Sermon at Grace Episcopal on 1-4-09

Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.

This is one of my favorite Sundays of the year. At first glance, it appears that there won't be a sermon today. But that is not true. This Sunday, how the Lord has moved in our lives will be the sermon.

For those who haven't been here on the first Sunday of the year, we have a tradition at Grace Church that started a few years ago. It was the first week after New Year's Day. We started out in our usual fashion with a few songs and an opening prayer. Bt when it came time for the Thank Offering, there was a spontaneous outpouring of how God had answered our prayers in the past 12 months. For over an hour we heard of lives changed, of miracles that had happened, and how walking closer with Jesus Christ had changed us. People who don't usually speak out shared from their hearts. The Holy Spirit touched us that day.

But there were some unexpected consequences. First, we realized that God was moving in our lives and in our church in ways we hadn't noticed. As others shared, we started to see where His hands and His love had been touching each of us. Some of us had walked through some pretty dark and lonely times. And as we heard our brothers and sisters share, we began to realize that we were not alone. Through job changes, money problems, family break ups and even as we walked through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus Christ never abandoned us, and never let go of our hand- even if it was our fault. As we realized that we began to have a spark of hope and encouragement. And it helped us so that we would not give up.

The other result was even more unexpected. It is easy to get stuck in the rut that God may answer the prayers of other people but He probably is too busy for me. When we heard that God was answering the prayers of others and how He was moving in their lives, the light started to come on that maybe, just maybe, He could hear my prayers and be trusted with my hurts. As the prayer in Ephesians says, God used our sharing to turn the light on in our hearts and begin to know the hope and inheritance we have in Him. And we began to see the greatness of His power and began to actually live as if we indeed are adopted children in His family and the greatness of his power for us who believe.

So it has become our custom to begin each year with a time of sharing specific ways that God has answered our prayers. Even if you think your story is insignificant, know that the Lord can use your life to encourage someone else that may be sitting right next to you. Don't worry about being shame. Think of this as a family reunion time where we sit back and share the stories of what our Father has done for us. He sent His only Son to us so that we could be part of His family. Let's listen and see where He has been working in our lives. Please use the microphone so that everyone can hear. Ephesians 1 says that He has given us spiritual blessing through His glorious grace. I can't wait to hear what our Father in Heaven has been doing.

(Sharing continued for 45 minutes or more)

Here is the closing

I have heard it said that the best sermons do not come from the pulpit, but from the pew. In other words, our lives are the best sermon that God uses. I think we have heard some pretty good sermons this morning - how the power of God has moved in our lives.

Jesus said for us to let our lights shine so that people could see the good deeds we were doing and give glory to our Father in heaven. Let's continue to walk in His light, in His way, and give Him all the praise and glory. AMEN

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