Even Me, God?
Sermon
Holy Email
Cycle A Second Lesson Sermons for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany
Object:
E-mail
From: KDM
To: God
Subject: Grace And Peace
Message: Even me, God? Lauds, KDM
At worship, a pastor welcomes her two deaf parishioners by signing, "God loves you," and "I love you." No "Hi," or "Good morning," or even a "How are you?" First of all, before anything else, come the most important connecting words, "God loves you" and "I love you."
When church folk pass the peace in a place of worship, there is a connecting with God and with one another. Children, adults, choir members, pew sitters, and ministers give and receive the same blessing. When our eyes or ears and our voices meet with these words, "May the peace of God be with you," "And with you also," we become aware of a gentling of voices. Because it is God's peace, we cannot pass this peace on with an empty heart. We cannot pass on God's peace unless we hear it for ourselves. Far more than a casual greeting, the passing of the peace is a sign of our wanting to be at peace with all around us. What if on the street, at the store, at work, or at school, the preface to each "Hello" were, first, an unspoken wishing well for that person, "May God's peace be with you"? What if diplomats and state officials were to begin their deliberations with these words, "May God's peace be with you," or at least with that thought?
First of all, before anything else in the letters ascribed to Paul, Paul brings this traditional greeting. It is not from the apostle alone. The greeting is from God. The greeting is from Christ. It puts all that Paul says within the context of faith. This blessing tells the whole message: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A favorite screen saving option of computer users is a three-dimensional, increasingly finer, growing network of PVC-like pipes that are color-coded by size. God's peace might be visualized as coming through such an intricate pipeline. God is the action that starts the configuration. In our religion, Christ who comes at Christmas is the channel God chooses for spreading the peace.
Peace is not a solitary dimension between only God and us. You and I complete this relationship. As everyday persons, we are conduits for the peace that comes from Christ and from God. Peace is part of the networking triangle of holy relationships: God, other persons, and ourselves.
First of all, however, before we can listen to the words and heart of another person during a conversation, we ourselves need the grounding of God's blessing. As year adds to year in our lives, the cumulative factors about which we are sorry or ashamed can weigh us down. Whether our list of shortcomings is stubby or lanky, we all have a list that is part of the murky area of our life. In low times, we become vulnerable to certain details on this list. We need a reminder that God wishes well for us in both low and high times.
Paul's greeting to the people of the early church includes both God's peace and God's grace. Grace and peace do go hand in hand. Our Creator's hope for us is that the peace which only God can provide will embrace and sustain us. Our Savior's hope is that we also will know grace. Our awareness of God's grace and peace empowers us to let go of the burdensome and unchangeable elements in our life. Let us hear Paul's invitation to leave behind these burdens so we can move forward within the grace and peace of God.
How remarkable it is that you and I can know the serene energy of God's peace and be sustained by it regardless of the degree of turmoil or upheaval we endure. God's peace has something to do with being as well and whole as we can be within faulty bodies. It has something to do with accepting what we cannot change.
It has something to do with focusing on the particular contribution our skills, talents, and creativity can make in the world even if that world is a small actual community. The centering of peace brings hope. It has something to do with viewing this community from within the positive attitude of expectant optimism. It has something to do with God.
Peace and grace carry challenges. When we do know peace, a host of other disquieting conditions including exhaustion, thwarted efforts, emotional or physical pain, and flawed relationships may still threaten to rush in and annul it.
God's grace, also, is hard to accept. To acknowledge God's grace means we want to or ought to change. It has something to do with a new freedom to make the possible and necessary changes that draw us toward fullness of life. However, change takes effort. Change means sticking with the determination to do our best. We decide to do things differently when we sense the new freedom of grace. We acknowledge. We begin to look at a temptation and to see alternatives rather than to ignore possibility.
The birth of Christ brings a new answer to old ways of doing things. This is the free, try again of grace of which Paul speaks. Grace invites us to trust that we can bring closer together the reality of who we are and the kind of person we would like to be.
We tend to give up on ourselves when it seems no longer as easy as it once was to be a person of integrity. One goal of God's grace is to save us from ourselves. Grace turns us from self-focus alone. Grace draws us outward toward a dance with others. It invites us to notice the rest of the world and to try to make a difference. It tells us that, whether or not we intend to make a difference, how we live does influence those around us. How we live matters to those who care about us. Why not let the dance of life be graceful?
Have you noticed how living a grace-filled life permeates one's entire being? How we walk, our gait, our demeanor -- all reflect our state of grace or lack of grace? When our spirit becomes graceful, so does our body. We stand up straighter. We hold the head higher. The scowl loosens from our facial muscles and births a smile. Hesitation or faltering of step turns to the steadiness of a purposeful stride. When we live with a sense of God's grace and peace, clumsiness of spirit dissipates.
This sense of God's grace and peace draws us toward a life lived in obedience to faith. In the quiet moments of this advent of our lives, let us wait and listen. Let us expect and hope for God's grace and peace to make themselves known, to come in the person of Jesus Christ. With Christ's birth, we shall find a renewed spirit in God's grace and peace. At Christmas, all whom God has created are in the direct path of God's peace and grace.
