God of Grace, God of Glory

Exodus 34:29-35

2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2

Luke 9:28-36

            “Let’s Make a Deal” with Monty Hall is a classic game show.  Although it was broadcast back in the 60s and 70s on ABC and NBC, you can watch reruns of the show today on the Game Show Network.  The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host, Monty Hall. The contestants have to weigh the possibility of an offer for a valuable prize, or an undesirable item, referred to as a "zonk".  The prize and the “zonk” are kept hidden behind one of three doors: door number one, door number two and door number three.  As the host, Monty Hall would heighten the anticipation of finding out behind which door the valuable prize was hidden.  Both the contestant and the audience at home and in the studio want to witness the unveiling: will it be the valuable prize or will it be the “zonk”.

            It is difficult to know sometimes in life which door hides the valuable prize and which door hides the “zonk”.  We don’t always see and understand the truth even when it lies right in front of our faces.  The Apostle Peter, who has traveled with Jesus himself and lived with him day in and day out, has declared Jesus’ identity as the Messiah of God, but he does not fully comprehend what he is saying.  Peter and the disciples cannot see the complete truth; they do not understand the depth and breath of Jesus’ identity and purpose.

So Jesus goes up to the mountain to pray as was his habit; his time away from the people and the crowds to be with God alone.  But this time it’s different.  There is more at stake with this visit to the mountain top, for Jesus is preparing to make the journey to Jerusalem.  He wants to make sure that at least one little group of his followers know who he is.  He wants to make sure Peter, James and John would come to understand his true identity.  So they go to the mountain top to pray seeking God’s blessing for the journey to Jerusalem; the road leading to his arrest, death and resurrection. 

As they prayed on that mountain top, it’s as if the door hiding the valuable prize has been opened. The veil that had covered the disciples’ eyes is removed for a moment so they can see Jesus and the universe in a new way.  It’s like the moment when a person with poor eye sight looks through their first pair of glasses and they discover a whole new reality.  Because when Jesus’ appearance changed and his clothes became dazzling white, there was more at work here then just having really clean clothes.  It’s the glory of God shining around him and through him.  This moment on the mountain top, the Transfiguration, is a revelation of Jesus’ true identity as the Messiah.  This validation comes through Moses and Elijah, the greatest leader of the people of Israel and the greatest prophet, coming together as if to say the entire history of God’s people confirms Jesus’ true identity.

Now Peter, James and John, though they are tired, the Scripture says they are able to remain awake enough to see the glory of God and Moses and Elijah with Jesus.  But they obviously don’t get it.  They don’t understand what’s happening here.  It’s only later, after Jesus has ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit came upon them that they begin to understand what they had experienced on that mountain top.

Have you ever experienced an event in your life that you did not completely understand at first?  Think about those times in your past when you thought you knew and understood what was happening but later realized there was more to it.  Why does this happen?  Why do we when we witness a powerful, significant moment in our life do we not fully grasp its significance?

When I was eighteen years old, I thought I knew everything about everything.  Nobody could tell me differently.  I was so set in my ideas about what the world should be like that I was not open to new perspectives.  My mind was shut to new possibilities.  A new idea could have knocked at my door but I would not have woken up to answer the door.  You could say I was asleep at the wheel.  I was a sleeper who would not awake.  I missed opportunities to grow and learn.

There are many of us who live life in chunks of time, moving full speed ahead, never taking the time to reflect and examine who we really are, where we’ve come from and where we are going.  It was Greek philosopher Plato who said, “The unexamined life is the life not worth living.”  How many of us have examined our lives in depth?  How many of us really spend time in deep thought; spend time in thinking through the full consequences of our behaviors and our decisions? 

