Promises, Promises: Works of Grace

Remember when we used a map, a paper map, to figure out how to get where we wanted to go? For those of you who don’t…before we had the ability to put in an address on our phone and get directions, some of us had a GPS device in our car that we could put in the address and it would tell us what route to take…but before there were GPS devices, we used these! And they were hard to use while you were driving…so, if you had a second person in the car with you, they would often be the navigator, which meant they told you were they thought you were and where they thought you should turn, and you argued until you missed the turn. Then you continued until it was clear that you were not headed the right direction, at which point you either turned around and headed back, or in some very rare instances, you stopped and consulted the map yourself. But, when you were alone, you relied on memory until it was clear you were not headed in the right direction and then you had to decide whether to stop and consult the map…which would only be helpful if you knew where you currently were, or keep going on the off chance that you would see a sign that might point you back in the right direction.

One of my teachers in high school told us about going to visit her daughter who was away at college in central Kentucky. She started out going northeast, the right direction, but at some point along the way, she took a wrong turn, and didn’t realize it until she found herself in downtown Nashville.

When she came back and told us, we all had a good laugh, and we couldn’t imagine why she admitted her mistake to us. I still wonder, but I am grateful. Over the years, I have thought of her story many times as I have realized I missed a turn or took a wrong turn on long trips or in strange cities and had to go miles to find an exit to turn around or another route to get me back where I meant to go. Her story has allowed me the benefit of comparison – I always calculate how far off course I have gone, how long it will take to get back, and how much time I have lost. And, so far, I have always been able to tell myself that at least I wasn’t in another state, hours away from where I meant to go, before I realized my mistake.

We all get lost, we all have set off in the right direction and taken a wrong turn, we all need sometimes to stop and figure out where we are in order to know which way to go. That’s what Paul is saying here in his letter to the church at Ephesus is, “We have all headed down a dead-end road.” All of us have gratified the cravings of our flesh and followed its desires and thoughts, and we all are children of wrath.

The word for wrath here in the Greek is not the kind of anger that is out of control. It is the passionate feeling that is built on extended personal exposure to wrongdoing. We all are children of wrath…we all have earned God’s passionate anger because of God’s personal exposure to our extended wrongdoing. Paul says, “All those trespasses and sins? You weren’t just off track. You weren’t just headed off course. You were dead.”

But God…God saw where you were and where you were headed and loved you so much that God raised you up and sat you back down with Christ. Not because you deserved it. Not because you earned it. Not because you asked for it.

Jan Richardson a pastor and poet, reflected on this passage,
Even when we were dead, Paul writes.
Even when we turned away from the One who had created us.
Even when we lived in the grip of what drew our gaze from God.
Even when we were oblivious.
Even when we followed a path fashioned of nothing
but our own desires.
Even when we wandered far and willfully away.
Even when we forgot to look past our own feet and to see
the wonders not of our making.
Even when we failed to stand in awe, to breathe thanks,
to lean into the love that had waited long for us.
Even when, Paul writes.
Even when,
even then:
grace.

Undeserved, unearned, abundant, flowing grace. You can’t locate it on a map. You can’t set your GPS to take you to it. Grace isn’t gotten, it is given. Presbyterian pastor and author, Frederick Buechner said that “The grace of God means something like: ‘Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.’ There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it.”

You can only be raised up from the road that is taking you toward death if you agree to being set on the right way. You were made for it – you are God’s own handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works – that you should do them. We do good works, works of grace, not so that we will be loved, but because we are loved. Works of grace, not so that we will be raised up, but because we have been raised up. We do good works, not because we want to be saved, but because we have been. Works of grace, not to be made one with Christ, but because we are one in Christ, and his very Body.

You know, on my phone, there is a little blue dot when I open my map that tells me where I am. And if I am headed the wrong direction, Siri will start telling me where to make a U-turn…until she will finally say, “re-calculating.” I promise you, there is always a sigh before “re-calculating.” Lent, the 40 days of preparation leading up to Easter is a time to take notice of the little blue dot of where we are, and make U-turns and to re-calculate, not so that we can do good works to be worthy of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, but because we weren’t worthy and Jesus sacrificed for us. Thanks be to God. Amen.