"A Symphony of Grace"
Sermon by The Rev. Ken Landall
July 13, 2008 - Harwich, Massachusetts
Preaching Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 - John 3:14-21
Look around. There is plenty of bad news all over the place - the war, murders, fires, kidnappings, threats of terrorism, the tumbling stock market, escalating gas and oil prices, the sluggish economy - and these are just in the first 15 minutes of the nightly news. We are overwhelmed by negative news these days, resulting in a high level of anxiety for many. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue on, and regardless how you or I felt about going to war in the first place, what needs to also continue is our prayers - prayers for the safety of our brave men and women over there, prayers for their families who are so concerned about them, prayers for the people of these war-torn regions, and prayers for the conclusion of hostilities. World leaders, including our own, even our enemies - all need our prayers. Alright, enough of the bad news.
The church is the only place in society where good news, not bad news, is delivered on a regular, consistent basis, not sugar-coated sound bites, but profound good news about God's everlasting love and grace. And hearing this good news can help us cope with the tidal wave of bad news all around us. Today we are blessed with two scripture passages that have within them two of the most important faith themes in the entire New Testament. The passage from John is well-known, especially John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." John continues, explaining that Jesus came, not to condemn, but to bring salvation to the world.
The other passage is in Ephesians 2, Paul's words about grace, and it is this passage that we will look at in some detail. To do so we will use the metaphor of the symphony. The musical form that we now know as the symphony started to take shape in 16th century Italy. Pieces of music were played before operas, as I understand, to create a mood. Maybe this is where the term "mood music" originated. Anyway, this introductory music would often move through a series of dramatic shifts in tempo and key. These became known as movements, and the Italian sinfonia eventually became, in English, known as the symphony, a musical entity that of course has stood on its own ever since.
Think of Paul's masterpiece in Ephesians 2 as "a symphony of grace," where in only ten verses, the author/composer weaves in four themes, like four symphonic musical movements themes vital to the Christian faith. So, sit back, relax, and listen to the imaginary music.
The 1st movement begins abruptly, like the first measures of Beethoven's Fifth. "You were dead through your trespasses and sins." That gets our attention and shakes us out of our complacency, doesn't it? Paul is describing a normal spiritual reality for the people in the church at Ephesus (and for us), a state of death in the midst of life. Living lives of disobedience and separation from God, following in the ways of corruption and the "passions of the flesh" (and for Paul, this is more than sexual immorality, but rather, sin in all forms), this was existence as many people knew it then, and existence as many people still know it today. When we separate ourselves from God, we separate ourselves from life itself - life becomes just an existence. So this is where the first movement leads us - to death. Like the sad, plodding melody of Mozart's Requiem, we are led on a death march, a funeral procession.
Fortunately for us, Paul begins the 2nd movement of his symphony with a dramatically different theme. With a new tempo and in a major key the new movement begins with these words: "But God …" and then a few words later, "made us alive …" We were dead, but God … made us alive. God who is rich in mercy and out of God's great love, made us alive, not because of anything we did, but simply out of mercy and love. God decided not to abandon us to our funeral march, not to leave us on our movement toward death, but to make us alive in Christ. For Paul this is where grace begins, with a divine love so strong that it won't let go of us.
In her autobiography Mary Ann Bird tells about the difficult early childhood she had due to a physical deformity. Because of her impairment, other children made fun of her, and she was convinced that no one outside of her immediate family could possibly love her. But one day, her life changed forever. Her second grade teacher, Mrs. Leonard, was administering a hearing test to her class, and as each child individually stood by the door, covering one ear and listening for what the teacher, seated at her desk, would whisper, they would repeat back what they thought they heard, phrases such as "the sky is blue." Mary Ann writes: "I waited there that day for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said in her whisper to me, 'I wish you were my little girl.'"
This, my friends, is the same message that God is whispering to each of us this morning. Especially to those of us who have been worn down by sin, to those of us who have strayed from the faith, to those of us who know that our lives need a major jump start to get us back on track, God is saying, "I wish you were my daughter …I wish you were my son." We can experience this invitation to new life just by being open to it, just by trusting that God will be faithful to us. This is what Paul means when he says, "by grace you have been saved …"
But God … made us alive. You remember the movie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and the title character, a flamboyant, somewhat eccentric, but completely alive woman whose life takes many roller coaster twists and turns. Molly's philosophy that gets her through all the bumps along the way is this: "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" In spite of many adversities, whenever Molly has to make a decision, she chooses to live, to hold on for dear life, even when the boat is sinking. Could this be what is missing in our lives? Do we go through life eating fully at the banquet, grabbing life with gusto? Listening to the 2nd movement of the Symphony of Grace hopefully will inspire us to do so.
