Ever since we started planning
for our summer sermon series, The BIG Picture,
I’ve been thinkingabout living large.
(No, please do not insert weight joke here.) Am I “living large” with
the life I’ve been given? Are you?
Marti Ringenbach’s sermon last
weekend got me to pondering one verse in particular of the passage she
read. The apostle Paul is writing to the
Ephesians (Ephesus is in modern-day Turkey) about the immensity of what God is
doing for us in Jesus Christ. He says
that God is setting forth in Christ a
plan for the fullness of time – to gather up all things in him, things in
heaven and things on earth. (Eph. 1:10)
There’s enormity in those
words! God’s plan is to gather up – that
is, to bring together, to reconcile, to heal – everything! Everything that
in our lives is broken, alienated, hostile or divided – God will re-unite. Our planet. Our nations. Our families. Our
souls and spirits. Our hearts and minds. Everything that exists will be healed.
Once we even glimpse this
astounding promise, we can understand more deeply the work that God wants us to
do. It’s the same work – healing, making
peace, reconciling, forgiving. Making
one where there now is two. Repairing
the breech. Binding the wounds. Fostering agreements. Ending hostilities.
Yet we often settle for just
“straightening our desks.” Rather than leave a messy top and get outside to do
the big things, we stay around tidying up the small details. I need to confess
this small thing; I need to examine myself; I need to explain myself; I need to
forget it; and so on.
Yes, I still believe that the
small things, like mustard-seed faith, are important. But sometimes we act
small out of fear, not love. Someone
wise said, “Your playing small does not serve the world.”
Here’s that Marianne Williamson
quote in its fuller context:
“Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our
light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. … Your playing small does not serve the
world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t
feel insecure around you. We are all
meant to shine, as children do. We were
born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.”
I resonate with those
words. I’ve just begun a new decade –
well, at least the first number is new – and that sort of thing does tend to
re-focus our view of life. We ponder, “What am I called to do? Why am I here? What are my gifts? What is God planning and wanting from me?”
And God reminds us that his plan
includes healing and reconciling, forgiving and uniting. We have the capacity
to do so much more of this than we usually settle for. It takes vision and courage, true, but God
gives us vision and courage through the Holy Sprit of Jesus Christ.
God helps us do what God wants
us to do.
I hope you’ll reflect on your
life today. Are you helping to bring
reconciliation at work? How’s your
marriage? Are you ending divisions or perpetuating them? What alienation is
Christ nudging you to bridge?
You are powerful. Remember The BIG Picture. Risk a little larger today.
Pastor Larry
No comments:
Post a Comment