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Century Christian
Church 1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor: Rev. Jim Westmoreland |
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Mercy Came Running Who of us can live without mercy? Kindness, compassion, steadfast love, forgiveness are all words used to describe God's mercy for his people. What do people around us feel? What expression of love and acceptance from us will make a difference in their lives? We never know when the simple acts of kindness and compassion that we show will be felt as "tender acts of mercy" that come just at the right time. We are shocked at the violence and abuse we see on TV every day. We, who know the agony of how violence affects a family, and we, who know the anguish and pain of feeling deeply depressed, also know something about God's mercy and love. The great British theologian, C.S. Lewis, once said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our consciences, but shouts to us in our pain." When we have pleaded for God's mercy, what did we hear? Jesus' words to us in Matthew 5:7 can be such a comfort, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." We hear that God loves us and desires to reach out to us in mercy. Thanks be to God! But we also hear that we are to be merciful. And so, we must ask ourselves, "In response to His great kindness, compassion and nearness, have we become a mercy people?" Not too long ago, I heard a song called "Mercy Came Running." The words described a person searching, longing, feeling the guilt of life's bumps, bruises and failures, and then it says, "Mercy came running to me." Can we remember the personal, intimate experiences of God's mercy in our own lives? -times when we felt alone, misunderstood, perhaps isolated by our own mistakes, and then, "Mercy came running," and we were given a new beginning? Is it possible to have a vision of the world where people's lives and outlook are transformed because "mercy came running" to them? And, is it possible for the people of God to have such a relationship with the very source of Mercy that we find ourselves "running to show mercy" and living lives of mercy? Do we make a difference to our families? And, do we make a difference to our community as well? The scripture is rich with images of and references to God's mercy. In Numbers 14:18-19, we read, "The LORD is slow to anger , and abounding in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression . . . Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your mercy just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now." Remember how the children of Israel were often grumblers, murmurers and pessimists as Moses led them out of Egypt to go to the Promised Land. The worshiping community reminded itself that, from Egypt to now, God has been merciful to us. One of the expressions repeated often in the Old Testament is found in 1 Chronicles 16:34, "O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures for ever." Israel was good at remembering "about" God's mercy, but not so good at remembering what it meant. To know God and to experience His goodness and mercy is always to have a moral and ethical obligation of how we should live and treat one another. The prophets made it clear that both people and society would be judged by whether there was justice and mercy extended to all, especially to the poor and powerless. The prophet Micah's voice rings out his great distillation of what true religion means, "What does the Lord require? To do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God." The verbs are all active. Faith is something we do, not something that is done to us, for us or on us. Our faith is not just a passive, personal experience, but we face the same temptations that Israel faced in living out our faith and in showing mercy to others. Walter Eichrodt, wrote in his book, The Theology of the Old Testament, "Cultic performance was used as a welcome means of keeping on the right side of the law precisely where men wished to evade the subjection of their whole life to God's demands." We all face the temptation of settling for slipping into our satisfying religious routines that allow us to be content religiously but still doing nothing in actively being people of mercy in the community in which we live. Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." What bothers me about this saying and several other of the beatitudes is the way the behavior and the benefit are connected together. In fact this connection of behavior and benefit goes all the way back to the covenant that God made with Abraham as he said, "I will be your God and you will be my people." I believe there is nothing I can do to deserve God's favor and mercy. Jesus also said that we would be forgiven as we have forgiven others. What I hear Jesus saying is that being the people of God means something! He's not just handing out jerseys for people to wear. If we are going to be on the team, then we are going to practice, work and play in the game. If we are going to be the people of God, then we are going to be the people of God--people who do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. If we want mercy, we must be "mercy people." What we do is a sign of our covenant relationship with God. Sometimes, we want to act with mercy and kindness, but we are easily discouraged and sidetracked by red tape, and we can easily lose our enthusiasm. I love the holy imagination and creativity in the following story. During World War II a Protestant chaplain with the American troops in Italy became a friend of a local Roman Catholic priest. In time, the chaplain moved on with his unit and was killed in combat. The priest heard of his death, and knowing that the chaplain had no close family back in the States, he asked the military authorities if the chaplain could be buried in the cemetery behind his church. Permission was granted. But the priest ran into a problem with his own church authorities. They were sympathetic, but they said they could not approve the burial of a non-Catholic in a Catholic cemetery. So, the priest buried his friend just outside the cemetery fence. Years later, an Army veteran and friend of that chaplain returned to Italy and visited the old priest. He asked to see the chaplain's grave. To his surprise he found the grave inside the cemetery fence. "Ah," he said to the priest, "I see that you got permission to move the body." "No," said the priest. "They told me where I couldn't bury the body. But nobody ever told me I couldn't move the fence." We Christians must always be moving fences for the glory of God. We are compelled to break down barriers and build bridges between persons, groups, and nations. We are called to actively show mercy and be merciful toward others. Sometimes, the merciful thing to do is to make changes in the systems that cause the pain and misery to others. If a widow lady lives in a neighborhood where she doesn't feel safe in her own home because of vandals and drug dealers taking over the streets, do we just wait until something happens to her and then go show mercy to her when her home is robbed? Or, would it not be an act of mercy for others in the neighborhood to form a neighborhood watch, and look out for one another, and report any criminal behavior and help take their own neighborhood back? Or is it enough to visit those whose loved ones have been killed in vehicle accidents on Dead Man's Curve on US 431 as has been reported over the years? Or is it also a merciful action to help see that changes to the road are made to lessen the dangers, as are underway now? In short, it's one thing to care for the casualties from the system, but sooner or later we have to change the system so as to not have so many casualties in the first place. God's goodness is great and his mercy endures forever. Mercy is something we all need to receive, and it is always something that others need from us as well. The temptation is to be satisfied and to keep our experience of God's mercy for ourselves. What a tragedy it is to go to church all of our lives and keep the light of God's mercy under a bushel the whole time! Tony Campolo tells a story of a program in an American city during WWII that was organized to train volunteers in the skills of emergency first aid. There was a fear that if the city should be bombed there would not be adequate medical care available for the people who would be wounded. There was one woman in the class who seemed bored and detached from all that was being taught. She was there out of a sense of obligation but had no enthusiasm for learning. One day, this particular woman showed up to the first-aid class abounding with enthusiasm. She could hardly contain herself as she told the others in the class the source of her newfound excitement for the course. She said, "This class never meant much to me until yesterday! Yesterday, I was sitting on my front porch, when there was a horrendous automobile accident right in front of my house. The cars not only smashed into each other head-on, but bodies were thrown through the air. Everywhere there were people who were seriously injured. I saw blood everywhere I looked. The scene was horrible. It was so horrible I almost fainted. Then I remembered what I had learned in this class-and I put my head between my legs and I didn't pass out!" "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." All the richness of God's mercy that we have received is not to be kept to ourselves. This woman had obviously missed the point of her first aid class. She was not supposed to learn first aid simply to take care of herself, but to be equipped to take care of others. What do we think God's mercy is for? As followers of Jesus Christ, we have received the fullness of God's love and mercy. God has included us in His covenant-- He will be our God and we will be His people. I give thanks for the journey and the life that God has called me to live. And I remember that when I am broken and frustrated, His mercy comes running to me. And when we are true to the covenant as the people of God, not only does mercy come running to us, but when others have needs, we come running too, as the "mercy people" of God!
Century Christian Church, March 19, 2006 -
Sermon by Jim Westmoreland |
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