Wellspring UMC; Ninth Sunday after Pentecost; July 29, 2007: “To Care as Jesus Cares”:

-I Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 5: 27-31

Our call is “to Care as Jesus Cares...” for each other, for the community, for the world. “To care as Jesus cares...” What does that look like? What does that feel like? How does such care happen to us, through us, around us...? What kind of life does this life of care invite us to be a part of? Questions such as these have been a part of the ongoing dialogue here for awhile now, and this past week, they stood at the fore of my thoughts and prayers. In response, I was moved to put together this...

[A Powerpoint DVD will be played to the song, “Face of Grace,” by Anna Gilbert. The Powerpoint is made up of pictures of events and mission opportunities which have taken place at Wellspring over the last year, then transitions to pictures of local agencies which care for those within the Williamsburg/James City/York County area, then pictures of people in the world who are labeled, judged, hurting, lost...those to whom God calls us to serve.]

The chorus to the song reads: “I know the ways of doubt will torment. I know the seas of pain will storm. I know the world is complicated, but step outside and know the face of grace.”

When we reflect upon the process of spiritual growth, part of what we discover is that the more we lean into our faith, the doubts of the past, present, and future begin to emerge. When we begin to care deeply as Jesus cares, then pain arises because we begin to see what God sees, and we know God needs us to help care for those in pain. When we turn our eyes to Christ and strive to live into God’s Kingdom, we see how complicated the world truly is, and at times we feel helpless to do anything about it, but God’s voice given through Anna Gilbert says, “Step outside, step outside, and know the face of grace.

Isn’t that a powerful image? The face of grace. The face of a grace which is found when we name our doubts, open ourselves up to the pain, and acknowledge how complicated the world is, but is only really seen when we step outside ourselves, step outside what we know and love, step outside the walls of our homes and church...venture into the world to see and receive the face of grace, Jesus Christ.

Today ends our sermon series on giving. For the past 2 months we have been bringing to the forefront of our thoughts and actions a basic and vital aspect of our faith, which is being outwardly focused. Throughout this period we’ve been at work in the community, leaving the comfort of our homes to help those less fortunate than we are. We’ve entered the workplace with a different attitude...a different perspective, inviting Christ to lead us, then being courageous enough to give what we can in Christ’s name. Hopefully we are living life a little more open and willing to listen and respond to the needs of others, and we hopefully begin each day with more intentional reflection on God. We hopefully have begun to develop a habit of living that is centered in giving. Through the process we’ve realized that such living not only blesses others, but it blesses us, and has taught us that when we step outside we see the face of Grace.

Our scripture passages today are both straight forward and powerful, for they remind us that the lives Christ invites us to live are lives which are not our natural tendencies.

Paul wrote to Timothy and recounts his own story, which for most of us has many parallels. “I’m grateful that Christ strengthened me, judged me faithful, and appointed me to His service, because I was a sinner above all sinners, and yet, Christ came to save sinners.” Paul acknowledges God’s work in his life to push through the doubts, come to terms with the pains of his past, and bless him to recognize that all is not black and white, but that the world is complicated, and from his service and his testimony, we know that Paul took risks, stepped outside, and he saw...in fact he knew...the face of grace.

Paul grew up a persecutor of Christ, and yet when Christ got a hold of him, there was no turning back. He took the risk, and God did not desert him. In fact, God took this ‘foremost sinner,’ as he calls himself, and transformed him into a saint who changed the world for Christ.

The four verses from our Gospel passage speak volumes. Jesus calls Levi, who was labeled a sinner – a tax collector, a cheat, a swindler, and Levi drops everything and follows Christ. In celebration he throws a party, and when the scribes and Pharisees show up, they stir the pot by asking Christ’s disciples, “Why does you all hang out with ‘them’?” To which Jesus replies, “I’ve not come for the righteous, but for the sinners. I’ve come to make all well.”

And in that moment it’s as if time stops, while all who are present – disciples, pharisees, scribes, onlookers – try to process what Christ is saying. They think, “If he’s here with prostitutes, who frequented such parties, with tax collectors, with those labeled as unclean by the religious establishment, then He is different.” Then they think, “But he says he didn’t come for the righteous. Does that mean the Pharisees and Scribes are ‘in’ or does that mean they are ‘out’?” Then what hits hardest is that underlying it all is his action. He’s there, like a doctor leaving the confines of the office, he goes to the sick. He goes to the sinners. He deliberately goes to where the need is, and doesn’t just see the face of grace, but he is the face of grace to those who, more than most, need to see and know a loving God.

To care as Jesus cares. Look at how Jesus cares. This call, this mission invites us to step outside...step outside ourselves and those things that hold us back, step outside the comfort of our families or homes or lives, and step into a world filled with doubt, pain, and confusion, but a world in which God resides. To step outside the comfort of what we’ve always done, knowing that when we venture forth, God is with us, revealing the face of grace.

The rest of the chorus to this song goes like this: “He knows you. He loves us. Let his mercy wash over you. And all you are is all He needs, so come rest in his shadow of peace.”

Over these past 2 months, is there a sense in your soul that God knows and loves you? Have you felt God’s mercy wash over you? Are you assured that all you are is all He needs? Through this season of giving, has your care been a little more like Jesus cares? As we reflect upon the habits formed, are we ready to step outside, so that we might know the face of grace?

Today ends a sermon series on giving, but the challenge before us, and the great good news, is that, though the sermon series end, the giving never does. The call to care never ends, but it is the journey. To care as Jesus cares means we go with Christ. The challenge and the Good News is found in this song, that Christ gives us who we are – “all we are, is all He needs.” When we believe it and live it, we can step outside, and not just know the face of grace but be the face of grace to those to whom God sends us to bring hope and new life, here, in our community, and to all of God’s children everywhere. Amen.