Do you examine the consequences of spending more time at work and less time at home with your spouse and children: how do you think that’s going to work out down the road?  Do you examine the consequences of cheating on tests and homework in school: how will that play out in the long run?  Issues of infidelity and addictions: How objective can you be?  Sometimes we can be so lethargic that we will not face our own questions, fears and doubts.  When faced with difficulties in life, we can shut out what disturbs us.  Anyone of us can drug ourselves mentally until our mind is sound asleep; numb to our surroundings.  The painful, difficult memories are kept at bay, at least for the moment.

 Peter, James and John did not get it.  They did not fully grasp the meaning of their experience on the mountain top.  They did not fully grasp what they had witnessed.  The veil was lifted for that one significant moment so they could see the full glory of Christ first hand.  But these guys don’t get it.  Their coping strategy is to reduce the terrifying glory of Christ to something he and the others can understand.  Peter wants to reduce the glory of Christ to a dwelling that could be visited from time to time.  It’s easier to handle.  It’s easier to manage.  It’s easier to present to the Session for their approval.  It’s easier to wrap our minds around something really big when we know the bottom line: is the prize behind door number one or door number two?  Peter soon discovers that God’s glory can be neither reduced nor controlled, especially as it is finally unveiled under very different circumstances and on a very different hill outside the walls of ancient Jerusalem.

I believe that there are times in life that are meant to wake up our slumbering spirits; times that shatter our prejudice for new ideas; times that wake us up from our love for a life of ease; times that awaken our minds and spirits to the presence of God at work all around us.  Times of sorrow pull and stretch our hearts and awaken our souls.  The experience of love, a real love that can awaken us to possibilities we never dreamed were possible.  The awareness of the needs of others wakes us up from our private, quiet place, expanding our view of the world beyond ourselves and caring enough to meet others at their point of need.

            In essence we are a new creation.  We are a new creation with new ears to hear, new eyes to see, and a new mouth to proclaim the glory of God in Christ Jesus.  When we proclaim Christ is our Lord and Savior, we receive the new covenant, written by the Spirit of God on human hearts rather than on tablets of stone.  When we proclaim Christ is Lord, the veil is removed so the grace and glory of God in Christ is fully revealed. 

            So with unveiled faces, we see the full glory of God in Christ: his connection with God’s chosen people, his soon-to-come death on the cross and his much anticipated resurrected glory.  It is with unveiled faces we see the resurrected Christ.  When we seek him out and strive to know him, we become more and more like Christ; we begin to imitate him and take on his traits and characteristics. 

As we engage the world with his amazing love and grace, we reflect his glory into the world.  We reflect his glory whenever we comfort someone in need of an encouraging word.  We reflect his glory whenever we serve at Philabundance or West Kensington or Face to Face in Germantown or feed the homeless of Philadelphia with bag lunches in sub-freezing temperatures in the middle of January.  We reflect his glory whenever we seek to free men and women from bondage to sin and death that they would know that death does not and will not have the last word!

In the words of the Apostle Paul, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”  We will reflect the glory of God in Christ until the whole world sees the glory of Christ in each one of us, hears of God’s amazing love and grace through the life of Jesus and comes to live for Him in the freedom of the spirit of God.

It is God’s Word that leads us to follow Christ even when we don’t have a clue what’s going on.  This is not easy to do, but we are encouraged to not lose heart because we have a living hope in the living Christ.  Amen.

Authentic Salvation

 Authentic Salvation

Isaiah 60: 1-6

Matthew 2: 1-12

            I recently watched the DVD series entitled “Left Behind” starring Kirk Cameron based on the book series of the same name.  This series, which is based on various prophetic passages of the Bible, is about the Rapture and the rise to power of the Anti-Christ.  The Rapture is the belief that before the end of the world and coming of the Anti-Christ, all who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will be taken to heaven to be with God, including all children.  Those who do not believe are left behind, hence the title. 

The Anti-Christ rises to power in the midst of the chaos of the Rapture and takes control of the entire world.  The Anti-Christ is suave and smooth talker who is always speaking of world peace.  He tells the people of the world that there is no God, no heaven or hell, only the here and now.  Part of the new motto for the world is, “God is us.”  The Anti-Christ is seen as a god.  And even though he speaks of peace and unity to the world, behind the scenes he is an angry, violent killer, manipulating those all around him. 

There are some who were left behind, but came to know Christ because of it.  They are working hard to reveal the truth about the Anti-Christ.  They want to show the world who the real God is and where authentic salvation comes from.  They want to reveal to the world in whom they should put their trust – Jesus Christ.  In whom do you trust?  In whom do you find the truth?

            The Wise Men of our text trust that Jesus Christ is the long awaited King of the Jews.  The whole world at this time in history waited expectantly for God to act in some way to transform and redeem the world.  The wise men know this in their head as well as their heart.  They are priestly sages from the Median tribe in Persia, men of holiness and wisdom, skilled in the areas of philosophy, medicine and natural science.  They were teachers and instructors of the Persian kings as well as experts in astrology and the interpretation of dreams.  They trusted that Jesus is the King of the Jews and the King of all creation.

The Wise Men, the Magi, seek the truth.  Guided by God, they are outsiders, representing non-Jews, the Gentiles, who seek the true King of the Jews, not Herod but Jesus Christ.  These outsiders do not stumble onto the Messiah as if by accident.  They search with purpose and are directed each step of the way by a divine hand.  In whom do you trust?  In whom do you find the truth?

            I believe if we asked King Herod this question he probably couldn’t give you a straight answer because, based on what we know of him, he doesn’t trust anybody.  He was a bitter, savage, warped man who was so paranoid that he had his own wife and her mother killed.  He later had his three sons assassinated.  He didn’t trust anybody.  And the report of the birth of the Jesus, the King of the Jews, caused him great anxiety.  He was worried and greatly concerned because he thought everyone was out to get him and take his power away.  Herod is the kind of king who only looks out for himself and his own interest.  His plot to have the wise men search out and identify this “rival king” for him backfires when the wise men are directed through a dream to take an alternate route home.  Herod represents the imperial earthly powers, always imposing and conspiring, but threatened and ultimately frustrated by the true king, King Jesus.  In your daily lives, in whom do you trust?  In whom do you find the truth?

            Trust is a rare commodity these days.  It seems like you can not put your trust in anyone or anything.  Trust is essential for us in all areas of our lives: personal and professional. 

            The parent of a teenager, for the sake of their child, must put their trust in their son or daughter, especially when they go out on a Friday or Saturday night, trusting that they will return home safely later that evening.  When you travel by plane, you must trust in the pilots of the plane, the mechanical workings of the plane, and the air traffic controllers across the country to fly you safely to your desired destination.  When you travel in your car, you must trust in your own driving ability and trust the other drivers on the road to pay attention, be aware of their surroundings, and obey the traffic laws.  Otherwise, you can have a serious accident.

In fact, one could argue that trust is a crucial part of capitalism in general and specifically our financial system.  A man named Sam Clarke of Poulsbo, Washington, in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal this week stated that trust is necessary for capitalism to function properly.  He says trust leads to collaboration between all sectors of the economy, “but collaboration is impossible without trust, which in turn is based on legitimate trustworthiness.”  For example, an employer must trust his employees will not steal from them.  An employee must trust their employer will pay them what was promised in their agreed upon terms of employment.  Mr. Clarke concludes by saying, “No amount of information can protect a business if his subordinates, or partners, or investors are determined to break their trust.”  Do you completely trust in your employer and in your employees?  Do you trust in your bank, your financial advisor, your accountant? 

In whom do you trust?  In whom do you find the truth?

