Wellspring UMC; Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost; October 28, 2007:

-Psalm 116; Romans 5: 1-11

“In the Midst of Grace”

I have always loved barber shops. There’s something about them which harkens to a time when the pace of life was slower, and people took more time to simply be, rather than do. Barber shops seem to always become a gathering place for folks in town. Men gather talking about sports, politics, or local news. They share their days, taking life one day at a time. There is something unique about a good ‘ole barber shop, but that’s not the reason I love to go to barber shops.

I remember as a child sitting on a booster seat, in a chair that not only turned in circles but also moved up and down. I thought it was so cool that I was sitting in a chair that could be manipulated all kinds of ways to accomplish the purpose of the operator. While sitting in that chair I used to imagine I was an astronaut, and as the chair lifted up, I was being hoisted to space. As the chair spun around, I imagined orbiting the moon and envisioning the vast beauty of our rotating globe. I loved those chairs and the ideas that came to mind in them, but that’s not the reason I initially loved to go to barber shops.

No, what I loved and love about barber shops are the mirrors. I love how when one looks in the mirror in front of them, they see, not just their reflection, but the reflection of their reflection in the mirror behind them. A little smaller and a little less in focus. But that’s not all. That reflection is reflected again – a reflection of a reflection of a reflection, and those reflections reflect again exponentially to where the images angle back, getting smaller and smaller until the image diminishes to eternity.

I would, and at times still do, sit in that chair and try to count how many reflections there were in those mirrors. Then I’d imagine that each reflection was a world in itself, and if I could just step into that plane, I’d discover a whole new way of being. There were times when I got so caught up in the reflections that I lost track of where I was, and it felt like I too were a reflection rather than a person in a cool chair having my hair cut. It was almost surreal, because there was a disconcerting aspect to this of feeling out of my element, out of my self, and yet at the same time I liked the fact that I could be anything or anyone I wanted. I could imagine all kinds of things and avoid anything that was bothering me.

In the end, however, I always had to get up out of that chair, brush myself off, and get back to where I had to go, back to who I was. I entered the world again, and at times walked away wishing I could be back in that other world...surrounded by the familiar but different, embedded in another world, which though different remained close enough to reality to keep me grounded.

There are times in life, when we might wish to be at a barber shop, living into those reflections, wishing we could be on another plane, wondering how it is that we can step away from the current reality and find ourselves in a place that is familiar but different, another world but close to reality. Those times when the schedule is hectic, life is hard, and people grate our last nerve. When health concerns knock us down, finances aren’t working out, and being the parent is less rewarding than it ever should be. When our world seems to be imploding in on us, and we wonder how we’ll make it. How we’ll do it. What it all means. Where we’ll turn. Where is God? It is at times like these, that we hold onto the Truth that we live in the midst of Grace.

Many of us have heard before this passage from Romans. As I reread this for today, I found myself focusing less on that which so often is preached upon, that suffering produces perseverance, which produces character, and which leads to hope, but what drew me in was Paul saying, “we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand.” Did you catch that?

Paul is saying that through Christ we have access to God. We have an audience with the Creator. We are fully present with the One whose Presence transforms the world. Through Christ and our faith in Him, we have received Grace – the unmerited, undeserved love of God, and Paul says, “we stand in the midst of that grace.” We stand under God’s care and guidance. We stand, loved and loving, no matter who we are, where we are, or what we’ve done.

When we look at our reflection in the mirror, God is there. When we try to place ourselves outside the place God wants us to be, God is there. When we feel lost, alone, disjointed, and grief-stricken, God is there. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we stand in the midst of God’s grace, and that is Good News!

One of the ways to hear God’s voice in scripture is to turn to other commentaries or paraphrases. This week I came across some wonderful paraphrases of Paul’s letter. Hear these words from the faithful across time and space who have revealed this Word in different light.

