Make Space for the Miracle: REPENT

Ok, as you start reading this article, without laughing, say the following out loud: “I’m ready to make changes; and this time, I really mean it!”. Now, really, stop laughing, cause we’ve all tried that one haven’t we. We’ve all tried to make a bad habit. Ever had it creep back in again? My bad habits are too numerous to list here, but let me give you a few: I eat horribly unhealthy foods, I don’t exercise regularly, I’m an overachiever, got a Superman complex, and am a recovering nicotine addict. Luckily, this week in our worship celebration at the Village we were talking about letting go.

Our story in worship this week, from Luke Chapter 3, was the story of John the Baptist. Now, for those who have regularly and religiously (bad pun I know) studied the Bible, are going to say the story of John is after Jesus’ birth, but it’s about getting ready for Jesus so we use it at church before Christmas. John’s about letting go so we have room for the miracles to come. You’ve got to leave your sin behind and get saved, at least that’s what the preachers all tell us.

Cheri and I both grew up going to church, and we were both confused by that when we heard pastors railing about how we all have to let go of our sinful lives to be saved. Neither one of us were sleeping around, doing hard core drugs, etc. In short, we were both goodie two shoes. Neither one of us felt like we had done something truly wicked. As Cheri said, she felt like she needed to go out and do something really bad first to be saved. And that seemed to be really important.

Cheri grew up in West Texas, where even the mainline churches sound a little Southern Baptist to me. They’re all about the ritual of being saved. Her friends would go to a service to say their prayer, turn away from their sins and be saved. Sometimes, they did it every year. Cheri had one friend who was saved 5 years in a row, being re-baptized 7 or so times as well. Now, I’m just being bad, but what were these folks doing that the grace of God wore off? At the Village and in our two denominations, we claim you as a child of God with a baptism when you are a child and we believe it doesn’t wear off. No matter what you do or don’t do, you’re God’s beloved child and the invisible tattoo of that doesn’t come off.

Back in the times of the Bible, John was preaching at the Jordan River about how people needed to clean up their acts as the Messiah was coming. God’s Kingdom on Earth was coming. The injustice of the world was about to end as was suffering. The mighty, well there time was done. The message was, you folks need to get your lives in order.

And people came by the hundreds, lining up at the Jordan River to get dunked, sprinkled on with water, whatever. But, John knew that for many this was a fad. It was the equivalent of the annual revival at the hot church in town. But John told them they were snakes and they weren’t going to get anything from sprinkling water on their snake skins. They needed to change their lives in a meaningful way, not just show up at church.

Know anyone who went to church for reasons other than sincerely wanting to be there? Who went cause it was the popular thing to do? Because their Mother, Aunt, Grandma, Dad, etc made them go? Well, if you know me, that would be a yes. I grew up Catholic and not only were you supposed to go on Sunday and certain holidays, it was a sin not to go. Not exactly what I think God was going for, another Sin rather than a path to forgiveness.

Let’s talk about that path to forgiveness, repenting. To repent, requires as a first step that we figure out what we are doing wrong. Could be the big ones the preachers always warn us about: sex, drugs, rock & roll. Or it could be littler things selfishness, self-centeredness or trying to be Superman/Wonder Woman. Only you can identify what is wrong with you and what you’ve done.

There is a great scene from a great, quirky romantic comedy called Elizabethtown. In the movie Orlando Bloom is a brilliant young shoe designer who has been given the chance to create Mercury Shoes (think the folks with the swoosh) next great shoe. Only one problem, it is going to bomb beyond all measure. Conservative estimates put the companies losses as at $972 Million. He and the company’s CEO and founder Phil tour the company’s complex as Phil talks about all of the cuts due to this fiasco to come. The best is as he shows Drew the Environmental Watchdog Project, that was going to save the planet. Ouch, that’s a big one. Thankfully, most of us have not cost the planet’s future or a company nearly a Billion Dollars.

The next step on the repentance road is to make amends and ask forgiveness. This isn’t always from others, although most times it is. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves for that forgiveness, sometimes our friends or strangers. But there is always one we have to ask for this forgiveness, God. Thankfully God is ready always to give that forgiveness.

Now, sometimes this is easy, but lots of times it is hard. We need the help of others to be strong enough to go down this road. To stop smoking and get on with a healthier life, I needed a support group and class called Smoke Stoppers. Not quite a twelve step program, but that’s a good place too. We need places where we can be honest and ask for and get support. We’ve got to honest enough to ask for help, and we have to accept that help. Sadly, people aren’t willing to do that at most churches. They’ll do it at Twelve Step programs and they are doing a better job than we have as churches. That’s where people can be real.

This support is crucial for everyone. Even my dear wife, has the support of me, her friends and family, accountability groups and a spiritual director and she still struggles It’s still hard for her. It’s still hard for me as well.

The last step, wait for it, you have to actually change. Not simply say you want to change, but actually do so. No, praying a prayer is not enough. Rather than say we want to stop being Superman/Wonder Woman, we have to actually put away the cape and stop trying to save the world single handed. We have to make a plan, do it and keep trying, knowing we are human and going to fail. Surrounding yourself with a supportive community like the Village is a good thing too.

God loves us unconditionally. No matter what we’ve done, what we do, God loves us. We’re about to celebrate God’s greatest demonstration of love, coming down among us in the form of God’s son. We need to make room for that wonderful and miraculous gift.

This week, figure out what you need to get rid of to make room for God’s gift. When you figure that out, take a rock or something similar (we had a supply in worship at the Village) and pray about what you need to let go of. Put this into your rock and find a good place to let it go (hopefully nowhere near a window or you’ll need another rock). Now, we can’t guarantee that will let you get rid of your sin. Not even with the support of our groups, etc at the Village is there any guarantee. But let’s start down that road of repenting together.