I am pleased to report
that a few new office volunteers have been recruited. Their names are
Olivia, Katriona and Alex, three of the school aged children who are a part
of our hand in hand day school program this summer. The other day, I put
them to work stapling the bulletins. Actually, I was only going to have
Olivia work on the project but when the other girls saw an opportunity to
escape from the young ones for a little while what they were eager to help.
First it was Katriona who said she wanted in on the project to which I said,
“of course you too.” Then I caught sight of Alex’s sad, dejected expression
and I just couldn’t refuse. “Okay, you too.” And with that the trio
happily went about their work, pleased as punch for the change in the
routine. So elated were they I suppose I could have pulled a Tom Sawyer on
them, had them pay me to do the work. So, when Pastor gave them an ice
cream cone when they were finished you would have thought they had died and
gone to heaven. All that mattered was that they were included in this new
and different experience.
Their reaction the other
day, got me to thinking about what Paul has to say to the church at
Ephesus. Speaking of the good news that he and others have received, he
wants even more people to know that they are included as well, particularly
to the Gentile Ephesians. “You too!” He declares. “You too, when you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in
him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.”
And if the circle of
blessing expands outward from Jerusalem all the way to way to Ephesus,
what’s to stop us from experiencing the ripple effects too, up here atop a
hill overlooking Mopac Expressway in Austin Texas? “You too!” Behold, the
ever widening circle of God’s grace!
Next to food,
water and shelter, a sense of belonging is one of our most basic of human
needs. In most cases our families are the first place where the need is
met, among loving parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.
In the context of the most intimate and loving of relationships we begin to
find our place in the world around us. As we grow that need to belong is
filled in the company of others, our peers, those with whom we share a
common interest, experience, a particular point of view with regard to
politics or religion. And whether we’re talking about families, the school
band or football team, the neighborhood association or the bowling league,
the benefits of belonging are clear, a sense that we are important, that
somebody knows and cares about us, our thoughts and feelings, or simply who
we are.
Sadly though,
the experience of belonging isn’t universal. How often do we hear sad
stories of all the lonely people who live lives of quiet desperation? Or
even more tragically of those live frustrating and angry lives because they
never quite fit and one day snap, unleashing years of pent up frustration
and rage. In such cases, the responses of neighbors and acquaintances are
chillingly similar. “I hardly knew the guy.” Or else, “I never could have
imagined him doing such a thing.” “All the lonely people, where do they all
come from? All the lonely people where do they all belong?”
But from
Paul’s point of view, no matter who we are, no matter what our background or
life experience, through baptism we do belong, we belong to God “who blesses
us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.” And yet, the truth is God
isn’t the only person or thing vying for our hearts and our lives these
days. “In the beloved we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses,” Paul declares which means that despite our Promethian
self-image, there is something about us that needs forgiving, that actually
needs redeeming.
Of course to say that we
need forgiving and redeeming is just about the last thing that the Old
Sinner in us wants to hear. After all, from his or her point of view who
and what we are in life is entirely a matter of our own effort and ability,
is determined by the amount of stuff that one can accumulate, by how much
wealth we can lay claim to at the end of the day, or by how much power we
have over others. If someone comes along and tells us we stand in line to
receive some sort of inheritance, our eyes widen as we rub our hands
together and think to ourselves “Oh boy! Here it comes, the big lottery
ticket payoff! So, I must be a pretty great person to deserve something
like this!”
What God gives though is
not the result of our own effort and ability and the life to which we are
called is not about the accumulation of possessions. Ironically, the very
things, the choices and the priorities we think will give us life are what
lead us to death, to being cut off, orphaned if you will from the only one
who is able to give us all we need from day to day, from the one who gives
us life.
But while we were yet
sinners, while we foolishly spend ourselves on the things that perish, that
moth and rust consume, God has come to us in Christ to lay claim to us
through our baptism, to put to death the old sinner in us, to choose us, to
adopt us and make us his own.
Former ELCA Presiding
Bishop George Anderson was legally adopted by his parents as an infant and
speaks poignantly about what that means in understanding himself as a child
of God.
“I grew up knowing that I
was adopted. My parents told me about going to the hospital and seeing me
for the first time. There were plenty of laughs about that first visit,
because they discovered I had jaundice and looked very scrawny. But they
waited until I got better—more than a month in all—and then they took me to
their home.
"Maybe that
story helped me in those adolescent years when teenagers brood a lot and
wonder whether their parents really love them. My parents and I had our big
arguments, and I was sometimes accused of being a “smart aleck.” But I
didn’t take refuge in saying, “They’re not my real parents” because I always
knew that I had been chosen—and waited for—even when I looked like a really
bad choice.
"Back in those
days, adoption agencies were better than Swiss banks at keeping secrets. It
was not easy to learn about birth parents. I can understand why that search
is so important to some adopted children (these days), but it just never was
a big deal for me. So, Reuben and Francis Anderson are the only parents I
know.
"Being adopted
has two good effects on me. For one thing, I don’t know what I’m going to
die of. When doctors ask me about my family medical history, I just shrug.
It has kept me from mistrusting any particular organ and treating it as a
potential Judas. I get along with them all.
"Adoption has
also given me a personal experience of grace. I know what it is to have
been loved before I was lovable, and chosen when I was a bad choice. If
caring human beings can do that, I know that God does it even more gladly
and more fully. It makes me want to pass that love along.”
And we too, we
too have been destined for adoption by the God who has chosen us in Christ,
even though we looked like a pretty lousy choice. What’s more, we too have
obtained an inheritance, not the silver and gold variety, not the kind we
can take to the bank, but one that weathers every storm, that will surely
keep and sustain us in this world and into the next, God’s saving word of
truth, the seal of the Holy Spirit. Now, having been brought into the
family of God, having received all that we ever need and so much more, that
we too might live for the praise of Christ’s glory, to “pass the love along”
as proclaim God’s love in our worship, in our daily work, at home, on the
job, at school, with our friends and neighbors, with all those who long to
hear God say “yes, of course, you too!”
Now, may the
God who has chosen us, keep us all in the love of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Pastor Brian Peterson
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