Hello,
So….I’ve been a pastor for just about 36 years, and over those years I have written my share of sermons. I’ve kept them all, filing them away in a large file cabinet. I haven’t kept them in order to reuse them. I have never reused a sermon, and as of yet, I haven’t re-read any of them. I don’t reuse them because I try and write a sermon speaking to the specific people who are listening to it, and I haven’t re-read them…..well….just haven’t. But I have kept them thinking that it might be fun to see my growth and progression in my faith and in my preaching over the years. Even without re-reading them, I am sure that over the years the growth and progression of my faith and of my preaching has been in the direction of God’s grace, God’s love that is given to us, in spite of who we are, and because of who God is. “God is love” (1 John4:16).
A critique of my preaching that some have offered is that I preach too much grace. “All fluff, no stuff.” Those who offer this critique would want me to preach more about living a good, Christian life. They want to hear clear judgments on the big moral issues that we face, clearly pointing out people’s sins and indicting them for those sins They want me to emphasize the demands and expectations that God has for those who call themselves Christians.
“You preach too much about God’s unconditional love. We hear the same thing every Sunday, ‘You can trust in the grace of God.’”
Well, at this stage of my faith and ministry, I have decided that the critique of preaching too much grace is a critique I am willing to take, and this is why. First, it seems to me that grace was the central point of Jesus’ ministry. As a matter of fact, it was the preaching of God’s grace that got Jesus in the hottest water with the Scribes and Pharisees, folks whose message focused on doing right and making judgments. Second, I believe that every time I step in the pulpit, there just might be someone who is burdened by the weight of their sins….their failures…..their struggles, and if I haven’t given them hope to face those things….hope founded not in their power to get their act together but in the power of God Almighty to act with lifegiving grace and mercy…..if I haven’t given them hope, I have failed both them and God. And third, I believe that God’s grace changes people’s lives. It transforms them into people who love as God loves, and it shapes and molds people into little Christs….that is what “Christian” means.
But, last week, I discovered the truth to what I have come to believe as I sat in a congregation in Florida and listened to a pastor preach grace. I can’t tell you exactly what this pastor said, but he was clear in proclaiming the power of God’s grace and mercy in the lives of those for whom his Son died and rose. He turned my eyes and heart to the cross and empty tomb, the cross on which my sins lost their power, and the empty tomb out of which the power of new life and hope exploded.
As some of you know, the deck of cards that I have been dealt in life contains the cards of depression and anxiety. Just like all of us who hold the cards we are dealt, I have striven to play these cards the best that I can. Thanks to the many blessings of God, most days I play my life’s cards with significant ease. But there are days when the hand that I hold is weighty and life consuming. (Those of you who have these cards in your life know of what I speak.) Such was the day when I went to church in Florida. The shackles of my sins clung tight. The pain of my failure, in my life and in the lives of others, was piercing. My knees were strained to buckling.
And that is when I heard the proclamation of the pastor from the pulpit. I heard him proclaim the power of God’s love that overwhelms the power of my sins and failures. I heard him proclaim God’s forgiveness and mercy that God has invested in my life. I heard him declare God’s unyielding love for me that will never let me go. And then I went forward and heard the pastor say as he placed a piece of bread in my hand, “This is the body of Christ, given for you,” and say as he gave me wine to drink, “This is the blood of Christ, shed for you.”
And when I left that worship service, I felt an ease of the weight on my shoulders. I could see a horizon of hope in front of me. I felt empowered to take on the day. There was a light that gave me vision beyond myself to others who I could bless with divine love.
I was one who needed to hear the Gospel….the good news of Jesus Christ….that day. Truth is, I find myself needing to hear it every day. So, most of my sermons – no, all of my sermons, I am preaching to myself. But on that Sunday in Florida, I was blessed to have someone else with the power of the Holy Spirit declare it to me.
Boy, I am glad I was in church. And I am glad that that pastor aimed both barrels of the grace of God at my heart.
I hope that the Bungee Cord does the same for you every week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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