i like savings things

especially when they look like they're too far gone

A sermon from the first chapter of 1 John:

On Wednesday a few of us went to the documentary, “Saving Brinton,” that I talked about last weekend. 

It was unfailingly charming. The guy who saved the original films was as delightfully eccentric as he was endearing. And the love the filmmakers for Iowa was perfectly clear in how they depicted Iowa and her residents. 

There were even finer points of theology offered up! 

At many points Mike’s faith is displayed. But the depth of it is shown as he’s giving a mini-lesson on the meaning and history of the word “cemetery.” A dormitory for the sleeping. He notes how the word cemetery came into fashion around the same time people stopped “dying,” because we started saying people “went on to their reward,” “passed away.” Stuff like that. 

And I thought how Mike had learned to do what Martin Luther said theologians of the cross must, call a thing what it is; to admit that the person has died - and only a savior who loves dead things will rescue them. 

As great as all that was, what I especially loved was the love Mike has for little, ol’ Ainsworth, Iowa. A town most folks wouldn’t bat an eyelash at…

So I was really enjoying the film, UNTIL about an hour in, when the screen froze AND the sound stopped! Sitting in the dark you could see other people looking around, wondering what was going on. 

Eventually, after starting and stopping, and finally going all the way back to the beginning and fast-forwarding through the entire movie, we were back to where the movie froze. But at least we were up and running again!

…For about twenty minutes. Until it happened again.

And that time, it took even longer to get the movie running. 

Well, during that downtime I had a lot of time to think. And let’s just say not all of it was nice…

Eventually, though, I realized I was being given an opportunity to do what I admired so much in Mike. To love something, even though it didn’t seem perfect. And there was plenty to love that night, the theater, the company, the time to just sit and do nothing. 

Confession time, though; as compelling as that thought was, I couldn’t actually do it. 

I failed. I couldn’t bring myself to love what was happening. 

All I could do in that moment was be frustrated. Worry the folks who came at my recommendation were cursing me under their breath. Get anxious I wasn’t going to get enough sleep that night!

If nothing else though, my weakness in the flesh, gave me a greater thankfulness of what God has done in Jesus Christ. To LOVE broken things like us, despite all our starts and stops. To LOVE things that aren’t perfect. Aren’t ideal… 

Y’all know I’ve been on this big kick lately, about all the ways Jesus gives us opportunities to actually follow him, walk in his light. How we’re given these opportunities all that time. Wednesday night, in our little art deco theater, that suspicion was impressed even more deeply. 

There I was, given the chance to practice walking in the light, by having love for the folks who were way more stressed out than I was. By taking my petty problems a little less seriously, and paying closer attention to what was happening all around me. 

Because in our little theater, the one who loves to love when it doesn’t come easy, was sitting right next to me in the folks I had fellowship with… 

But that’s hard to do! Isn’t it?

Even when we do manage notice the opportunity staring us in the face! It’s hard, and it’s always been hard.

Which is why the elder needs to give the sermon we heard the start of today.

The elder gave this sermon because the church he was called to, had, had better days. After a few years, tensions had sprung up. Folks got impatient with each other, and other got miffed folks were acting so unchristian.

Over time folks got tired of all the problems in the congregation. The bickering. The tension. The repetitive sermons. 

Who knows what it was, exactly. But at some point, folks started planning to leave and start a new congregation. One that would be truer. More faithful. Full of folks who were serious about their faith… 

So one morning amidst all that, the old preacher climbed into his familiar pulpit, and gave this odd sermon…

Which we heard the beginning of today. 

The old preacher, who probably had felt the same way as those folks a time or two; stood up and told them it doesn’t work that way. That their searching for something more ideal, would only lead them further away from God. That as repugnant as it might have seemed, Jesus had decided to show up in that imperfect, little congregation—and he had no intentions of leaving! That he was perfectly happy to mix it up in their imperfect fellowship!

…The thing that’s always shocking to the likes of us, is that Jesus isn’t some idea of light, he’s actual light! Light that shines on imperfect people like us. Light that comes into this fallen world!

That little congregation, full of problems and short of the ideal, was where Jesus had chosen to show up each Sunday - come what may! And he wasn’t about to leave them for something better!

The folks who were searching for something better; more godly, perfect, or ideal; were missing what Jesus was doing right in front of them! Speaking in the pastor’s long-winded homily! Shaking hands in the passing of the peace! Setting the table in communion!

True faith turns out to have no time for what we prefer. Rather, true faith is all about what God HAS chosen! And in Jesus Christ, God chose what isn’t perfect! What doesn’t look lovely! 

Not the ideal, but real!

Like you. Like us. Like this. This place. This world. This life. This Sunday.

This Sunday when, like so many others, we gather from our perfectly imperfect lives. Lives where we fight with loved ones. Get uptight. Are selfish. Jealous. 

In other words, from lives that are a mess. But this mess is what Jesus has come into the world for! This mess is what he shines the spotlight of his presence on and says, “here’s where I want to meet you.”

Those folks who were too good for John’s congregation, probably wouldn’t have much to say about us, either. But our humble little gathering, imperfect as it is, is the kind Jesus looks at and gets excited about!

The light of the world shines upon this world. This actual world. With all its messes and imperfections. And whenever folks like us, who live in this world, gather together and call upon Jesus, Jesus leaves the perfection of heaven to share the peace with us, speak his word of eternal life to us, spreads his meal of forgiveness before us!

There’s this great part early on in Saving Brinton, where Mike says, “I like saving things; especially when they look like they’re TOO FAR GONE.”

And that’s how it is with God, isn’t it?

We always think we need to get things looking a little better before Jesus will actually save us. But that’s not salvation, is it? That’s something else. Some sort of cooperation! One where, when it actually matters, like getting everything ready, it all depends on us, our godliness, our perfection.

So long as we while away the hours like that, we’ll do no different than the folks who left John’s congregation. We’ll step away from the holy thing Jesus is up to in our midst, in search of something that isn’t even real. 

But the promise you have is, it doesn’t need to be that hard! 

Jesus the light of the world, has already shone his spotlight unto our lives, this place and said, “look no further, here is where I want to be found!”

This is a wonderful promise. Admittedly, one that makes life a little more complicated, but it’s a good complicated. What Jesus has given us is a good problem. Not to save ourselves, but to walk in the light of what he’s has already done!

To see ALL the ways Jesus shows up in our midst. To see his light shining on our little moments. Ones the world would never pour the limelight on… 

Ones as frustrating as they are mundane, like a scratched blu-ray disc, for instance. 

Or ones when our child is upset, our coworkers aren’t playing fair, the newspaper is full of tragedy. To live in light of the fact that, these imperfect, unexciting moments are the ones Jesus finds just perfect, gets excited about every time!

See, it turns out it’s not for lack of opportunity we fail to walk in the light. It’s for lack of vision. A failure to see ALL the ways Jesus shows up in our midst.

But that’s a good problem to have. Imagine the alternative. To live in a flat world, where this is all there is, and it’s all up to us. 

What you have instead, is the light of the world, shining unto the moments your world is made up of! AND, the promise that even when you fail to see this, Jesus will not fail you!

So walk in that. It’s shining all around you already, anyway…