St Croix Reformed Church

God’s Grace; the pebble, the rock or the brick?

A sermon preached on June 7, 2009 by Elder Tom Peil

In our  Sunday school class we like to view our faith as full of strength, humility and humor. We say together: “Give me a sense of humor Lord, Give me the grace to see a joke, get some humor out of life and pass it on to other folk”

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large raging, violent river. Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed:’ God, please give me the strength to cross the river. ‘ Poof! .. God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim

across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twice. After witnessing that, the second man prayed: ‘ God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river ‘ Poof! .. God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs and he was able to row across in about an hour after almost capsizing once. Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed: ‘ God, please give me the strength, the tools and the intelligence to cross the river ‘ Poof! . He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, hiked one hundred yards up stream and walked across the bridge.

I guess the moral of the story is; If at first you don’t succeed, do it the way your wife told you!

Today’s sermon is titled God’s grace; the pebble, the rock or the Brick?

I don’t feel that the pulpit is necessarily the place for my personal faith testimony, but a few highlights are probably in order.

My journey with my faith began at a very young age: my Mom and my late father Bill were very religious parents; living examples of their faith.

Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church, outside of Atlanta; Sunday morning’s there was never an option, but of course there were cinnamon rolls and the funny papers to consume before Church; in fact I still have my confirmation Bible from that Church.

During my High School Years my faith progressed as a member of the Methodist Church; usher; MYF; delivered first sermon (Titled coat rack for Christianity) this had to do with what I perceived as so many who entered the church on Sunday morning, grabbed their Christian coat off the coat rack and put it on, when departing the Church they hung their Faith back on the coat rack and forgot about it for the following 6 days and 23 hours.

These were all the pebbles;

I had several severe accidents culminating in falling down a waterfall and breaking my back; entering the tunnel of light but being turned back; but didn’t get the real message. Kept trying to get back to the other side of that tunnel.

That was the rock;

Spent many years pushing the edge of the envelope; details will not be provided today; maybe when Will is an Adult; but needless to say I needed another serious nudge. A dear friend, Pastor Gary Christiansen helped me understand what a fool I was; God wasn’t done with me here on Earth yet and has been trying to get my attention.

Then I became a father;

When Will and I moved here he was 7 years old and I didn’t have a clue how to be a single parent; I remember getting on my knees and asking God to help me to the best job I could do; with that I dedicated my life to Him and have tried to do what ever He’s asked

That was the Brick that Finally brought God’s Patient Grace to me. With His help we have made a good life here. Btw I sang our closing hymn to Will every night he was a child; I read, prayed and sang every night.

We may accept God’s grace from the whisper of the Holy Spirit…..sometimes God uses a pebble to get our attention; if that doesn’t work next comes a rock and for those who refuse…..eventually the Brick.

The following sermon is in part borrowed from a message posted by Sister Carol Perry of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City.

“Slow Grace”

We recognize some forms of grace even as we are unable to define them. The wind through the branches of a willow tree, the fluid movements of a ballerina—these are visible. But, in the realm of the spirit, grace remains one of the more difficult concepts on our spiritual journey. Its action is rarely a blazing moment on the road to Damascus, as it was for Paul.

In our world where things are better if they are faster, it is good to recall the patience of God in offering grace. We find a wonderful example of this in the Gospel of John.

There we first meet Nicodemus in a scene familiar to most of us. He is one of the members of Jerusalem’s ruling religious body, the Great Sanhedrin, and he comes to Jesus at night, stepping symbolically out of the darkness in chapter 3 of John. He comes with his questions both about who Jesus is and what that might mean for him. But what we tend to forget is that at the end of that exchange of ideas Nicodemus goes back into the night. There is no instant response to the appeal of the Teacher to be born anew. Nicodemus resists, and, humanly speaking, we can understand why.

He represents authority in first century Judaism. He and his fellow Pharisees interpret the Law for the rest of their countrymen. So how can this rabbi from Galilee who has studied under none of their authorities possibly speak truth? But Nicodemus does not reject Jesus. He ponders and we discover that he cannot forget that encounter at night. This is the persistence of God’s grace or the pebble.

When next we meet him, in chapter 7 of John, it is festival time in Jerusalem, the joyous feast of Booths. Nicodemus, in the Temple, is seated with the group of rulers who are awaiting the return of the Temple police who have been sent to the courtyard to arrest Jesus. When those guards return empty-handed, the authorities are not pleased. In fact, they are more than that, they are dismayed to hear the police say: “Never has anyone spoken like this.”

In the ensuing condemnation, Nicodemus dares to speak up. Grace (or the rock) is working in him as he challenges the interpreters of the Law with their own respect for that Law. He says: “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” He is still clinging to the one thing that is certain in his life, the Law.

But his small voice for justice is swept away by the scorn of those who share power with him. These Pharisees draw on their ultimate prejudice against Jesus when they say: “Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.” And so Nicodemus seems to once again drop back into the darkness.

But God’s enduring grace goes on working. We will never know how this man wrestles with it, how many times he faces the fact that admitting Jesus into his life will cause him to lose everything that he holds dear: position, power, human respect. But not admitting Jesus will place him beyond peace and joy. So the human and the divine struggle, and we see the ultimate resolution only in chapter 19 of John.

Death has already claimed Jesus, and as night falls quickly on Calvary’s hilltop, two new disciples step forward. One is Joseph of Arimathea, boldly asking Pilate for the body of Jesus and offering his own tomb for the burial. And joining him in the task of ministering to the one who died as a common criminal is our Nicodemus. The triumph of grace is so visible. It is he who brings the spices to anoint the body, coming to do what was traditionally a woman’s task. But that does not matter now. He comes to claim the dead body of the teacher he was unable to publicly acknowledge in life. He comes to perform an action that belongs to the family of the deceased.

And so in every way, Nicodemus has rejected his past life and has chosen a new one. Grace, maybe via a Brick, has claimed him. Career, human respect, power, none of these matters any longer. With how much love does he bury the Teacher whose words haunted him until he could accept them. As the sun sets on that fateful Good Friday, something wonderful is born in the soul of Nicodemus.

This brings to mind another similar story.

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, “What was that all about and who are you?

Just what the heck are you doing?

That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money.

Why did you do it?”

The young boy was apologetic. “Please mister … please, I’m sorry… I didn’t know what else to do,” he pleaded.

“I threw the brick because no one else would stop…”

With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car.

“It’s my brother,” he said.

“He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”

Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.

“Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger.

Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the little boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!

Whether it’s the story of the Jaguar driver, Nicodemus or myself, we see amazing grace working its transforming action. This love and patience on God’s part are constantly active in our world. Grace is sometimes almost visible when those we meet offer that helpful assistance, that encouraging word, that shared insight which changes the shape of our day. At other times, grace is the inner urge which we cannot resist and which moves us to the good.

Have you noticed any pebbles being tossed your way lately? Or stones trying to get your attention? Maybe there’s a brick coming at you right now.

Grace is God patiently working in our lives, prodding, suggesting and lovingly waiting with the enduring reassurance of …..”behold I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” May that reminder give strength and purpose to our remaining days.

Amen