FIRST READING— First Thessalonians, Chapter 5, vs. 16-24
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
Don't suppress the Spirit, and don't stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don't be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what's good. Throw out anything tainted with evil. May God, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it!
Gospel Reading –John 3: 16-21
"This is how much God loved the world: God gave the one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending the Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the only-begotten Son of God.
"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."
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God, you call us to walk with you and talk with you. You promise us your peace and we live in your grace. Transform our lives. May your sacred redemption teach us new ways to love you and care for others. Take the words of my mouth and meditation of all our hearts and bring us new truth this day. Amen
Last week we talked about the relationship between revelation and transformation. We concluded that the so-called “proof” or validity of the revelation could be seen in the transformation of those to whom the revelation is given. There are examples of this recorded throughout Jesus’ life. True encounters with the Son of God resulted in changed people: a Samaritan women finds the reality of true worship when she engages Jesus at the well and she runs off to the entire village telling what she has just learned; sick people are healed and cannot be quieted as they rejoice with their friends and neighbors; the Gerasene demoniac becomes a new man, free from the demons of mental illness and schizophrenia. The disciples, upon hearing his revelational call on their lives, stop what they are doing and become his trusted followers and friends.
In our own lives, we know of transformation after transformation when people meet the real Jesus and learn to journey through life with that same Jesus at their side. We have seen people lost in grief and depression find hope again in the healing words of God through Christ Jesus. We have seen alcoholics become sober, and people lost in doubt and self-hatred transformed into people who are content in this world. We have seen our very own congregation transformed into a warm and loving place by the revelation that God loves us just as we are.
This week, I want to expand our conversation and talk about the relationship between transformation and redemption. I believe that God is in the business of redemption—no fact is clearer in our Gospel reading than that. John 3:16 is a verse of scripture that many of us learned practically before we could read. For God so loved the world, that the only begotten Son was sent to redeem the world and give everlasting life to those who believe. The scripture continues and says to us, that this only begotten Son was not sent to the world to condemn the world, but to bring redemption and salvation to us all. Our translation this morning says, “He came to help, to put the world right again.” Listen to this sentence again, with a spirit that is free from all the condemnation we learned to heap upon ourselves when we were mere children. “He, Jesus came to help us, to put our world right again.” Now there are those who would argue that this passage is only about redemption when it is linked to the hereafter—and while the passage does point to eternal life; that is only half of the meaning of this very important passage, and it is the other half that we will look at today. Our Gospel reading tells us that anyone who seeks the God who loves us abundantly, can have a whole and lasting life. And from this encounter with God through Jesus, the reality of a changed life is revealed. The transformation that is promised in this passage is simple—“Anyone working and living in truth and reality (through the revelation of God’s love) welcomes the light of God, so that their work can be “seen for the God-work it is.”
Everything about this revelation, transformation and redemption reinforces our knowledge of God as a loving Creator, who not only blew the breath of life into the creation, but also continues to love the creation despite our very real difficulty to stay focused on our relationship with God. It always amazes me that many preachers and teachers speak only on the negative aspects of this scripture—you know, the whole damnation part. I think you know me better. I believe that God is much more interested in offering redemption, than in proclaiming the ‘lostness’ of those who choose not to walk this journey. Our God is an inviting God. I believe that God intends for us to gratefully embrace and learn of the great love that we are offered when we walk the sacred walk with God (now and forever), through the welcoming of Jesus into our mind, bodies, and spirits. Less you think that I am preaching an “easy” Gospel, let me assure you that I am not.
This revelation, transformation, redemption journey requires us to spend time learning to walk with God. There is a cute story about a little six-year-old. This little boy was very bright, way beyond his peers in understanding. His mother, knowing that he understood many things about God and Jesus , decided that it was time for her to talk to her son about inviting Jesus into his heart. She found just the right time and softly asked, “Ethan, would you like to have Jesus in your heart?” Ethan thought for a few moments and then said, “No, I don’t think I want that responsibility.” We chuckle at little Ethan and, yet, it is not so different for many of us.
Ethan is right, of course. Even those of us who are well beyond childhood, sometimes tremble at what God’s great love causes us to do in our response. Listen to the words of Paul in our first reading today: “May God, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body…” Here is where sacred redemption enters the story. A very long time ago, I realized that there are many places in my heart that needed God’s redemption. Now, I am still learning what all those places are. We hear the words of the Gospel—that God loves us exactly as we are and welcomes us, through Christ Jesus, into the God’s kingdom. We begin the transformation process the moment we open our hearts to hear the words of Christ—“come unto me”. And as we walk the way of transformation, we open our hearts deeper and wider and we begin the journey of transformation that will lead to redemption.
I believe that the God who makes us holy and whole is a God who will begin, as we are able, to show us those places in our spirits, souls, and bodies that, when healed, will lead us into a realm of redemption that we rarely believe is possible. For me, this process of redemption looks like this—as I travel the roads with Jesus and allow God to continuously reveal the gift of divine love, more and more places in my heart become visible—more and more places that need redemption. I offer those places up to our loving God, and when I am willing to let go of that particular pain or regret, it is redeemed by God’s love. God longs for us to be holy and whole—this means that as we grow in the Spirit, we see a gradual realignment in our heart. The dark and lonely places are slowly replaced with redeemed joyful places. This is our journey this Advent Season—to recognize our responsibility to become the holy and whole people that God calls us to be. And, in a wonderful miracle of transformation and release, we become new.
Now, like many of you, I learned that “being saved” was a one-time isolated event. That does not, however, fit with my experience of the day-in and day-out ‘saving’ of these troubled places in my heart. And the older I grow, the more I see the wisdom of 8-year-old Ethan. We do have a responsibility when we see, hear, and touch the revelation of God’s great love. Our responsibility is to open our hearts to allow God to show us all those harmful thoughts, feelings, and events that we carry around in our spirits, hearts, and minds, and allow the redemption of God to lovingly exchange them, as we allow ourselves to be transformed, into redeemed places of celebration on our shared journey with God. The more we, day after day, open our hearts to God’s grace and forgiveness, the more whole we become. Becoming whole is rarely a one-time event. Becoming whole comes as we struggle and believe, doubt and commit.
As we become whole, we are growing in holiness. Our three-fold process of revelation, transformation, and redemption, allows us to revel in God’s sacred wholeness, Because God has put us back together—spirit, soul, and body—we experience the presence of the holy in our lives. Is this not, indeed, the joy that will fill our spirits to overflowing as we celebrate the redemption of our hearts and the transformation of our lives, through the revelation of God to us? As Christ comes again this Christmas, may we be found ready, may we be found listening, and may we be found longing for the revelation of God ‘s wholeness and holiness prepared for each and every one of us. Amen and Amen.
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