This past year, 2008, was the 3rd worst year for the stock market since 1931.  There were a lot of companies, individuals and government agencies who contributed to the financial meltdown this past year.  The biggest story to come out of this mess involved Mr. Bernard Madoff.  For decades, as an investor, he gained the trust of thousands of clients that included individuals, educational institutions, banks and more from around the world to invest their money with him and his firm.  They put their trust in Mr. Madoff to invest and manage their financial investments.  These investments involved millions and billions of dollars.  It turns out, for all these many years, Mr. Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.  A Ponzi scheme is “a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors out of the money paid by subsequent investors rather than from the profit earned.”  This has Mr. Madoff in a heap of trouble with the government and is now under house arrest.  The level of trust Mr. Madoff had attained came crashing down.  Those investors, even those who six days before he was arrested invested ten million dollars with Mr. Madoff, put their trust in Mr. Madoff’s firm.  Now they are out millions and billions of dollars.  Endowments of major institutions who invested with Mr. Madoff have diminished dramatically.  One client in France lost so much money that he committed suicide because of it.  In whom do you trust?  In whom do you find the truth?

Any trust we put in human beings and human endeavors are not risk-free.  They always have the potential to turn on us and hurt us.  Even the best doctor makes the occasional medical error; even airplanes occasionally don’t make it to their original destination; even the best driver has the occasional accident; even the best financial expert makes the occasional bad decision.  They aren’t always right or what they seem to be.  They’re not one hundred percent reliable. 

I profess to you today that when we put our trust in Jesus Christ we get our life straightened out.  The Bible says in the Gospel of John that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He is worthy of our trust and attention.  When we put our trust in Christ, we receive the gift of eternal salvation, authenticated by the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus himself.  The Bible says that “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him”. (John 3:17) 

We need to fully put our trust in Christ.  I believe that with God in Christ all things are possible.  When the world lets you down, when you lose money on your investments, when your trust is broken by someone you trusted, God in Christ is always there.  We trust in God in Christ for the truth, the real deal, the true master and ruler of all.  We trust in God in Christ because Christ loves us without question or doubt.  Jesus Christ is always with us and wants to act in our lives.  I believe Christ wants the best for us and wants you and me to give our very best in all that we do to Him.  We do this through our relationships with family and friends, with our jobs, our school work, and when we are home alone surfing the internet. 

God is always with us; fully reliable in times of need and sorrow; fully reliable in times of joy and celebration.  No matter how inadequate we may feel, God is the God of all, revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, the one in whom we can place our trust and find the truth.

May you discover the authentic salvation Christ came to offer.  Amen. 

Hurry Up and Wait!

Jeremiah 33:14-16

            More and more it seems to me that life is moving at a faster pace than ever before.  Like little ants marching, we are always going and going; we’re on the move traveling in all directions at once.  It’s a frantic, frenzied pace we run full of angst and anxiety. 

The irony of it all is that no matter how fast we move or how fast our technology evolves, we still find ourselves waiting; going nowhere fast.  In the car, we find ourselves waiting for the light to change: did you know that there are eighteen traffic lights on Old York Road between our church and the Turnpike?  That’s a lot of lights and that’s a lot of waiting. We wait for buses, planes and trains to take us where we want to go: there is nothing quite like standing on a hot and humid subway platform sweating through your shirt waiting and praying that the train will come real soon.   For home repairs, how many of us wait for the plumber, the electrician, and the cable guy to come on their scheduled day anytime between 8:30am and 5pm.  We wait in line at the supermarket, Target & Marshall’s waiting to check out and get on with the day, especially on Black Friday and during the weeks leading up to Christmas Day: lots of lines and lots of traffic equals lots of waiting.  We wait to ride the latest amusement park ride at Great Adventure or Dorney Park or Disney World.  We run and hurry from one ride to the next to wait one hour in line for a two minute ride.  Hurry up and wait!

