union avenue christian church |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
Waiting on Tiptoe Romans 8:12 – 25 Anne Lamott, in her book Traveling Mercies, tells the story of a little seven-year-old girl who got lost. “The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark. She was very frightened. Finally a policeman stopped to help her. He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, ‘you could let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here.’ (New York: Anchor Books. 1999. P. 55) Finding our way home because we have been a part of the church… That little girl was only directionally challenged in her lost-ness, and the church was obviously a place of familiarity. Most of us are more than directionally challenged when we consider how lost we might be. The world is more than directionally challenged when we consider its ‘lost-ness.’ But how many of us have considered that when/if we found ourselves in the church we would get over that sense of being lost, get through the wandering, and find our way to our home…our true home…the place we are ‘meant to be’…the people whom God has called us to be. What is home? It is not just where we reside…the address of our house. Home is the place we belong. It is the time and place in our life when we begin living out who we are supposed to be. It is when we have found our way into the heart of God. Now isn’t that a mission statement for us, dear church? And it makes sense that the little girl and everyone one of us and everyone one in the world could find their way home when they got to the church. We need to look at two perspectives. First, as the church: are we still wandering? Or, as the seven-year-old, is the church…does our faith…is our Christian life the mark, the place, the relationship that allows us to go home and be home? Secondly, is the church, living up to its call for the world as the landmark so that others will find their way? The Apostle Paul, in his wonderful letter to the church in Rome writes about both perspectives. This passage is written in his normal rambling and convoluted way, but picks up several major themes for the Christian faith. He spins his usual admonitions to his listeners about faithful living — living in the spirit and living in a relationship with God — and how this is the life to which we have been called, rather than a life concerned about body and flesh issues — issues that will pass away and be transient. The true gift of this passage, however, is more than his admonitions about the difference between a life in the spirit and a life ‘in the flesh.’ The gift of this passage is the importance of our mission as the church for the rest of the world. When we live into who we truly have been called to be — as church — the rest of the world will be served, and this is the gift we have to give. But the world is not just going to sit back and receive this gift — they are already eagerly anticipating. They are longing for it. In fact, one translation of Romans indicates they (the world’s peoples) are ‘waiting on tiptoe’ for us to reveal ourselves as children of God. Do you remember when you were a child and waiting for a parade to start? In those moments before the parade started — behind a barricade or fence and maybe even in the front row — our parents couldn’t get us to sit down, or stand still. The anticipation of a long-awaited experience was absolutely too close. We were too eager — too excited — and so we would hold that fence or barricade or peak around the others in our way and be standing on tiptoe trying to catch the first glimpse; trying to have the first taste of whatever was going to happen. What gets us that excited now? What energizes us enough for us to stand on tiptoe? What captures our eager longing? Because if we cannot figure out why we should be standing on our tiptoes, do you think the rest of the world will REALLY be standing on their tiptoes waiting for us? So what is it? What is it about the church that helps people find their way home when they get here? Paul uses some financial language as well in our scripture of the day. He talks about indebtedness and inheritance. Our indebtedness and our inheritance are to the same source. We are indebted because of our inheritance. We do NOT hold a debt to anything but the source of the greatest gifts we have — namely God.
None of that! None of that ultimately holds us to indebtedness. All of it will pass away. What does bind us? What does hold us? What does link us to expectation is the claim God has on our life. There is a dream — a potential — a true being that God has breathed through us. And when that happened, part of God’s very spirit was implanted within us thereby enfolding us, adopting us as a child of God. That inheritance is where our debt resides. That relationship is what gives us meaning. That connection will never pass away. When — as the church — we believe in and begin to live out that inheritance, then we will become the center, the location, the community where people who are lost will be able to be found. The world is groaning, the world is rocking and reeling, and the world is anxiously waiting for us (the church, those who already know what it means to be children of God) to become who we truly are called to be so that they can get a glimpse and receive the witness we have to offer. So, church, it is not just about us. We have a mission. We have a job. We have been called to be — not just so we can have a good time…not just so we can do good works…not just so we can feel good. Our mission — if we should accept it — is to reveal this inheritance we have received, to delight in the freedom and release of all other indebtedness, and to show the world (who is waiting on tiptoe for us to get our act together!). When the focus of our life together is spreading the proclamation of God’s love to all by sharing the resources we have:
When we live that message we not only will be home in God’s heart, but the world — those who are anxiously, longingly, eagerly waiting on tiptoe — will believe and they, too, will find their way home into the heart of God. SW |
OUR LIFE OUR WORSHIP OUR STUDY OUR HISTORY OUR CHURCH LINKS
|
||||||||
 |
|
|
|||||||
