AtomBecause of God’s Love, You Get To
Luke 7:11-17
On Thursday I was leaving the office and Judy – our business manager – and office do-it-all said to me, “Will you be in tomorrow?” You see, we have the Northwestern Minnesota Synod Assembly this weekend – Friday thru Sunday so I might have stayed out on Friday for awhile. But I looked at her and said, “Well, yes, I have to do Bible School in the morning.” And then I caught myself and I said, “I mean…I get to do Bible School in the morning.” And Josh, Pastor Dave’s oldest who was sitting out of sight in an office called out, “Nice recovery, Wade!” I think Josh has heard that mantra – that saying – before, here at the church to be sure, but also at home. I think it might be one of Pastor Dave’s favorite reminders to all of us that we tend to take for granted the privileges and gifts and opportunities we have as members of our families or as citizens of the United States or as followers of Jesus and when we do that, we tend to fall into a “have to” mentality rather than a “get to.”
I was thinking about that as I reflected on the gospel reading for today, this marvelous story from Luke, where Jesus is coming into the little village of Nain. And as he is entering the gates of the city, a young man on a funeral bier – a stretcher – is being carried out. His mother is following behind with the neighbors and all are weeping. Luke notes for us that she is a widow and this young man was her only child. Which means her grief is compounded over and over again. Not only is she grieving her son and her great loss, but she is also grieving her future. She has already has no husband to support her and now she will have no a child to care for her in her old age. We can imagine the great sadness of what Jesus was seeing. And Jesus reaches out and touches the bier to stop its progress and says to the lifeless form on the litter, “Young man…get up!” And the young man opens his eyes and sits up and begins to call out to those around him. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. A gift. An unexpected, unbelievable gift. Can you imagine?
Some of you can. Some of you have been given the gift of life in an unexpected way. A grave disease has been removed from your body. Recovery from a car crash has been nothing short of miraculous. When you were told you could never get pregnant and have children, you did. And life is a gift that you can never get over or ever want to get over. And I thought about how this mother might parent the rest of her life seeing every day and every opportunity to be with him as gift. I can’t imagine her saying to her friends, “Gee, I’d really like to go down to Jerusalem with you for the festival. The sales in the shops are always so good. But I have to stay here. Eli is in a choir contest over in Capernaum.” She is far more likely to say, “You know, much as I would like to go with you, I get to see and hear my son sing!”
When I was a first time parent and Kelsey was a baby, I remember being asked to go to a basketball game in some neighboring community. And I declined, saying, “No, Holly’s working tonight. Maybe another time.” And the response was, “Oh, you have to baby-sit, huh!” And I would say, “No, it’s not babysitting when its your own child. I get to be a parent, tonight. She’s my daughter. I get to.” Not that parenting is always easy. It is not. But when you see it as a gift as the woman whose son was “given back” to her, it certainly affects how you do it and the joy you find even in the smallest events.
You see, so much of our approach to life has to do with how we see it, as gift or not. Last week we said goodbye to Miquette Denie, our sister who is headed back to Haiti to try to make a difference in her homeland. And one of the differences she wants to make is to help children go to school. Since I first met Miquette, every time I have heard a young person say, “I have to go to school,” I have thought of her and the young people in Haiti who would probably say to that, “Have to? You mean “get to.” School is a privilege we take for granted here. It is a privilege not all have.
Or when I stop at Central Market to get groceries. I have to shop. But it is really not a “have to.” We “have to eat,” but we “get to” eat far more and with far more variety than any other people in the world. I get to choose what I will eat today. What a gift!
Or even when I slip up and say, “I have to go to work in the morning.” It is really about “get to.” Ask anyone who doesn’t have a job and wishes they could find one where they could support their families. Again, what is unemployment in Haiti? Something like 80%? Work and food and school…its all a “get to.”
As is life in the Christian community. And I saw a lot of it this week in VBS. In fact, I always think of VBS as a “get to.” The only time I have missed being a part of VBS week in my 23 years of ministry was the year I was on sabbatical. That was one week that it was hard to stay away. Because I see so many people excited about what they get to do here. There is a whole bunch of young men, who spent every morning here this week leading worship for the kids, gladly. There were – it seemed like hundreds – of volunteers, crew leaders and teen helpers and cooks and bottle washers coming and going with the kids. To be sure there were some tired looking eyes by about Wednesday. But there was no quit. There were others bringing goodies. “Here’s the milk – three gallons!” one of them said as he came in from the parking lot. “It’s for the kids.” And there was no “have to’ in his eyes. It was all “get to.”
And there were the kids. It is one of those weeks, some parents have shared with me, when they don’t have to fight their kids to get out of bed in the morning. They are going to Bible School. They get to go. And a lot of them on Thursday were saying, “You mean tomorrow is the last day?!” It is an incredible week of “get to.” And a lot of that has to do with the time and energy and creativity that Joy Peterson, our Children’s Ministry Director and her very committed Ministry Team put into making this week a great week of learning and growing in Christian community. There may be times when they are trying put the finishing touches on and make sure everything and everyone is in the right place that they are thinking, “I have all this to do.” But when the kids arrive, when we have that privilege of telling the story of Jesus and worshipping and learning together, it’s all “get to.”
Which is really why we do anything around here. Yeah. I suppose we could talk about “have to” when it comes to being the church. We have to take care of the building. We have to have worship services. We have to teach the kids. We have to welcome the neighbors. We have to serve Jesus.
But if that’s the case, then we’ve begun to miss the joy and wonder of what we have received…the joy and wonder that the widow from Nain must have experienced when Jesus gave her back her boy – when Jesus gave her back life…her son’s life, but also her own! And it is that joy – of knowing that Jesus gives us life, forgiveness and strength for the journey and eternity for tomorrow – that moves us to serve him and to be the church.
And even to share our gifts. You know – those of you who have worshipped with us regularly the last few weeks – that we have been talking a bit about being the church and about our participation in the ministry of the church under the heading, “Stories to tell and Gifts to Share.” We have been telling and hearing stories about the difference that the Lord Jesus and the Church has made in our lives, about the gifts we have received…from our parents, from the local church, from those who told us the good news about Jesus. We have been reflecting on all we have been given – gifted with – and I have been blessed by those who have shared because they have reminded me of what I have been given and reminded me that, my service, my giving is not a “have to,” it is a “get to.” God has blessed me to be a blessing. God has blessed you to be a blessing.
Well, that’s where I have been living with the Word of God this week. Jesus says to the mother at Nain – and to me in my parenting – “Here is a marvelous gift, your child. You don’t have to parent…you get to.” Jesus says to those of us telling the story, “I have given you this marvelous gift of forgiveness and life. You don’t have to share it with others. You don’t have to tell your kids; you don’t have to do Vacation Bible School. You get to.” Jesus is saying to me, to all of us, “I have given you this marvelous land of opportunity in which you live, with abundant food and housing and resources. You don’t have to share with anyone else. You get to.
So when the couriers come your way this week to hand you that little packet to help you and me reflect on our gifts and plan our giving to the Lord’s ministry, “you don’t have to welcome them…but you get to!” Let’s pray…
Page 1 of 1 comment pages