Seeing the Power of Grace…

I finally made it through all 102 minutes of Babette’s Feast. I have always wanted to watch it, but the distinct lack of fast cars and powerful weaponry made it difficult for me. However, working on a short sermon series on grace, and reading Yancey’s What’s so Amazing about Grace (for the second time) I was inspired to watch the DVD.

I won’t detail the film here except to say that it communicated to me a fresh picture of my own inability to appreciate the greatness of the grace God’s given me. I would guess that my failure to grasp the depth of God’s grace is partially due to what Frederick Buechner says about all of us.

People are prepared for everything except for the fact that beyond the darkness of their blindness there is a great light. They are prepared to go on breaking their backs plowing the same old field until the cows come home without seeing, until they stub their toes on it, that there is a treasure buried in that field rich enough to buy Texas. They are prepared for a God who strikes hard bargains but not for a God who gives as much for an hour’s work as for a day’s. They are prepared for a mustard-seed kingdom of God no bigger than the eye of a newt but not for the great banyan it becomes with birds in its branches, singing Mozart. They are prepared for the potluck supper at First Presbyterian, but not for the marriage supper of the lamb…. ~Frederick Buechner as quoted by Philip Yancey in What’s so Amazing about Grace?, pp. 62-63.

Yep. That’s me. God’s grace is so much bigger than anything I could hope to produce or contribute to my own walk with him.

That’s what hits you between the eyes when you watch Babette’s Feast — not the power of a fast car or a super-weapon, but the power of grace. As the feast is prepared, the mentality of those receiving it is such that they simply want to get through this to give honor to Babette. But as they begin to enjoy the luxury of her gift, they become new inside and release old grievances, spreading the grace they are receiving.

May we all invest our lives in celebrating the power of grace.

Avoiding Pain by Avoiding Purpose and People…

Some time ago, a couple came to the local churches asking for financial help. When Pastor George asked, “Where do you attend church?” the answer was, “We don’t.” They are professing Christians, but they don’t go to church anywhere. This is common.

I was thinking about why folks who call themselves Christians don’t regularly fellowship with other Christians, and while I know there are a variety of reasons, I think one reason is because they have been injured in the past. Sometimes avoidance of church is symptomatic of aversion to social interaction in general.

However, God created us as social people. The phrase, “It is not good for man to be alone” does not only reveal the origin of marriage, but verbalizes our need to interact with others. This interaction is essential if our lives are to have real meaning.

Paul Borthwick stated this well just over two decades ago.

It is possible to evade a multitude of sorrows through the cultivation of an insignificant life. Indeed, if a man’s ambition is to avoid the troubles of life, the recipe is simple: shed your ambitions in every direction, cut the wings of every soaring purpose, and seek a life with the fewest contacts and relations. If you want to get through the world with the smallest trouble, you must reduce yourself to the smallest compass. Tiny souls can dodge through life; bigger souls are blocked on every side. As soon as a man begins to enlarge his life, his resistances are multiplied. Let a man remove his petty selfish purposes and enthrone Christ, and his sufferings will be increased on every side. (Paul Borthwick, Leading the Way, Navpress, 1989, p. 86)

Borthwick says a mouthful in those few words. He speaks of being significant. He encourages sanctified ambitions. He addresses the purpose-driven life.

To me, he’s saying: Brave the pain, risk the injuries, and dream big for the sake of being significant in the eyes of Christ.

Thankfulness for your Church Family…

Today, as I sat with Alverta’s son and daughter-in-law, I noted Fred was reading Life Together. Just seeing the book reminded me of something I typed from it years ago. I will cut and paste it here.

In the Christian community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life. Only he who gives thanks for little things receives big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for the daily gifts. We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack the deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others, and we consider this lament to be pious.  We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.

How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully received from Him little things?  If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

This applies in a special way to the complaints often heard from pastors and zealous members about their congregations.  A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God.  A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.  When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to see whether the trouble is not due to his wish-dream that should be shattered by God; and if this be the case, let him thank God for leading him into this predicament.  But if not, let him nevertheless guard against ever becoming an accuser of the congregation before God.  Let him rather accuse himself for his unbelief.  Let him pray God for an understanding of his own failure and his particular sin, and pray that he may not wrong his brethren.  Let him, in the consciousness of his own guilt, make intercession for his brethren.  Let him do what he is committed to do, and thank God.

Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification.  It is a gift of God which we cannot claim.  Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification.  What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God.  Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature.  The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.

Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.  The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, the more serenely shall we think of our fellowship and pray and hope for it.

~Life Together, by Deitrich Bonhoeffer  pp. 29-30

One of the most amazing things about that statement is its timelessness. When I typed it, I was using Word Prefect 4.2. That dates it to what, about 1987? But it’s still as applicable today as it was then.

I thank God for my church family. Always. (1 Thessalonians 1:2)

Valuing the Body — and it’s members…

Tonight at church we celebrated The Lord’s Supper in a joyous way.

I spoke on the theological issues and perspectives of The Lord’s Supper, using Wayne Grudem’s chapter on communion in his book on systematic theology. Then we spoke about the value of the Body of Christ, where we speak of his physical body, the bread, or the people we think of as the Body of Christ.

To make that last point practical, I personally served each person present the bread, asking others to share things they appreciated about the one receiving the bread. A variety of character qualities came up: a loving heart, dependability, a servant’s heart, being a good teacher, having a good sense of humor. It was good to hear and say these things.

What made this communion service the best I’ve ever been a part of was the edification of the body. As each one heard the others express their love and appreciation for him or her, something beautiful happened: The body was refreshed and strengthened.

You can do this any time. Communion was a great time to do it. But you can call someone on the phone, message them on facebook, send them an email, or go to the trouble to compose a poem on a card and say, “You are important to me and to the Body of Christ because…”

Give it a try. It’s a joyful thing to do.

Sunday was a good Sunday…

Sunday was such a good Sunday. The 8 a.m. traditional service saw about twice the attendance we’d hoped for. The 10:45 service was smaller than usual, as a result, but still very exciting.

One of the most exciting parts was seeing the children — three rows of them — heading up to the platform, squeezing in front of the microphones to bring the music ministry. All of them were as cute as one would expect. If you’re wondering what little Louie was doing with his foot, ask him about the button on the bottom of his shoe.

Another exciting time was when little baby Cooper made his appearance. As his dad held him up before the people, the congregation burst into applause. I look forward to seeing that happen when baby Christian gets home from the NICU!

After that service, one of the visitors who had been there to see her grandchildren was emotionally moved by what she had seen. When I spoke to her about it, she conveyed a thankfulness for what God has done in the lives of her children and grandchildren.

Yeah — Sunday was a good Sunday.

This Sunday promises to be good as well.

We will have an International Worker with us — one who has served God in Columbia for several years. The ministry of the Alliance in Columbia has been so effective that the US leadership has withdrawn our workers from there, delighted that the Alliance Church of Columbia is mature and healthy enough to stand on its own.

Join me in prayer that people will enjoy their time with our missionary and that our hearts will be moved to share the good news we have heard with those here and those far off.

As usual, be sure to check www.curwensvillealliance.org to see what’s happening in our church.

Thanks!