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“11-12 It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”
Sometimes you just have to love how a
paraphrase Bible hits it on the spiritual head for it is in Christ that we
truly do begin to understand “being and purpose!” This kind of understanding
isn’t accomplished through worldly wisdom, for this kind of wisdom is one that
is born and built within that first church—the heart.
The heart is an amazing vessel in charge
of so many things when you think about it. It’s not only responsible for keeping
us alive physically but spiritually it is the center of where God works first
in our lives through the Holy Spirit to enable us to truly develop a drive to
live into Kingdom of God thinking—Grace!
Having the motivation and keeping that
drive to strive for the Kingdom of God and its very different understanding of “righteousness”
is our on-going spiritual warfare battle. In a sense why these texts are
speaking to us today is to illumine the reality of the incarnation of the Holy
Spirit’s work in our lives to spiritually develop and mature us into the freely
responsible servants of Christ, to whom we are all called and commissioned to
be and become!
The time of Christmas goes far beyond
Christ coming into our world but begins to open us up for living into what my
mentoring pastor tried over and over to drill into my head during my faith
formation journey… What it means to be blessed and to be, become a blessing to
and for others. That’s a really hard
pill to swallow yet alone to harbor faith enough to believe in! How many of us “feel or know” what it truly
means to be blessed? Doesn’t our human
nature make it naturally want to revolve around us as well as in material,
non-spiritual things?
In fact it’s probably easier for us to
feel that maybe we’re working, struggling, battling against an ongoing family
curse?! That’s actually a very bad
Sicilian myth that many in my family have pointed a blaming finger upon. My
grandmother, God rest her soul, ardently believed in curses… How can we be
cursed though?! We are alive to see the beauty of God’s sunrises and sunsets daily.
Perhaps some resort to this line of
thinking because growing into purpose is a very painful process and at times
challenging us to the point of breaking.
It is hard for us to think about or really feel ourselves in this
reality but life in fact is ministry!
Jesus in today’s Gospel text is a young boy of that missional number age
of 12. Even at this impressionable age, He is obedient to His Divine Father
calling Him to ministry.
Conversion experiences are in essence a
time of incarnation or spiritual re-purposing. I know this reality well for my
conversion experience is now 12 years & 4 months ago and still effecting me
today! For it has been through Christ
speaking to me at that one church service in August of 2003; that I found out
who I was living for and why… My life before wasn’t hopeless but had a
seemingly murky purpose. A purpose built
upon and through a worldly foundation which really wasn’t stable at all.
It was as if I really needed to hear the remainder of
Paul’s words to the Ephesians to know and live for Christ. Again the Message’
paraphrase paints this wisdom beautifully: “13-14 It’s
in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of
your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by
the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s
coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising
and glorious life.”
Living a glorious life is one lived
openly and intentionally for God and neighbor.
It is the little things that we do and say without a second thought or
coupled with our own intentions… that illumine that whole notion of being and
knowing blessedness and being a blessing for others.
In the process of clearing out dozens of
things in order to prepare to move; I decided to give away all of the clothes I
was originally going to donate to the Salvation Army store to a smaller church
ministry in Joliet. The woman I gave the
clothes to, told me how so many of those coming to the church’s pantry were in
dire need for clothes and would be grateful for anything. Giving them to her
wasn’t so much for the “warm-fuzzies” for myself to “enjoy feeling” but knowing
that it was more of a decision, discernment coming from the heart’s wisdom over
the logical wisdom and “practicality” of the world that made it truly ministry
for me!
Making it truly a ministry… that is a
funny concept when you think of it. Which maybe we shouldn’t “think” about it
in the first place but DO and BE. As I love
to joke about from those seminary “boot-camp” days… “Don’t Try, just Do!!”
Those wonderfully impressionable character cauterizing words of the
ever-so-charming CPE supervisor from that first unit still continue to hold a
lot of wisdom—truth be told!
Would Jesus say those same words to
us? Well He’d probably be a lot nicer
about it as well as encouraging us and reminding us what saving Grace truly is.
This reminded me of a song: I love that old theme song to the former TV series ‘Smallville.’ The song title is simply: ‘Save Me.’ Looking
for a savior or a Marvel comics action figure? This is our human spiritual
warfare battle between realizing the reality of faith and living it knowing
prayerfully well through the heart the true difference between good and evil…
The artist Remy Zero certainly “zeroes
in” on our internal spiritual formation struggle: “…. Save me—Let your warm
hands break right through… I don't care how you do it … I've been waiting for
you.” In an ever growing graceless trend this current culture is meandering
into; we do have to work harder than we ever have as disciples of Jesus to reveal
that grace and light the Gospel imparts indiscriminately to all of us grounding
all of us into a beautiful new purpose!
Opening the doors of the heart to allow
Christ Jesus to pour in—allowing Him to both heal, seal and renew you is coming
into sync. It’s getting into sync
holistically, spiritually, prayerfully—body, mind and soul—This is HOW we grow!
This is how we grow to GO forth with the Good News inscribed upon our hearts to
share for the greater glory of the Kingdom of God!
Our lives are beautifully held together
by the loving hands of God to find ourselves through Him and for Him as well as
for our neighbor! Allowing the ruler of this world to drag you down is the “curse”
of our human frailties… Allowing the
Prince of Peace—Christ Jesus the Lord, to rule and shape our hearts to His
loving Grace, peace and understanding IS our motivation and our goal.
Let us pray,
Gracious Lord Jesus
Help us to develop
The wisdom of the heart
You need for us to incorporate
Inscribe and use in our daily lives
Lived in Grace and naturally responding
in Grace
To purposely live and love both You and
our neighbor
For Your Glory and Your Kingdom
Amen
January 3rd,
2016; 2nd Sunday of Christmas; Year C; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon by
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm
119:97-104; 1 Kings 3:4-15; Ephesians 1: 3-14 & Luke 2: 40-52
Below is a link from the sermon being delivered this morning at the Grace Hub Lutheran Orthodox Church's house service at 8am:
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