4/23/23 Sermon

We celebrated Katie Jenks’ wedding yesterday - that’s where the flowers are from, and it got me thinking… I guess there are some good things about being married.  I mean I really shouldn’t complain.  I feel pretty lucky to be married to my wife Beverly. I say that and I haven’t even screwed up too badly this week.  At least not that I can think of anyhow.  So there you go.  I guess feel lucky to be married.  

I feel lucky partly because I am horrible at dating. I mean terrible. The worst date I can think of, the one that stands out the most was definitely when I was 19.  I did this stupid thing that I’ve never done since.  I let a friend set me up on a blind date to go out with her and her boyfriend. My friend Nikki and her boyfriend at the time thought it would be a good idea to set me up with her friend Jennifer.  So We went to a restaurant and had a horrible dinner.  Then we went to see “The Man on the Moon.”  Its that Jim Carey movie where he plays Andy Kaufmann so I thought it was going to be funny.  He dies of cancer.  My date Jennifer’s grandfather just died of cancer.  Not so funny.  She cried the whole time.  So I’m batting 1000 on this date.  I should have just gone home at that point.  I think I probably wanted to.

But I was talked into going to this place called Eat ‘n Park which was a local late-night hang out place that’s like Denny’s.  All my friends hung out there.  So, we got there and I excused myself to see if any of my other friends were there.  My friend Eli was there. He said, “What’s up Quincy? You look terrible.” And I replied, “Eli, I’m on the worst date of my life.  I mean this is just terrible. It’s the most miserable thing I’ve done in my entire life.” And I didn’t hold anything back as I proceeded to tell him just how miserable I was on this date. And so he asked, “Oh yeah?  Who with?”  So I started looking around the restaurant to point out this poor girl to him.  I looked at the waiting area, she wasn’t there. I scanned around the restaurant and she wasn’t anywhere I could see.  Then I looked at who was sitting directly across from Eli in the booth. And wouldn’t you know… So I pointed and said, with her. And I just walked out of the place and sat on the curb. Horrible. 

Then When I was 20, I was on like the 4th or 5th date with a girl I really liked. And we had a great date.  It was fantastic. I was funny and charming.  I didn’t take her to a horrible movie or say anything terribly stupid.  So, I was in pretty good spirits as I was saying good night to her.  And I went to jump off this park bench and say Good night and see you tomorrow.  You know, like Fred Astaire or something trying to impress her, when my foot slipped and there was this audible wet snap as my forearm twisted and shattered when I hit the ground.  It was pretty late and she had to go wake up my parents to tell them.  It was her first time meeting them. 

There was the time that I, as prince charming, pulled out a seat for my date on a first date. Thus allowing her to miss the chair entirely and fall to the floor. That was super smooth..  And the time I went to take a sip of my drink on a date. I was trying to make eye contact with her the whole time because I heard women like eye contact. So, as I went to take the sip, and because I was staring at her like a weirdo, the straw missed my mouth entirely but somehow perfectly found my nostril.  and it slid right up jamming into the back of my nasal cavity causing blood to come cascading down out of it. AND then there was the time where I went to wash my hands and the sink exploded spraying water on my pants making it look like I had a much more embarrassing accident.  And this list goes on for awhile...these are just the ones I can think off the top of my head.  So, I feel pretty lucky that I’m married.  The fact that anyone would stick it out with me long enough to make it to marriage is pretty lucky and that person is either really brave or really stupid, honestly.

Just like in dating, There are times in our lives where we try to do things to impress other people or to win their love, aren’t there?  We act differently, or dress differently, or shave off our beard, or try to act smoother than perhaps we can really pull off, but often times it doesn’t seem to work.  One of the things I love about my wife is that I don’t have to try so hard around her.  I can be myself and for some crazy reason, she still sticks around.  Love is like that.  Love allows us to put our guard down and be who we really are - faults and flaws and all.  I mean, how horrible would it be if we had to constantly prove or win the love of someone over and over again?  Some people do.  Some people ask us over and over again to prove our love.  And that can be really taxing…

Paul does something revolutionary in his letter to the Romans - Something that Both Martin Luther and John Calvin would embrace at the core of their message as they started a revolution as well.  So, I have to warn you… What I’m about to say isn’t going to shock you but what I’m about to say is at the heart of all revolutionary action in the church since is inception in Jesus.  Revolutions are built on this idea.  You ready for it?  You don’t have to prove your love or your worth or your value to God.  God already knows and God already loves you.  God already loves you.  Not shocking but it’s revolutionary.  

