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The author to life as we understand it as people of ‘faith,’ is God. Perhaps to many however, who challenge the notion and need of faith see themselves alone as the author to all they have in their own tiny sphere. The latter in this thinking can become lawlessness and as we hear in some of today’s lessons, this lawlessness is sin.
Just
like there are many planets that surround the earth, we often can see ourselves
unto ourselves—in our own worlds. There
is actually a psychological movement now rather dated called Jungianism, that
entertains this thought. It makes perfect sense to the questioning artistic
type that sees themselves unique and alone and creating…
Before
being and becoming a witness to Christ Jesus’ Gospel and His impact upon my
life; I felt as though I was truly in charge of completing the novel of where
my life was to go and what I would be doing.
It didn’t have boundaries more than just sitting back and letting my
wheels spin in discerning what should I do now and where should I go? I didn’t know Jesus till that one fateful
moment in the late summer of 2003 where He called to me and resurrected,
restored my soul for a new purpose. A
New purpose not unto itself but for all that surrounds me. This resurrection was my conversion
experience.
What I
have just said is called witnessing; something we as the church shouldn’t
stifle or try to control but allow and encourage each other to share the
journey. Sharing the journey is what
feeds people to spiritually be shaped both by the Living Word of God as well as
living into being shaped by the beautiful example, God and Man—Jesus Christ,
the true author of life as we know it.
Sharing
the journey or witnessing, being truly evangelical can get you into a lot of
flack. I was always being challenged for
my preaching in the beginning. This was
more the case when I was in seminary. I
was blessed beyond measure for a pastor who always encouraged me to both grow
with the Living Word in study and practice through preaching. There is a lot to continually grow and learn
from each and every time you sit down and compose. It is a lifetime’s process. There is a methodology as well as truly a
spiritual discipline to consider that does border on being or becoming “creedal”
for the disciple.
Being
creedal is realizing the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ impact in,
with and through your faith journey.
Taking ‘credence’ literally means to hold belief in or acceptance of
something as true. This is abiding in
the gift of faith as we have been justified by an undeserved Grace. This undeserved Grace was made complete and
possible by the victory of the Cross and the literal rising from the grave of
Jesus Christ, the Messiah—to defeat sin, death and the power of evil in the
world.
Take
Peter’s gutsy sermon in the book of Acts, calling out the Israelites whose
indifference and ignorance essentially aided to put Jesus to death. He not only defines His faithful
understanding of Jesus as the author of Life but challenges them to repent and
turn to God. Turning to God is allowing
that Living Word to resurrect, transform and transcribe upon your heart, the
path of Grace the Lord needs you to follow.
Not
much has changed however, in the past 2,000 something years for the lawlessness
of our indifference and ignorance have clouded over the path of where we are in
the reality of living into Grace as well as being creedal and obedient to our
discipleship task. This opens up that
greater Pandora’s box of what is sin, yet alone what is forgiveness? How can we
really know righteous if we have come to feel as if we are the authors and
judges to the world and its’ path over and above God?
Within
that sphere of the ego’s dominion over the self; we are turned away from God
and focused blindly inward perpetuating ignorance as well as growing in
strengthening the sub-structure to all sin—greed and indifference. If our whole world is predicated and dictated
by and for the self; how can we know or have compassion, repentance and
forgiveness to give freely in loving God and neighbor? You can’t because you have made your own
God. This is at the heart of the
lawlessness of sin. This is what keeps
our lives from growing past that saint and sinner quagmire or roadblock to
truthful spiritual formation.
There
have been on-going “quiet” new feeds either on social media or in even smaller
places showing the path of the Evil One’s work through ISIS. Some of the latest horrors include the murder
of several Christian college students in Africa to the torture and beatings of young
Christian school children. Women as
still be singled out either to be killed or “justifiably” raped on account of ISIS’
radical “ideology…” If we were exposed
to what was really going on; what would people do? This goes beyond Christian and Muslim but is
about humanity! This indifference has
happened before, for how many years did it take America to get involved in
WWII? How many people were murdered in
the Evil One’s path of destruction lived out through Hitler and the Nazi’s?
Once we
allow our lives to cave into the lawless temptations of the author of death,
Satan; we turn away from even understanding or needing a crucified Lord who
resurrected to start the journey of Grace! We build instead a solid foundation
of sin that we justify to know no real kind of love or grace to live into as
purpose and goal to our very being. We
condemn humanity to dwell in the graceless wilderness of a dry and dead desert
of the self.
Speaking
of desert and reflecting upon this past week; I was once again encouraged to
dream about “moving…” Moving upward in
ministry as well as moving to somewhere completely different and refreshing~ This
potential ministry opportunity is in the middle of the desert of three
bordering states: California, Arizona and Nevada. Looking into or just investigating housing
has been a lot of fun. In the middle of
the desert, homes for rent or for sale are ridiculously or unbelievably cheap….
One
place had me going back to the link over and over to speculate and enjoy coming
up with sarcastic quips to make upon it…
Ok, it’s only $49 grand, 3,000 plus square feet, a fireplace, a
restaurant style giant kitchen with the cherry on the top being an in-ground
pool in the backyard… OK… What’s wrong with it? Were people murdered there? Is
it haunted? Or is the home made out of Legos & stucco? I enjoyed living into my doubt in the form of
humor for quite some time, almost like a sport!
It was
looking into that desert, however, with potential. Potential for never seeing snow, no more
coats & Chicago weather wardrobes!
All humor aside, what if this desert metaphorically speaking was our
life before we came to realize, recognize and know Christ Jesus truly leading
and feeding us the novel, path of Grace He needs us to follow? This is how Christ is both the author of life
and the creator of a New Law we follow when we truthfully live into realizing
potential, for God, through God to love Him and neighbor.
It a
lot like hearing the hopeful voice of the Psalmist sing: “6b…O
that we might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord!”
That light is warm, and leading where everything comes together and your
heart is turned towards this light to be shaped by love and Grace. Just as the
light upon the field sown in the desert shows profound hopefulness for growth
and survival… we need to resurrect hope in, with and through the Gospel of
Grace to grow that endless Garden!
If I do get this ministry
opportunity out there in the middle of the desert divided by the mighty
Colorado River; I can only earnestly abide in the Lord’s lead here. This is living into Grace, abiding to its
path and growing into a creedal understanding of accountability God needs His
children to faithfully follow, not doubt.
Faithfully follow and not doubting that humanity can die to the Old
Nature and rise with potential obedience into the New Creation. A New Creature sewn in the desert of our
saint and sinner hearts to be watered with the Living Word and grown with a
resurrecting light!
AMEN
Sunday April 19th, 2015;
3rd Sunday of Easter; Year B; SOLA Lectionary;
Reverend Nicole A.M.
Collins
Psalm 4; Acts 3:11-21; 1 John 3:1-7
& Luke 24:36-49
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