Lent 4 DON’T CONFUSE ME WITH THE FACTS!
People eat bread and believe it is Christ’s body…drink a small amount of grape juice and believe it is Christ’s blood…and accept the forgiveness promised them through believing and partaking in this meal…do you believe what you see?
More people, and more times, than we’ll ever know are willing to set aside some hurt they’ve endured and or some wrong directed toward them, rather than seek revenge, in order to foster forgiveness and realize reconciliation…do you believe what you see?
People come from all walks of life to this sanctuary on St. Paris Pike, either sitting down or dropping to their knees, willing to speak aloud and tell everyone in the room that they are sinners, they are sorry for it, and they ask God’s forgiveness…do you believe what you see?
People close their eyes, fold their hands, bows their heads, raise their arms, hold their hands open to the heavens, and speak words just as I’m doing now, and believe that the Almighty God is listening and will respond…do you believe what you see?
People work hard for their paychecks, sometimes from dusk until dawn and others from dawn until dusk---with many predictable financial commitments and others that seem to “pop” up when we least expect---willingly, voluntarily place sums of their hard-earned income into a brass plate as it passes by that Christ’s work might be accomplished…do you believe what you see?
More than 50 people, men and women, spend as many hours each week preparing Sunday School lessons, assembling crafts, securing supplies for the children of the church, and do it all for free…
do you believe what you see?
People, men, women, boys, and girls, spend hours a week in music rehearsals---playing instruments and learning music and singing songs---and stand before God and this congregation to express their praise and offer their stewardship and enhance our worship experience and they do this for free…
do you believe what you see?
Young and not so young adults come to a room with changing tables, changing diapers, toddler toys, towelettes, and baby cribs to watch and lovingly care for the youngest people of this family-of-faith so their parents and grandparents (and all of us!) can more fully participate in worship…
do you believe what you see?
Hundreds of people dedicate hundreds of hours every week to help feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the naked, befriend the lonely, visit and pray with the frightened, take Holy Communion to the homebound and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
Hundreds of people willingly and literally walk away from a building long paid for, the site of countless ministry-memories…funerals, baptisms, weddings, confirmations…to enter a new facility on a 35-acre location and make personal, life-changing promises to, not only encumber a debt of 7-figures, but pay off this debt so Christ’s ministries can prosper…do you believe what you see?
People arrive here extra early on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings to make sure all is ready…the lights are on, the coffee is made, the doors unlocked, the bulletins available, while others greet you with a “Good morning!” and a smile and a handshake or hug, and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
People come to our Grace library and organize and advertise and sanitize and familiarize this congregation with the ever-increasing spiritual resources available to us, and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
Nearly 2 dozen people have prayer-fully agreed to be interviewed and, only then, to attend 50 hours of training and complete substantial reading over the course of several months in order to be available, through our Stephen Ministry, for the opportunity of being a Christian, caring friend to a person in great need, and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
Hundreds of people dedicate countless hours each week attending Bible studies, JOY groups, Sunday School classes, and ladies’ guilds in order to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ, and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
Several adults provide leadership in mentoring and ministry with the children and youth of our church, scheduling activities and securing transportation, and modeling the Christ-like life, and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
Hundreds of Grace people have made the effort to get up this morning---many along with their children---get ready, grab a bite of breakfast, and travel to Church, all this on the only day some of them have to sleep in…do you believe what you see?
We have unprecedented numbers of men, women and youth attending overnight retreats, often leaving home and family, willingly paying the cost of the accommodations in the hope to make a new friend and meet, again, that friend we know as Jesus…do you believe what you see?
Dozens of our people busily and generously give of themselves and their possessions in order to provide meals to families and friends on the very day they encounter the reality of a loved one’s death and burial, setting up tables, preparing and presenting the food, and cleaning everything up after our guests have gone away, and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
We have dozens of people with homes and yards of their own, gathering at Grace with yard tools in hand and large machinery under power, in order to voluntarily make this glorious site all the more beautiful as a testimony to God’s grace and as witness to our love for Him and one another …
do you believe what you see?
We have people, over the telephone and internet, sharing and passing along information about people---many we don’t even know or know well---in order to unleash the power and promise of prayer, offer the broad-base of love, and convey the level of support exemplified by no less than Jesus Christ…
do you believe what you see?
People of Grace, everyday of every month, call or stop by to learn who of our Grace family is a patient in one of our local hospitals so they can visit them, offer prayer, exchange conversation, hold a hand, shed a tear, tell a story, and share a common faith…do you believe what you see?
Every month an enthusiastic “army” of individuals gather in
pre-determined formations in our Fellowship Hall, with the “battlefield”
arranged in advance and “weapons and supplies” at the ready in order to
assemble, staple, tape, and mail our monthly newsletter so we all have the
opportunity to know what the Lord is doing in and through Grace…do
you believe what you see?
We have 12 Grace members…employers and employees, lawyers, educators, counselors, CPA’s, & postal workers---who allow themselves to be elected by God and selected by this congregation to seek God’s direction and freely provide us leadership and discernment in meetings lasting hours…
do you believe what you see?
God has assembled: over 100 Ministry Coordinators providing leadership to our ever-increasing ministries---and deeply invested Ministry Area Coordinators overseeing the work of these various ministries---and Mission and Ministry teams meeting regularly to plan and implement and discern God’s will for our work---and they do this all for free…do you believe what you see?
We have young people, who likely complain about getting up so early for a school day, coming just as early to worship on a Sunday, in order to serve as our Acolytes and as Ushers and as musicians and as worship leaders…do you believe what you see?
We give thousands and thousands of dollars to be sent away to address the international problem of world hunger---to put food in the mouths of people whose faces we’ve never seen and names we’ve never known---in hopes that our giving will result in their receiving the nourishment they need …
do you believe what you see?
With all of this, we have lives being changed, hearts being
healed, hopes being restored, faith being nurtured, kind acts being offered,
friendships established…do you believe what you see?
I am not sure if “Seeing is believing” or if “Believing is seeing,” but I do know that in Jesus’ day there were many within the faith community who were unable or unwilling to believe what they saw with their own eyes and witnessed in their own experience…who doubted Jesus’ divinity and questioned His credentials…who criticized His caring and who belittled His blessings. As we read in our Gospel, there were those who couldn’t recognize a true and living miracle even as it occurred right before their very eyes and to a member of their own small community. Rather than declare Christ as Lord, they denounced His divinity. Rather than accept a power greater than their own, they rejected everything they could not understand. Rather than rejoice with the man blind-from-birth when vision was given, they respond with questions, accusations, interrogations, and derogatory remarks. They refused to believe that what they were seeing was the very power of God through Jesus Christ. Look all around us here at Grace…do we believe what we see? Are we seeing the power of God through Jesus Christ? Are we witnessing God working in wonderful ways in us and through us? Without question, miracles of faith are occurring daily in our very midst! The question is: “Do we see them?” and…….
“Do you believe what you see?”
AMEN.
Copyright © March,
2005
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by permission only. Contact Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church