    In today’s text, the ancient Israelites are waiting, too; not for the light to change or to buy Christmas presents or to ride the Hydra at Dorney Park.  They are waiting to return home, for they have been living in exile in Babylon for what will be almost sixty years.  They lost their temple, their homeland, and everything they once knew.  Put yourself in their shoes: imagine being taken away from your home and all that you know, to live in another country and not knowing when you may return home.  The Israelites are oppressed by the Babylonians waiting for God to help them.  Their situation appears hopeless.  They may be wondering, “What’s God doing?  Has God forgotten about us?”

Jeremiah’s prophetic words speak to the hopelessness amongst the exiles who are waiting and waiting for God to act.  These words are words of salvation promising the restoration of the lineage of the Davidic line of kings and the Levitical priesthood.  The promised leadership of the future will render justice and righteousness in the community; a community that understands itself to be delivered, redeemed and cared for by the Lord; a community committed to all the ways God has defined as right living in relationship with God and neighbor.  These verses from Jeremiah set before us a detailed picture of complete economic and social renewal.  The vision of the future of God’s blessing is not simply a spiritual, personal one.  It is all-encompassing, richly material, life-enhancing, socially sustaining, and enjoyable where politics and religion play a special role in the restoration.  The exiled Jews are hoping, dreaming, praying and waiting for this; to be delivered from exile and Babylonian oppression to live in their homeland a new and restored people.

What hopes and dreams have you been waiting, praying and longing for?  Today is the first day of the season of Advent, the time when we look to the past and remember the birth of Christ.  It’s also the time when we look to the future in an attitude of expectancy over what God has yet to do in the world; a future when the resurrected Jesus comes again to claim the world as his; a future when Christ will rule the world with compassion and power in a time of restoration and salvation.  The baby Jesus who came will one day come again.

Advent is a season of waiting; a season of nearly but not yet.  The coming of Advent nudges the church out of “ordinary time” with the persistent good news that God’s grace and redemption is just round the corner; that it is about to present fresh possibilities for deliverance and wholeness.  We wait for the new things God is doing in our lives and in the world.  We wait for the still, small voice in the quiet, solitude of our hearts to tell us who we are and what we are called to do.  For things in our lives are not necessarily what they appear to be because there is something big happening on a grander scale that we see dimly in the distance. 

Waiting is hard work because other things in our lives distract us and get in the way.  The responsibility of taking care of a family, whether it’s providing enough food to eat or paying the mortgage or the rent or for buying clean clothes to wear is hard work.  We may have difficulties related to our work and careers.  Maybe you’ve just been laid off and you’re looking for a new job.  Maybe there is a tremendous amount of stress and pressure in your office, where the threat of layoffs looms overhead and dominates your thoughts.  You find yourself waiting not knowing exactly when & where the axe will drop next.

Both things worthy and things trivial can obscure our vision, serving as a barrier to block the view of the approaching Kingdom of God where it remains just out of sight.  For things are not necessarily what they appear to be; we need to see the forest from the trees; take a macro-view rather than a micro-view.  To only focus on the things that are close at hand and right in front of our face is to miss the larger, broader picture. 

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah…a righteous branch will spring up for David.”  This promise, once intended for judgment by God, is now reconfigured as a message of hope and salvation for God’s people.  It is a promise that brings hope and assurance for a better future for which they wait for with great expectancy and faith.

Are you willing to wait for Christ to act in your life?  What will it take for you to wait on Christ?  When you get right down to it, the Lord our God is the one in control of our lives and the world. 

What I want may or may not be what God wants for my life.  When I look back over the years and recall all the career aspirations I had I realize that God is always steering us in the direction he wants us to travel.  After three years of Little League I realized I wasn’t going to play shortstop for the Yankees.  When I graduated from college, I realized that I didn’t want to go to law school as badly as I had thought.  And in those times I wondered what I was called to do; what was the purpose of my life.  I did a lot of praying, longing and waiting to discover what my calling was.  I waited for God to act and reveal his purpose for my life.  And I believe I am answering that call right now as I stand in this pulpit, when I write an email of encouragement, and share the Good News with people young and old.

