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“Grace Upon Grace”
Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65 or Psalm 84:1-7; 2 Timothy
4:6-8, 16-18;
Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22; Luke 18:9-14
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time -
Reformation Sunday
Polly Strohbusch's 101st Birthday Celebration
October 28, 2007
Please pray with me;
Gracious God, as we hear your Word and try to understand, we ask that the
power of your Holy Spirit descend upon our hearts and minds, and allow us to
be free to rejoice in Your grace and justice for all. AMEN.
In our denomination’s celebration
today of Reformation Sunday, Inspiration stewardship Sunday here at OCPC, and in
Polly Strohbusch’s 101st birthday and partying for all of us, I
pondered our texts and kept bringing the theme of God’s grace and justice and
purpose into my thoughts and ideas. Grace upon grace seemed to fall into place
in every area for our celebration this day!
I, and perhaps many of you, enjoy
watching The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at night after the news. Maybe
because humor is good for all of us; recently, Jay went out asking questions
onto the streets in the Los Angeles area; he hits Santa Monica, Malibu, and
others; but this time it was about our country’s government. Who was our first
President, what state was Lincoln from, and sometimes Jay makes it rather easy
with the answers in them; is Washington D.C. in a state? Who is running for
President next year and related to President Clinton? What’s amazing and funny
is he gets answers from all walks of life; authors, kindergarten and high school
teachers, musicians, and students at schools nearby in Los Angeles. But their
answers are ridiculous! Polly, as a former teacher, you would be horrified to
hear some of the answers; some don’t have a clue!
What if Jay ‘fought the good
fight’ with his public and had questions about the Reformation; when was it,
what was it, or why was it, and who was involved, and what was the result?
Quickly, the answers; 16th century, religious movement in Europe,
reforming the Roman Catholic church, and Martin Luther, John Calvin, the
‘Thunderin’ Scotsman John Knox, and others, and Protestant churches.
Confirmands, did you get all that? For me, the best question might be why do we
even care about the Reformation in the 21st century? Well, possibly
because of that saving grace of our God for us, given to us freely in
covenant grace. Our faith in a God who gives us the freedom to believe as we
choose. In our faithfulness, we are free to use our own conscience to discern
and discover God’s truth and work in our lives. God places the law within and
upon our hearts, and God is our God of strength and we are God’s people. It is
grace upon grace again and again, and we have personal access to it! The best
part; God’s grace is reforming for us; God’s graceful Will is free to/in us, we
are free to accept it in the graceful Word of Christ Jesus in us, and the
graceful Work of God’s grace is in us through the Holy Spirit. It is grace upon
grace, isn’t it?
In our text, the author in
Timothy, who some say may be the apostle Paul, says prayerfully about his own
grace in faithfulness, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith. To (God) be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Timothy is
asked to rely on his own clear conscience and God’s grace, strength, and power
in/of salvation towards a heavenly kingdom. This sure sounds like the
Reformation to me, does it to you? In the Gospel of Luke, as we have discussed
in previous weeks now, Jesus chimes into talking about graceful faithfulness in
a Pharisee and a tax collector. Both as persons of faith, we might ask? Yet, the
theme is similar; the faithfulness of both are in God’s grace upon each, it just
surprises us how God goes about picking God’s graceful moments in each! I
believe we are purposely placed in challenging positions so we see ourselves in
others. This parable is no exception; the Pharisee follows the ‘law’ and is
faithful in fasting and tithing, seems righteous, doesn’t he? The tax collector
is ‘far off’ not looking at heaven, and seemingly unrighteous, yet they both go
to pray, each thinking ‘unjust’ thoughts. The justified tax collector ‘finished
the race’ though, didn’t he? The humbled are exalted; the exalted humbled. Isn’t
God’s grace a challenge for us, sometimes?
As we begin our churches
stewardship program today, I stress, as does the stewardship committee, that
this is not a campaign, but a 4-week program of celebration and opportunity for
us in receiving our many blessings. We are inspired this week, we are in
gratitude next week, and we are focused on consecration the third week, and then
the opportunity for commitment the last week on Nov. 18th with a
festival meal. It is low-key realization for us as faithful stewards to keep the
faith and to commit our time, our talents, and our treasures towards a spiritual
renewal of our church and its mission. It’s hospitality isn’t it? We receive; we
give. We give because we have been given to by a graceful God; we continue our
covenant grace with God and the church in a reformed way of faith, truth and
life, all through the grace of God in our lives.
As our church is ‘reformed and
always reforming’ I asked Polly to remember anything she thought changed in the
church over her years of dedication and activity in it, and she told me that
years ago they celebrated the Sabbath, Sunday as a special day; ‘we went to
church morning and evening and then had “Christian Endeavor” with Mr. Stare in
the afternoon.’ She said, ‘I think today we don’t know what that word Sabbath
means! The Stare girls, we all had fun. But on Sunday we couldn’t read the
‘Funnies’, play cards, or dance–they were ‘strict’ back then!’ She also told me,
“I’m proud of our church- my great, great grandfather was a founding member and
Elder here–Mr. Kennedy in our Lake Ripley cemetery.” Today we celebrate with
Polly, as she is also an ordained Elder and Deacon in our church, along with
other talents and gifts she has shared with us. She told one of her grandsons,
Mitchel, after he was confirmed here last May, that he was the 7th
generation of her family at OCPC.
Today is a kind of ‘gigantic
praise’ for our Reformed churches in fighting the fight for Protestantism that
began in the sixteenth century (1517). We sing praises glorifying God for our
individual practices of faith and our keeping the faith in our commitment to the
stewardship of our church. But we especially celebrate the race that has been
‘run’ gracefully by our church’s leaders, and one today, Polly Strohbusch, in
101 years of faithfulness to her church and her community. The good news of the
gospel is that Jesus was a reformer in wanting his disciples to know of God’s
grace in their lives and to set them free. Reformers have helped us to choose
faithfulness, reliability in the truth of the scriptures, stewardship in our
thanksgiving. We know of God’s grace through the life, death, and resurrection
and the salvation of Christ Jesus in our lives. We can be thankful, inspired,
and grateful for God in our lives; it’s grace upon grace!
Thanks be to God. AMEN.
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