“Our faith put us back in the good books with God. We put our trust in Jesus and we can rest assured that He has cleared up everything with God for us. Christ got us in on the extravagant generosity of God, and that generosity has given us a safe place to plant our feet.” – Laughingbird.net

“By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us – set us right with him, make us fit for him – we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand – out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.” – The Message

Since it is by faith that we are justified, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things He has for us in the future. – JB Phillips

Are any feeling run down? Are any experiencing that suffering which may or may not feel like it is producing perseverance, much less character or hope? Are any feeling numb, wandering through life, or worried you’re missing the boat?

God’s response to us, “You stand in the midst of Grace, and my grace is sufficient. Lean into me. Trust in me. Come to me, and I will walk with you every step of the way.”

That sounds well and good. Very sound theologically and quite true in reality, but so often when we’re in that place, we can’t see the forest for the trees. When we are caught up in the struggles, we don’t seek God out, much less have our eyes opened to see where God is. So what do we do? How can we be assured that we are in the midst of grace?

I was blessed to be at the beach two weeks ago on retreat to plan out my preaching schedule for 2008. One of the things I love to do while at the beach is go out at night and walk under the moon and stars, listening to the endless sound of the waves crashing to shore. Each night I did this, and each night, though the stars filled the sky, the moon was just a sliver of light.

Knowing it was dark I took a flashlight with me, but didn’t turn it on. Instead I simply walked, absorbing the sounds, smells, wind and water around me. On my way back to the house, however, I remembered last summer when I took my sons out on the beach to look for ghost crabs, so I turned on the flashlight and was startled to find that I was surrounded.

I looked to my right, and there were 20-30 ghost crabs visible in the beam. I turned left, the same, forward, backward, every way I turned, I was surrounded by ghost crabs. They were watching me. I was watching them, and every time I moved they would skitter either toward the ocean or toward a hole in the sand. All the way up the beach, the same thing. There were thousands of ghost crabs.

The interesting thing was that when the light was off, I simply walked and had no problem. I didn’t know they were there and they didn’t get in my way. However, when I turned the light on and tried to avoid them, I stepped all over myself. It seemed as if every time I stepped a crab was there, and in my being cognizant of their presence, I stepped on more than a few of God’s creatures.

I’ve thought a lot about those nights on that beach, and it’s a marvel to me that when I simply walked, all was well. As I walked I was thinking about and praying to God, and God guided my heart and feet through the dark toward the place I needed to be. And yet surrounding me were these creatures with claws, who after seeing them in the light easily startled me as I felt them run past my feet.

Interesting enough, when I turned on the light. When I walked relying on my eyes and an instrument of the world, I discovered a fascinating phenomenon of nature, but it hindered my journey. Oh, it was fascinating trying to catch them and to watch them stealthily head toward their burrow, but I couldn’t do that all night. At some point I had to journey on, and when I did, if I relied on my own light, I stumbled. My mind kept getting in the way of me simply walking unhindered.

The same thing can happen to us on our faith journey. We can get in the way of walking unhindered. We can think too much, do too much, rely on ourselves too much, and when we do, we get in the way of God. But if we just walk through the darkness, praying and thinking about God, all will be well.

At the end of the fourth chapter of Romans, Paul speaks of Abraham, and his point leading into our Word today is that Abraham had faith in God. Because of Abraham’s faith, God was with him. Paul then connects that faith to us. That because we have faith in Christ and Christ has faith in us, we are justified and stand in the midst of Grace. Reconciled to God, and freed to live in Peace and Joy.

We shared a bit about those mirrors in the barbershop, but the other day as I was driving, I was reminded of something that often my brain simply tunes out. Printed on the side mirror is a phrase, “objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” As I thought of that phrase I remembered this Word to the Romans and us, “we stand in the midst of grace.” As I put the two together I thought, “what we see in the mirror is more than just us and what’s around us. We’re not alone for we stand in the midst of Grace, and standing with us is Jesus Christ...and He is closer than He appears.” Amen.