+“Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
For us to fully and truly be who it is God created us to be, for us to be the followers of Jesus Jesus wants us to be, we must receive the glory and wonder and grace of God----with as much excitement, as much innocence as a child who is reaching out for a hug.
As a matter of fact, I encourage all of us, when we consider presenting ourselves to God to remember that God sees us as little children and that when we pray, God receives us just as we receive a small child who runs towards us, arms outstretched. We open our arms to receive the fullness of their being, whether it’s sobs of fear, shouts of glee or cries of pain, we wrap them in our arms and soothe them with all our might. This is exactly what God does whenever we engage God.
The trick is. The problem is. The issue is….engaging God. You see, we just don’t reach out to God nearly enough. So many of us put caveats on our prayer life---"I’m not worthy enough, God doesn’t want to hear my petty concerns, God has bigger fish to fry.” Right? WRONG.
Listen to this morning’s collect again:
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask.
God is ALWAYS more ready to hear than we are to pray.
In other words, whenever we pray, whenever we reach out to God…no matter how long it’s been since we’ve reached out…God is ready, willing, eager to receive our prayer…regardless of what we’ve done or left undone. No Matter What.
At the end of the day, God is ready to receive all of it from us including, as our Collect states,
“those things of which our conscience is afraid.” The level of our heartache, the depth of our difficulty, the breadth of our mistakes will never diminish the complete, thorough, perfect Love of God. Be not afraid Jesus says throughout the Gospels. Do not be afraid, I will not turn away from you.
And you know what? He didn’t, he hasn’t and he won’t.
In this morning’s Gospel, as Jesus welcomes the children who ae clamoring for him Jesus is telling the disciples, the Pharisees and everyone within earshot---including us--- “all my Father wants, all the Creator of all things wants is…. You. Warts, doubts, worries, joys, hopes, dreams and all.”
God wants us.
On this first Sunday after Fr. Earle’s retirement. On this last Sunday before the Bishop and I entrust you to the weekly care and concern of Fr. Chris, the message I have for you is this:
All is well. God hasn’t blessed this place because of Fr. Earle. Nor is God blessing us today because of the Bishop or me, nor will God bless you next Sunday because Fr. Chris is standing in this pulpit, no God’s blessing is poured upon us because this is what God does…this is what God wants….this is what God longs for….
To be in a wondrous, honest, ongoing and glorious relationship with us.
God wants to hear from you, God wants to walk with you, God wants to sit with you. God wants to be with you. Even when it feels weird, or scary, or different because Earle isn’t here. Earle and Paula have taken their leave of this place because it was time.
For them and for you.
No matter how wrong that may feel, no matter how scary it may seem, no matter how unsure you may all feel---change is here and a new day has dawned.This morning my great neohew awakened his grandfather VERY early by patting his Buppy’s cheek and saying, “Buppy, it’s a new day, wake up and watch the sunrise with me.”
Friends It’s New Day, A Bright Dawn—get up, God has some stuff in store for you! All of it may not be joyful, all of it won’t be easy, some of it will be tough, some of it will wonderful, some of it will be astounding and all of it will take you from where you are right now, to where it is the Holy Spirit is calling you to go.
And how do you find out where it is the Holy Spirit is leading? How do you discern God’s will for you at this time and in this place? How do you know if what you are doing is “right?”
Well, it’s right there in the Collect I mentioned before:
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask….
Folks:
Pray whenever, where ever, however. God doesn’t care how we do it, God just wants us to do it. For when we pray God listens. When we pray, it’s just us and God. It’s just us, arms outstretched running toward the One who never thinks we’re too messy, too confused, too full of doubt, too angry, too scared, too lost, too ANYTHING, to not be welcomed into the presence of the One who simply loves us more than we can ever imagine.
Let us pray:
Holy God of All, I present to you the people of St Martin’s: faithful followers who want only to do your will. Open their hearts and their souls to You; pour the Holy Spirit upon them leading them to places they may never thought they could go and to reach heights they’ve not even imagined. We pray all this through your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment