The Narrow Gate: Day 144

The Narrow Gate

Welcome to the continuation of my blog, post-seminary. Ministry and evangelism have brought me back home to Chattanooga. I welcome your company on my journey.

The original blog, Down In Mississippi, shared stories from 2008 and 2009 of the hope and determination of people in the face of disaster wrought by the hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, of work done primarily by volunteers from churches across America and with financial support of many aid agencies and private donations and the Church. My Mississippi posts really ended with the post of August 16, 2009. Much work, especially for the neediest, remained undone after the denominational church pulled out. Such is the nature of institutions. The world still needs your hands for a hand up. I commend to you my seven stories, Down in Mississippi I -VII, at the bottom of this page and the blog posts. They describe an experience of grace.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Day 144 - The Road Home

Today I am giving this homily/devotion to the men at St. Matthew's Shelter. One or two long time residents are moving on.

My hope when your stay at St. Matthew’s is over is that you will not just walk away from us. Even if you do, my prayer is that you walk away with the burning desire to build a vocation that supports a stable life, and the knowledge that you have a home.

All our time together talking about how Christian vocation sustains us is summed up in two things: working together and competency. When you boil living down to its essence, we have only one true vocation: to glorify God and enjoy his grace forever.

Why? Because everything we have, everything we own, everything we see, our immortality, we owe to God down to the last atom. We do glorify God, and I am first to say we stumble a lot, but we try and sometimes trying is the noblest action. Our vocation has one goal: to proclaim the Good News by our life, to share the secret that there is a home. From the beginning all I’ve done is invite you to join us building our competency living our Christian vocation.

Our vocation to proclaim the Good News about the glory of God does not mean we all get up and preach sermons, or stand on the street corner shouting “Repent” to everyone pointing out their sins. No, we proclaim the Good News by the way we live. Paul said it clearly in Romans 13:8-10. (Common English Bible):

"Don't be in debt to anyone, except for the obligation to love each other. Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law. The commandments 'Don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't desire what others have' and any other commandments, are all summed up in one word: 'You must love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does not do anything wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is what fulfills the Law."

There is urgency in the call to live a competent Christian vocation. Competency is a priceless gift whose value is spending it on those who search for God. You know every good thing is a gift from God, on loan not owned, always as freely shared as freely given. James said in 4:13-17 (NRSV):

“(To) those of you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business, having a good time and making money,’ don’t you even realize you do not even know what tomorrow will bring? What is your life? All we are is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you brag in your pride and all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits a sin, a wrong against God.”

We may live in a tent, we may live under a bridge, or we may live in a palace but we all have to serve somebody. We may think it is a boss or a counselor we do not like, but in the end we owe primary allegiance to God to do the right thing - live out our life as Christian vocation showing we are on our way home.

Remember these two things in your journey in the world: let your life glorify God as your only vocation and there is a home. AMEN!

1 comment:

jessi said...: amen! and thank you.; May 3, 2013 at 4:36 PM

Gates

The gate pervades the Good News. Peter entered the temple gate after the Jesus’ arrest to deny him. Poor Lazarus lay at the rich man's gate, longing for the crumb's from the table, while dogs licked his sores. The blind, lame and paralyzed lay at the Sheep Gate at the Jerusalem temple waiting at the pool with five porticoes for healing water. Jesus warned of the easy road and wide gate to material ease and spiritual destruction and calls us to the hard road and narrow gate to the waters of life.

necessary disclaimer

This blog is created solely to communicate to my brothers and sisters how one person sees adversity bringing out the greater character of humanity. It's early part relating connection to the volunteer relief effort in Mississippi after Katrina and later work with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Program and the Presbyterian Church(USA) is solely through my participation in them; this blog does not carry any sponsorship from these fine organizations or purport to speak for them. All original content is that of the writer who holds the copyright to all original writings and art or other works (See Creative Commons License above). Every effort is made to identify content from other sources which have been obtained from open internet sources. It's more recent content contains sermons and lessons used in preaching and teaching. The url to scripture are obtained via http://bible.oremus.org unless otherwise indicated.

Texts quoted from oremus bible viewer are from "New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved." and "New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved."