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“Receiving Grace,” Rev. Jason-Paul Channels, 4/12/15

“Receiving Grace”

A sermon preached at

Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Fort Collins, CO

by the Rev. Jason-Paul Channels

April 12, 2015

John 20: 19-23

 Lent is over, Easter has come the tomb is empty and the ashes that started the journey on Ash Wednesday and the dirt that ended it on Good Friday are washed off today as we celebrate with Emma and Tiyahna that we too have been washed clean in the waters of baptism! Remember those ashes? They were a symbol of our need for God, that we are nothing but dust and ashes apart from God.   And on Good Friday, remember when we stuck our hands in the mud and dirt of the earth as a reminder of our part our role in the death of Jesus. Well today we come to celebrate and remember the ways that baptism is the grace of God washing over us and washing away those ashes, that dirt.

The ashes of Lent remind us of our sin and are also a sign of repentance. Lent is a time when we are called to repent and change our ways. In Bible times it was common for people who were mourning to dress in sackcloth and put ashes on their heads. There are several stories in the Bible where the people came before God “in sack cloth and ashes” to show their repentance and to seek God’s forgiveness.   But we are done with that! We are on the other side! We have seen the risen Lord and heard anew his promise to the Disciples from John 20:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20: 19-23)[1]

I spent 7 hours yesterday with the Restore circle meetings of the Restorative Justice program here in Fort Collins/Larimer Country. The Restore program is targeted specifically to youth offenders who have been charged with shoplifting. There is lots more to tell and I will be happy to share with anyone who wants to talk later, but the short of the long is that I spent the entire day immersed in stories of remorse, seeing glimpses into lives turned upside down by decisions made, a day having my heart broken over and over.

Again and again the circle participants would share about how the shoplifting affected them. The loss prevention officer from Target, the Fort Collins Police officer, the mother of four who shops and lives here, the parents of the offenders and the offenders completing the process themselves talking about how their actions showed a lack of respect, a lack of thought, a lack of understanding of connectedness and community. How a decision to steal because your friends wanted that protein supplement, or you wanted your son’s first Christmas to have presents, or you didn’t want to ask your parents for the money to get some hair products and make up, or, or, or…had shown them just how worthless those things were compared to the impact and consequences that followed.

A hard part of yesterday was when we engaged the youth AND their parents. We encountered parents whowere more hurt and disappointed than their child. Parents still very mad about their actions. Parents who spent the time enabling and making excuses for their child, we encountered parents who had given up/burned out/chosen tough love/or disconnected long before they walked into the Restore session. We encountered parents who had so much pain and suffering and loss in their own lives there was no room left for the same in the lives of their son or daughter. The hardest though were those that had no one. No parents, no family, no system to not only support and care for them but to challenge them and hold them accountable. The youth that lost their family to divorce or drugs or alcohol or could not remember the last time they talked to their mother.

Somehow after all of that I was supposed to come back to the office and finish up a sermon on baptism and receiving grace and how the dirt and ash of Lent has been replaced with the water of grace and baptism. And then it was inescapable. These young people needed to receive grace in their lives in far more areas than just this legal offense. Many of them needed to know their worth outside of a few shirts from Macy’s or candy and alcohol from Target. There sitting in uncomfortable chairs in a circle of accountability and pain is where I heard the Easter story. Where I heard anew the real power of baptism AND our responsibility to share that gift of grace that we have received with others.

In this week after Easter, and in the head-swirling mist of my experience yesterday I am under no illusions of just how mind-blowing the post-Good Friday story is. How fully it contradicts the way the world and those who live in it go about their business. But if we as a community of faith during this season of Easter, and every other day of the year, are celebrating the risen Christ in our lives—then we are called to to help others, of all ages, to see that there is a gift of grace for them also.

Take a moment and think for just a quick second or two the top three things you think people look for to see what you are worth. Just real quickly…

What did you come up with? Clothes? Car? House? Job? Phone you use? Jewelry you wear? Physical fitness? Maybe some of you thought about the ways you help others, or the way you treat other people, or maybe even the piety and church involvement you demonstrate. Maybe you thought of a particular talent or gift you have. These are just some of the many ways that our world places value on us, and consequently how society places us in our “rightful spot” in the order of things.

But the church’s focus on ashes and baptism helps us right that perception. It allows us to celebrate that with God those things do not last. They are burned up, if you will, in the fires of God’s love and grace. The residue of such priorities and focus can be cleaned away leaving what truly matters to God. The clothes and the phones and the jobs and the talents do not survive nor can their former presence be seen. What is left is who and what God created us, called us, hoped for us to be. That’s why deciding to be baptized requires us to receive the grace of God into our lives. Requires us to be willing to see what it is that God loves and values and treasures and knows is under all that ash and dirt and residue from the world around us. It requires us to understand that the washing is not for God, that God already knows what is underneath, but that it is for us. So that we can see who we are and who each other is…a beloved child of God!

Today and everyday we are called to introduce Emma and Tiyahna, and all we encounter, to the new way of life in Jesus. We are called to demonstrate to them and teach them not to become an earning, shopping, and consuming machine, ever agitated and restless, someone who has to measure their worth and value against ANY OTHER PERSON; but to help them become someone who is aware of their value and grateful for the gift of God’s grace in their lives. We are called to show them that they are loved and valued because of who they are not because they are a cunning climber and schemer, or doing “cool kid” stuff. We are called to teach them not to become “an eye-for-an-eye kind of person but a turn-the-cheek kind of geek, who is kind to everyone, who prays for those who wish them ill, who lives at peace even with their enemies”[2] and sees evidence in the world everyday of God’s presence with, and promise for, them. We need to show them in our lives how they do not need to steal love and forgiveness and grace and hope for there is an abundance not a scarcity of that for them in God’s promise to us all. And on this Baptism Sunday, in the glow of Easter we all are receiving the grace of God as the Disciples did…for                Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

[1]                  Also see 2 Corinthians 5:17-20    So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.

So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!”

[2]            Kim Fabricius