At the core of Paul’s message in Romans is this reading for today which basically says you don’t need the law and you don’t need to do anything to win God’s love - that’s what’s called the unmerited gift of Grace- God already loves you.  And Paul says that we can then basically replace the law with faithfulness.  But Paul also says that doesn’t mean that works or the law are thrown out.  They just aren’t a measuring stick or the currency that we hand in for God’s love.  

You can see why Luther and Calvin really latched on to this idea because one of the core complaints they held against the Roman Catholic church of their time was this idea that God’s Grace could be doled out to people.  You could buy forgiveness of sin. In fact, in some cases you literally had to buy it!  You could buy people’s way in to heaven.  A priest, another human being, had to give you God’s forgiveness.  And scripture was off limits to you because you weren’t righteous enough to read it or understand it.  And yet, you crack open Paul to this part in Romans and read that we’ve all fallen short.  We’re all sinners.  None of us are righteous.  Yet, somehow God through Jesus Christ shows us that God’s grace is open and available to all of us.  That despite who we are or what we’ve done, God already loves us.  God already loves us.  And the Reformers sparked a revolution with that being the backbone of their message. 

You see, I think today we stand on the precipice of another revolution and I think that it’s desperately needed.  I think what the church, the church universal, needs again is another revolution of grace.  Because it seems like lately people have a lot of strange things to say about Christians and there are some funny ideas about what makes someone a Christian in American culture.  I mean, I’ve been told, “Funny, you don’t look like a Christian.” or you hear that real Christians vote democrat or republican - ironically it’s usually the way the person saying it votes. OR you hear a real Christian reads these books and listens to that music and only watches these shows and real Christians certainly don’t talk like that.  

But really, the only thing at the heart of being a Christian according to Paul and even according to Jesus is that we accept the Love and Grace of God that’s given to us through Jesus Christ.  That gets you in the club.  That makes you a real Christian.  Now, like we talked before, it’s up to you what you do when you’re in the club.  There’s discipleship after that.  But if you accept God’s Grace as given to you through Jesus Christ, welcome aboard.  If you recognize that God loves you and you don’t deserve it, then you’re one of us!

But Paul doesn’t stop with getting us in the door of the club and neither should we.  Paul moves from this reading into Abraham as the perfect example of faith because Abraham acted on this gift of grace, on this love that he’s done nothing to deserve.  And Paul will say things like any action that doesn’t proceed from faith is a sin.  For Paul this acceptance, this faith in God’s grace through Jesus Christ is only the starting point of where faith begins.  Calvin said that the way a person comes to faith is by examining their life and the world in which they live and realizing that without God, they both are fundamentally flawed.  And then they see that God is doing something about it through Jesus Christ and they sign on with God to do even more.  That’s why this grace is so revolutionary.  It’s already there and once we realize the depths of God’s love and God’s grace we’re called into a way of living that totally changes our lives and the way in which we interact with the world we’re in.  God’s grace redefines the game. 

In a world that’s so divided, and label driven, and partisan, and divisive, we, you and I, as Christians need to become more grace-driven than ever before in history.  We need to become more dedicated to Jesus’s Belief and Paul’s belief and the reformers belief that God’s grace is open to everyone, that everyone is invited in, that everyone is loved by God.  And when we create a culture here through this church where that message is clear, that God’s grace is available to you no matter who you are, that God’s love is already there for you no what you’ve done in the past, then everything changes because that’s when God really starts working through their lives and works through our lives.  Then things in this world begin to change, one person at a time, one action at a time, one grace filled moment at a time.  What’s needed now is another revolution of God’s Grace.  And all we need to do is continue to create a community where people can see that Grace in action and invite them to become a part of it. 

I don’t know why God loves me.  I really don’t.  I can’t even figure out why my wife loves me, let alone God.  But I know God does because I’ve seen God’s love in Jesus Christ and I’ve felt God’s grace as it pours into Highland Park Presbyterian Church.  I know God loves me through Jesus Christ and through the body of Christ acting in this world.  Gods’ grace is plain to see throughout this church and I couldn’t be more proud of you for all the ways you live in to God’s Grace.  I believe in my heart of hearts that you are leaders in this revolution of Grace.  That the battle cry of the Reformation, of Reformed and always Reforming rings true in this community.  That we are building something here that’s lasting and strong and beautiful.  That we are beginning something here that this world desperately needs: A community, a family, a church that doesn’t just tell people about God’s grace but one that SHOWS people God’s love and God’s grace through Jesus Christ.  We are continuing the revolution Jesus started and that the Reformers carried on.  We are continuing the revolution of God’s Grace.

So may you love Boldy and freely and wastefully Just like God loves you. 

May you gracefully accept people, denying labels, and inviting everyone you see to the revolution

And may you reform both yourselves and this world into the image God created both to be.