Even me, God? Yes, KDM, even you.
From: KDM
To: God
Subject: Grace And Peace
Message: Even me, God? Lauds, KDM
At worship, a pastor welcomes her two deaf parishioners by signing, "God loves you," and "I love you." No "Hi," or "Good morning," or even a "How are you?" First of all, before anything else, come the most important connecting words, "God loves you" and "I love you."
When church folk pass the peace in a place of worship, there is a connecting with God and with one another. Children, adults, choir members, pew sitters, and ministers give and receive the same blessing. When our eyes or ears and our voices meet with these words, "May the peace of God be with you," "And with you also," we become aware of a gentling of voices. Because it is God's peace, we cannot pass this peace on with an empty heart. We cannot pass on God's peace unless we hear it for ourselves. Far more than a casual greeting, the passing of the peace is a sign of our wanting to be at peace with all around us. What if on the street, at the store, at work, or at school, the preface to each "Hello" were, first, an unspoken wishing well for that person, "May God's peace be with you"? What if diplomats and state officials were to begin their deliberations with these words, "May God's peace be with you," or at least with that thought?
First of all, before anything else in the letters ascribed to Paul, Paul brings this traditional greeting. It is not from the apostle alone. The greeting is from God. The greeting is from Christ. It puts all that Paul says within the context of faith. This blessing tells the whole message: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A favorite screen saving option of computer users is a three-dimensional, increasingly finer, growing network of PVC-like pipes that are color-coded by size. God's peace might be visualized as coming through such an intricate pipeline. God is the action that starts the configuration. In our religion, Christ who comes at Christmas is the channel God chooses for spreading the peace.
Peace is not a solitary dimension between only God and us. You and I complete this relationship. As everyday persons, we are conduits for the peace that comes from Christ and from God. Peace is part of the networking triangle of holy relationships: God, other persons, and ourselves.
First of all, however, before we can listen to the words and heart of another person during a conversation, we ourselves need the grounding of God's blessing. As year adds to year in our lives, the cumulative factors about which we are sorry or ashamed can weigh us down. Whether our list of shortcomings is stubby or lanky, we all have a list that is part of the murky area of our life. In low times, we become vulnerable to certain details on this list. We need a reminder that God wishes well for us in both low and high times.
Paul's greeting to the people of the early church includes both God's peace and God's grace. Grace and peace do go hand in hand. Our Creator's hope for us is that the peace which only God can provide will embrace and sustain us. Our Savior's hope is that we also will know grace. Our awareness of God's grace and peace empowers us to let go of the burdensome and unchangeable elements in our life. Let us hear Paul's invitation to leave behind these burdens so we can move forward within the grace and peace of God.
How remarkable it is that you and I can know the serene energy of God's peace and be sustained by it regardless of the degree of turmoil or upheaval we endure. God's peace has something to do with being as well and whole as we can be within faulty bodies. It has something to do with accepting what we cannot change.
It has something to do with focusing on the particular contribution our skills, talents, and creativity can make in the world even if that world is a small actual community. The centering of peace brings hope. It has something to do with viewing this community from within the positive attitude of expectant optimism. It has something to do with God.
Peace and grace carry challenges. When we do know peace, a host of other disquieting conditions including exhaustion, thwarted efforts, emotional or physical pain, and flawed relationships may still threaten to rush in and annul it.
God's grace, also, is hard to accept. To acknowledge God's grace means we want to or ought to change. It has something to do with a new freedom to make the possible and necessary changes that draw us toward fullness of life. However, change takes effort. Change means sticking with the determination to do our best. We decide to do things differently when we sense the new freedom of grace. We acknowledge. We begin to look at a temptation and to see alternatives rather than to ignore possibility.
The birth of Christ brings a new answer to old ways of doing things. This is the free, try again of grace of which Paul speaks. Grace invites us to trust that we can bring closer together the reality of who we are and the kind of person we would like to be.
We tend to give up on ourselves when it seems no longer as easy as it once was to be a person of integrity. One goal of God's grace is to save us from ourselves. Grace turns us from self-focus alone. Grace draws us outward toward a dance with others. It invites us to notice the rest of the world and to try to make a difference. It tells us that, whether or not we intend to make a difference, how we live does influence those around us. How we live matters to those who care about us. Why not let the dance of life be graceful?
Have you noticed how living a grace-filled life permeates one's entire being? How we walk, our gait, our demeanor -- all reflect our state of grace or lack of grace? When our spirit becomes graceful, so does our body. We stand up straighter. We hold the head higher. The scowl loosens from our facial muscles and births a smile. Hesitation or faltering of step turns to the steadiness of a purposeful stride. When we live with a sense of God's grace and peace, clumsiness of spirit dissipates.
This sense of God's grace and peace draws us toward a life lived in obedience to faith. In the quiet moments of this advent of our lives, let us wait and listen. Let us expect and hope for God's grace and peace to make themselves known, to come in the person of Jesus Christ. With Christ's birth, we shall find a renewed spirit in God's grace and peace. At Christmas, all whom God has created are in the direct path of God's peace and grace.
Even me, God? Yes, KDM, even you.