There is a 3rd movement in our symphony, a continuation of the previous theme, more music God wants us to hear, more grace God wants us to experience. God promises to not only make us alive in Christ, but to raise us up with Christ and seat us in the heavenly realm. What Paul is telling us here is that there is more for us, not only right now, but also in the future, not only in this life now, but in the life to come. This certainly is good news, but there's more. There's another theme that comes out in this movement, a repeat of an earlier theme, actually, the principal theme of the entire symphony. I'd like to play you a few measures, that is, re-read a couple of verses, because I think they are so important. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast." Why are these words so important? Let's take a look.
First, by grace we have been saved. Note the past-perfect tense that lifts salvation beyond any single moment in time. What this means is that salvation is already ours. We have been, and still are, and always will be saved. And, this salvation has come through faith, but this faith is not the result of our work or achievement, since Paul quickly adds that it is not our own doing. Indeed the faith referred to may be God's faithfulness to us, or simply our dawning acknowledgement (through faith) of what has long since been given. In any case, it is a gift of God, a free gift, with no strings attached. To make sure we understand, Paul reemphasizes that this saving grace is not the result of our works, it is not because of anything we have done. God does not save us, does not care for us, does not love us because we have earned it, or because we deserve it, or because we are really good people. God loves us unconditionally, no matter who we are or what we have done or not done.
In the 1st movement of our symphony of grace we heard of our need for grace because we were dead through our sins. In the 2nd, we heard of God's decision to make grace available to us, to make us truly alive. In the 3rd movement we heard that grace has no boundaries in this life or the next, and that it is a gift from God no way dependent on us or upon our actions.
There is one final movement, one part of the theme not yet heard. It is the answer to the question, "What effect does grace have on our lives right now?" And the answer is in Ephesians 2, verse 10: "For we are what [God] has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." We have been made alive in Christ for good works. We have been given blessings so we can give them away. Though Paul is a New Testament writer, this idea goes back to the early pages of Genesis, when Abraham is told that he will be blessed by God with many descendents and a promised land, so that he and his family will be a blessing to all the families of the earth. So also with us. We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others through our good works. Remember again, it is not the good works that earn us God's blessings. Rather, they are to be our grateful response to grace, to God's blessings, God's love so freely given to us.
A friend of a well-known family therapist asked him to talk with his elderly aunt who was quite depressed. The nephew had tried everything to buoy her spirits, with no success. The therapist stopped by the woman's house when he was in town the next time, and she graciously showed him her African violets in her little greenhouse, before they both went indoors. After listening to her litany of complaints for awhile, he interrupted her with these words: "Depression isn't your problem. Your problem is that you aren't being a very good Christian." An ardent church-goer all her life who thought of herself as quite a good Christian, the startled woman asked him what he meant. He answered: "Well, I notice that you have a wonderful gift for growing African violets. You have a lot of them in your greenhouse right now. But I would guess that you aren't sharing your gift with anyone. I'm sure there are people at your church who could use one - people who have lost a loved one could use one; people who have celebrated some joy could use one. And here you are hoarding all these beautiful plants for yourself." After the therapist left, the woman began to think about what he had said. With a bit of trepidation, she brought one of her cuttings to a friend who had recently lost her husband. Then she took one to a family who just had a new baby. And thus began her ministry.
About ten years later, the therapist received a letter from his friend, the woman's nephew. Enclosed was an article from the local paper. The headline read: "African Violet Queen Dies - Mourned by Thousands." The story described how this woman over the remainder of her life had given away thousands of cuttings, and how much she had touched people's lives in the greater community in which she lived, far beyond the church's walls. Instead of spending her last years in bitterness and self-pity, she found a ministry for which she could share her gifts, and which brought her and others great joy.
One final story at the end of our symphony. There once was a rooster who crowed at sun-up each day. The barnyard dog said to the rooster, "You know, your crowing doesn't really raise the sun each morning. The sun will come up whether you crow or not." The wise rooster replied, "I know that! I can't raise the sun. Only God can do that." "Then why in the world do you get up in the dark every day to holler your lungs out?" the dog asked. The rooster disdainfully looked at him and said, "God gave me a voice. It's my gift. If God is going to raise the sun into the sky, the least I can do is use my gift to show my appreciation." God in Christ created each of us for good works, each of us with special gifts. Our response to God's grace is to use these gifts for others, and that, my friends, is a good note on which to end our symphony.
Amen.