As we wait for the coming of the Living Christ, may we live each day with an attitude of expectancy and excitement knowing that in the midst of our fast paced lives and frenzied schedules, the Lord God, the one who was, who is and who is to come, is always present and trying to get our attention. 

Beginning today, I pray that during Advent each of us commit ourselves to make time each day to wait upon the Lord; a special time without the distractions of everyday life; a time when we look beyond what’s in front of us and see the big picture; the macro-view; to see the hand of God at work in our life and in the world.

What are you waiting for, praying for and longing for?  What is getting in the way? 

Knocked Down, But Not Out!

Genesis 40:1-23

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

            It was one of those phone calls that you dread; the one that is not bound by the limits of conventional time.  The one that usually comes late at night or first thing in the morning when you least expect it.  

I remember it well.  It was the summer of ‘85.  My Pop-Pop woke up that morning at my Aunt’s house at the shore unable to breathe; he couldn’t catch his breath.  He was in the hospital in critical condition.  We drove all night to arrive at my Aunt’s early the next morning. 

He was diagnosed with emphysema.  I guess it was all those cigarettes he smoked since his youth.  He had tried to quit numerous times, but this time it was for real. 

For the next fourteen years my Pop-Pop struggled with this condition.  His life changed a great deal.  I remember the loud, painful coughing in our guest room when they visited.  He stopped playing golf altogether.  He started to exercise at the rehab hospital three times a week per doctor’s orders.  These exercises kept him going and kept his spirit strong.  It gave him a few more years with us.

Over those years his health slowly deteriorated.  He eventually was on oxygen 24/7.  He was so weak in the final months that he couldn’t get out of bed without a lot of help.  In the fall of ’99 he went to be with the Lord.  We were sad to see him go, but we were also relieved.  He had suffered so much pain and hardship during those fourteen years with emphysema.  It was the “thorn” in his flesh he could not brush off.  He could have given up and given in to it years before.  But he persevered for those many years without complaining despite his condition.  He remained positive and upbeat through this struggle.  He believed that he may have been knocked down, but he was not out.

In our scripture readings this morning we hear about two individuals who are knocked down, but not out.  Joseph is wrongly imprisoned for a crime he did not commit involving the wife of an Egyptian official named Potiphar.  She cried wolf, made false accusations against Joseph and he was thrown into prison.  While in prison, God gives Joseph the ability to interpret the dreams of two fellow prisoners.  They were Egyptian officials who lost favor with Pharoah.  After some time, the two officials, one the chieft cupbearer for Pharoah, were released.  Joseph asked the cupbearer to advocate for him to Pharoah for his release from prison.  Unfortunately, he forgot all about Joseph and never mentioned him to Pharoah.

Joseph was a forgotten man.  He was stuck in prison with no hope for getting out.  But God never forgot about him.  God was with him.  Joseph was knocked down, but not out.

The Apostle Paul writes a second letter to the people of the Corinth church.  He writes that he will not boast of himself, although other leaders did.  He will only boast in other people and of extraordinary circumstances.  If he DOES boast of himself, he will boast of his weaknesses.  He wishes to remain humble in the Lord. 

Paul confesses that he’s been given a “thorn” in the flesh to prevent him from becoming “too elated” and boastful of himself.  Scholars have debated over what this “thorn” was exactly.  It may have been migrane headaches, regular attacks of a malarial fever, a physical aliment that left him disfigured, or any number of things that would cause him pain, hardship and suffering day after day.  Whatever the “thorn” was, it’s purpose Paul believed was to keep him grounded in his faith and dependent on God for the strength and courage he needed.  Paul says he prayed to God to take it away from him, but God answered that prayer as he answers so many prayers – he did not take the “thorn” away, but gave Paul strength to bear it.  That is how God works.  If I pray for patience, does God give me patience or does he give me the opportunity to be patient.  God does not spare us from our difficulties, but makes us able to overcome them.  This is what grace is all about.

