrate, we need as well to continually remind one another of this splendid task and encourage one another to be faithful to our appointment as God’s children and servants.”

Preach it and teach St. Paul!  Stepping out and taking risks as disciples go way far above and beyond the church and the Sunday morning affair.  It is an everyday discernment into the lifestyle of GRACE.  Getting back to my friend and even reflecting myself upon the great risks I’ve taken to further step out into Faith to realize God’s call… what seems to have been grave mistakes or painful moments of needed internal change or actual physical change were taken on with trust, hope and GRACE!  All of this, of course, incorporated into my spiritual formation as a future pastor of Christ Jesus church!

This August, after much spiritual discernment, I left the church I helped my Pastor and friend, Eric, plant.  Like a bird leaving the nest, I had to for the sake of my future pastoral growth move on.  One of my fondest memories of serving the Gathering was singing in the choir.  Nothing was typical, they sang lots of Cursillo songs more than LBW songs.  The two in particular I connected to here are ‘Be Bold, Be Strong’ and ‘Only by Grace.’  It’s a shame I don’t have a recording of the songs but here are the lyrics to think about in light of the story of the incarnation, Joseph’s stepping out and Our walking by faith.

‘Be Bold, Be Strong’

Be bold, be strong, for the Lord your God is with you

Do not be afraid, do not be dismayed.

Walk in faith and victory, for the Lord your God is with you.

‘Only By GRACE’

Only by GRACE can we enter, only by GRACE we can stand; not by our human endeavor, but by the blood of the Lamb.

Into your presence you call us, you call us to come.

Into your presence you draw us, and now by your GRACE we come.

Lord if you mark our transgressions, who would stand?

Thanks to your GRACE we are cleansed by the blood of the lamb.

Only by your GRACE O Lord you teach our hearts to hear you.  You tune us into our purpose to be realized in your timing, following your direction, laws, not ours.  We need to defeat Satan’s victory upon us to be distracted by worldly ways.  You ARE with us, guiding our feeble steps to grow to being bold and strong disciples for your name sake.  The advent of our New lives came through your stepping out for our sakes.  Coming down enfleshed in our humanity to grow to defeat sin, death and the devil by the fate of the Cross and its glorious resurrection!  May we hold this creedally in our lives over and above all else.

AMEN