Sermon for April 19th

Sermon for April 19th

At the Planeview service I led on Thursday, we sang Amazing Grace. I try and build the service to closely approximate our Sunday service, but when there Is an unfamiliar song or a newer song, I change things up. Hearing me sing a solo is probably not what compelled the people to come out for worship. They much prefer to sing along and so we broke out an old favorite, and all those lovely humans sang along, loud and sometimes off key, offering their praise to God.

As we sang that hymn, I was reminded about the story of John Newton. He was a slave ship captain during the Atlantic slave trade. As a non-Christian, he likely saw no issue in partaking in this horrid practice. When he was 23, he had a near-death experience while at sea. His ship was caught in a storm and was almost lost. But on March 10th, 1748, while the storm was still raging, he cried out to God to be saved and was answered. His life was spared, but more importantly, his heart turned towards God.

His faith journey was slow and halting, but over time, he had developed a strong relationship with God, a relationship that caused him to turn his back on the slave trade, become a pastor and a strong abolitionist, one of several voices who helped end the Atlantic slave trade.

In Amazing Grace, we can hear the story of his faith journey.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

and grace my fears relieved;

how precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils, and snares       

I have already come;

'tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

God often intervenes in our life, especially when our steps take us to places that will only lead to hurt and suffering. For John Newton, he was not only saved, but his life was set to a purpose. He worked to abolish one of the worst institutions that we have ever known as a human species. His voice became a voice for justice and a needed voice of the Gospel.

Paul had a similar story. A great antagonist of the fledgling church, he, along with others like him, may have succeeded in eradicating those early communities. But instead, he encountered the Risen Christ, and the great antagonist became the great champion of the faith, a prolific writer and contributor to the theology of the early church. The church took root in the world in part because of Paul’s effort, even when, as Saul, he had sought to destroy it.

God breaks in to set our feet back upon the path that God would have us follow. We see that happen in our text for today. The two disciples who are walking along the Emmaus Road are debating all that has taken place. They are still talking about Jesus, and they are trying to understand the events that have transpired, but you have to wonder how much longer things would have held together if Jesus had not made himself known. Their path would likely have taken them back to what they once knew. Perhaps they were forever changed and would have viewed the world differently, but it would have been a personal thing, something they would have carried around in their hearts but not shared with the world.

But that was not where they were called to do. The inevitable drift that would have taken them from Goid’s path was corrected by the coming of the Risen Christ into their midst. Their hearts were set on fire. Their minds were opened up, and then, at the end, they came to understand who it was that stood amongst them. From there, the Hoy Spirit was gifted to them in the Acts miracle. But to get to that moment, their feet had to be directed to the path they needed to take.

Scripture is replete with examples of God breaking in and steering people back to where they need to go. Jesus used parables to illustrate that very idea, like the woman and the lost coin and the shepherd with the lost sheep. God will always come to find us and redirect us towards the way of life. The question becomes, how receptive are we when encounter God in our life? How willing we are to take the direction given to us?

I am sure we have all had moments like this and we, at least in retrospect, can see where God intervened. In those moments, we can feel a little like the prodigal son, having made the wrong choices and are left wondering if we ever can go home again. Yet, when our feet are directed home, we find a God who is always ready to welcome us home and who celebrates our return. We have a God who sets our hearts on fire and inspires us to the service of the Gospel. We have the great shepherd who will seek us out, no matter the cost, in order to bring us home.

In one of my devotional readings, they spoke about the desert fathers and mothers that would retreat from the wider world to reconnect with God. For some of them, it was a way to get away from the noise and corruption of the wider world and see God more clearly. But for others, it was never about running away. It was about establishing a closer relationship with God so that their feet could be more firmly planted in everything that was good and right. This would allow them to stand firm against injustice even as they spoke for justice and mercy in the world.

Our reaction right now might be to run. Run away from the turmoil, run away from the fear and anxiety. We would want to seek a better, more peaceful place and put this all behind us, even if it means we ignore what is happening in the world. That is likely similar to what the disciples were feeling on the Road to Emmaus. But as it was with them, so it is with us. We are not meant to run and hide. We are meant to stand and be grounded in God and God breaks into our lives so that can happen.

From the devotional reading:

Right now many people feel spiritually flooded, saturated with alarm, analysis, reaction, and dread. The nervous system never powers down. The moral imagination never gets quiet enough to hear wisdom instead of impulse.

The elders would recognize this immediately.

They would not tell you to disappear. They would tell you to build inner ground. They would tell you to create small deserts of clarity inside daily life—spaces where truth can speak without competition—so that when you act, you act from depth instead of reactivity.

Benedict would agree. Stay. But stay awake. Stay rooted. Stay practiced in humility and courage. Stay shaped by love more than by fear.

The goal is never escape.

The goal is freedom—the kind that lets you remain fully human when systems forget how.

May God help keep our feet on God’s path. May we not run but stay grounded in God and journey with courage wherever God needs to take us.

Amen