God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”  It is the grace of God that empowers Paul to overcome physical weariness from his travels and physical pain from whatever aliment he had.  God’s grace also gave him the strength to confront and stand firm against any opposition and able to face the slander and false judgments so many false teachers claimed.

Unless I’ve missed my guess, is there someone here today who has their own “thorn” they’re wrestling with?  Is there someone here today who’s had the wind knocked out of your sails by life?  Is there someone here today living a “life of quiet desperation”, as Henry David Thoreau put it?

How many times have each of us found ourselves wide awake in the middle of a nightmare; overwhelmed by what’s before us.  And too often we try to deal with it ourselves, through our own strength and courage, and sooner or later come to realize this is an exercise in futility.  We get in our own way and that’s self-defeating.  We don’t allow the power of Christ to give us the strength we need. 

In Galatians 2:20, Paul expresses our relationship with God this way, “I have been crucified with Christ, therefore it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  When we get ourselves out of our own way, we make room for the power and strength of Christ to live in us.  Then the things we say and do in faith come from the risen Christ.  “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  When I humble myself and put my “self” aside, it allows for the strength of God to live through me.  And he’ll live through you, too.

This is the confidence we have as Christians that when life knocks us down, we are not out; we are not forgotten.  We have a God who claims us as his own children as we suffer with our Risen Lord.  He doesn’t take the difficulties away, but he gives us the confidence, strength and courage needed to conqueror them. 

Former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop said, “We grow and mature spiritually through adversity – not when everything is going smoothly…in a time of adversity or trouble, the Christian has the opportunity to know God in a special and personal way.” 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of someone is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy.”

God in Christ does not leave us to our suffering, but gives us the means to persevere through it.  As Dr. Koop and Dr. King described, God knows that the challenges, sufferings, and adversities of life force us to come to grips with who we are, including who we are in Christ.

So what are you suffering through?  What is the challenge before you?  What tensions are brewing?  A pending divorce?  Lost a job?   Bankruptcy?  An extra-marital affair?  Or coming to grips with the repressed memories of a less than perfect childhood?

On the journey we call life and faith, we all lose our way, but because of Christ death and resurrection, we are confident we will get back up again to shine God’s grace into the world.  It’s never too late to get back up again and to finish the race God has put before us.

Recall with a major highlight of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.  In Track and Field, Britain’s Derek Redmond was going for gold in the 400-meters.  He had the top qualifying time in the quarter finals.  His dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semifinals. He was running the race of his life.  When suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg.  He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring. Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic event: As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,” he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him. It was his father, Jim Redmond. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son. “Yes, I do,” said Derek. “Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.”  And they did. Fighting off more security officers, with the son’s head sometimes buried in his father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane all the way to the end.  When he crossed the finish line, the crowd rose and howled and wept.  Derek didn’t walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

            This is the grace of God.  We all get knocked down, but we’re not out.  God gives us the strength to bear it and deal with it.  Joseph was forgotten for two years in prison when he interprets one of Pharoah’s dreams and becomes one of his high ranking officials.  We all have a “thorn” in our flesh of some kind like the Apostle Paul.  Such thorns humble us and remind us that with God’s grace in our lives, whenever we are weak, it is God who makes us strong.

            So get up.  Get up from wherever you find yourself, in whatever situation you are in.  Get up from drowning in the pit of despair.  Get up  from wallowing in self-pity!  Get up from feeling sorry for yourself!  Get up, stand tall and stare down the memories that haunt you and the challenges you carry on your shoulders.

            You’ve been knocked down, but you’re not out of the race.  God hasn’t given up on you.  God wants to help you.  God wants to pick you up and help you cross the finish line.  For in the end we believe suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us. (Romans 5:3-5)  Mrs. Helen Keller once said, “It’s only through trial and suffering that the soul is strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” 

            It’s never too late to get back up again, for one day you will shine again.