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“Confidence in God’s righteousness enables belief in a new reality.” This was a wonderful observation made from a commentary I took a gander at in doing my weekly studying towards preaching here today. Confidence itself is a difficult reality at times for us to grapple with though—am I right?
Confidence as a bold witness in the world sent to reveal
the Gospel to the harsh reality of sin, death and evil in this world… It is a
tall order, something we finds ways of retreating from, even diminishing our
existence in order to spin our wheels in despair and doubt. Despair is an easy
tool that Satan uses to divide our hearts from following the path of truth and
light that Jesus continues to try to lead us upon!
As my mentoring pastor has told me time and time again: “When
the chips are down: Are you a faithful servant to the Lord and His kingdom?” And I had to think about that… Well am I? What the world sees and what God
sees—who do I give more credence to? Each bead upon that Franciscan rosary a
prayer is lifted to the Lord weekly in wondering… Am I answering God’s call in doing and being
who He needs me to be and become? Or am
I toiling and anguishing what the world thinks I should be and become? Who am I
anyway? I am as you are a child of God—a child of Grace and promise!
Back and forth the saint and sinner heart debates within
me; am I being and becoming all things through Christ Jesus to whom I have confessed
to strengthen me for this ongoing, uncertain and often perilous journey? As
more and more of my former self goes into a local storage unit (my art that
is); am I looking towards the future with hopeful eyes or towards an end? It’s
up to me to either retreat or move boldly forward.
God’s timing is something we will never truly and
truthfully understand until we are joined with the Lord in His kingdom in our
true spiritual reality. For we must
realize that our finite reality is also an attitude problem we harbor which we
can merely dismiss as purely being human…
But aren’t we as disciples of Jesus to strive for something greater? Are
we not to strive for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness being in the
world but definitely not of it? In my own meager ways, I try but perhaps as we
all must hear: Don’t Try but Do! Yep that old 1st unit of CPE or
pastoral boot camp still sticks with me today…
Doing and being is painful a lot like moving is…. Physically
transplanting oneself some 17 miles southeast is not just organizing boxes and
the assorted junk of your lives but it is also spiritually challenging. It
becomes a challenge when you continually find yourself trying to control the
journey of your life and God says: “Uh uh, Nicole, I don’t think so.” And I
say, ok God I am listening, what now? He is silent. If you recall last week’s Gospel had Jesus
telling Pilate: “37b…. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to
my voice.”
Listening to the truth is one thing, living into it
however, is the challenge of having faith. My “visiting angel” nightly
continues to faintly whisper “not now…” Truth be told, I’m really having a hard
time hearing her words… yet alone wanting to consider it as prayerful caution
in both spiritually and physically “moving” forward! But when I feel I am
taking a step backwards God is really saying there was unfinished business here—I
need you to stay put in one sense but not in the other. You will always be
moving forward whether you like it or not! Is God being the punishing parent
here or truly trying to teach me something I shouldn’t spend time on trying to
fully understand yet?
Well that definitely goes against our human nature doesn’t
it? I want to understand everything, I want order! I used to like to joke that perhaps I must
have been German in another life because I don’t like being “Spontane,” I want
order, I want control! Everything in its place, every purpose defined clearly
for “MY” benefit… There’s the problem—it’s
not about I, Me or Mine—it will always be something beyond me and far greater—GOD!
The servant leader’s heart is obedient to this confident, new reality.
Living into the reality of Grace—the New Nature and all
its fruits is very hard even when you take in for a moment all that’s going on
in the world around us. Black Friday
protestors in Chicago trying to disrupt and shake the conscience of those needling
their way to the shopping district. A lone gunman busts through a Colorado Planned
Parenthood on a quiet murderous rampage to political turmoil over war planes
shot down and government agendas…
There’s enough on the world’s plate—what’s on yours? Is
it a plate of burdens and despair or can you be hopeful?! You faith is always going to be challenged
whether it’s God doing the challenging or the world shaking you, trying to
shatter your fragile self. Are you going
to let the world shatter, divide, diminish you through appealing to your old
ways of doing and being? Or are you
going to open yourself up to something much greater? The words I speak are
typed by the Holy Spirit—they are God’s poetry working through my fragile frame—in
His timing and purposes. He uses me as
He does you in all you do and say when you focus your heart on building faith.
Being grateful for all things even good and bad is living
into Grace—living faith. The past is
gone and the present is at your spiritual doorstep. There is nowhere to go, you must open that
door. Opening that door with some fear and trembling is ok, you’re not perfect—God
is! At least you’re opening the door…
But what if you retreated instead? Many people do,
eventually they erupt in violence as with the shooter at Planned Parenthood. What
if you still try to control and manage God’s leading? You get political
agendas, negative rallies and protests that don’t truthfully address the concern
at hand but manage to hurt innocent bystanders instead.
Living into the truth as disciples of Jesus is knowing
and growing with something we have a terrible time hearing yet alone accepting: God loves us! We are embraced by His Grace
and Righteousness! He planted the New
Nature in our hearts to reap not to fester! We will all die in our own way being
that we are finite, human… but don’t you want to live beyond “your expectations”
and live for God’s instead?
Every town you’ve lived in, every place you’ve laid your
head… they could be counted and made a levy upon you as an uncertain future… OR
you could look at it as a new leaf—the advent of things to come! It’s not going
backwards, it’s a new beginning that is always going forward. May the heart, that first church, hear what
the mind will continue to debate. It’s your faith journey challenge. I know
mine and God is turning those tears into hopeful confidence in a future I have
yet to experience, know.
Let us pray—
Gracious and Loving God,
Help our hearts to daily live into that process
Of discerning our faith
By reflecting, confessing, repenting and renewing
May we shed the Old Nature
And reap the fruit of the New
With a bold confidence Your Son, Christ Jesus
Empowers and challenges our lives to adhere to.
May we build a New reality
In Grace, Love and Faith—
AMEN
November 29th,
2015; 1st Sunday of Advent; Year C; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon by
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 25:1-10;
Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36
The link below is to the sermon being delivered at the Grace Hub Lutheran Orthodox Church's house service 8am
https://youtu.be/VQx2qw0jiLg
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