We love to sing the song. But do we get it? That grace could save \u201ca wretch like me?\u201d Truth is,\u00a0most of the time, we really do not feel all that wretched. Let\u2019s face it, most days we feel pretty proud of ourselves. Because no matter what we have done, we can always say, \u201cat least I\u2019m not like\u2026\u201d followed by a host of sin and sinners that make our small offenses pale in comparison. It\u2019s a great song. Grace is amazing. But for most of us, it\u2019s an amazing song that we feel compelled to sing to others. You<\/em>, wretched sinner. Jesus saved you<\/em>. Isn\u2019t that great news?!<\/p>\n In this desert we call Lent, it is time to sing \u201ci once was lost\u2026was blind,\u201d with\u00a0 a new kind of seeing. Seeing that the log in our own eye makes it impossible to remove a splinter for our neighbor\u2019s. (On a side note: did you ever wonder how a person came to\u00a0have a LOG in their eye? I know that Jesus was all about metaphor, but come on. that sounds like a monty python moment\u2013i\u2019ve got a log in my eye, it\u2019s only a flesh wound\u2026).\u00a0 We must face the inward darkness and ask, honestly, what about me is a four-letter-word spelled in three\u2013what is my sin? What is it that seperates me from God?<\/p>\n Walking through that valley of self-appraisal alone is something we avoid at all costs.\u00a0\u00a0All along the way, we resist our knowledge of the destination. \u201cI\u2019m not sinful<\/em>,\u201d we say. \u201cI didn\u2019t kill anybody. I don\u2019t do drugs or engage in gratuitous sex. I don\u2019t abuse my children or spouse, I am a just employer. I am generous with my money and time. I have no dark places to explore, so perhaps I\u2019ll just go back home and watch some reality t.v. Those people make me feel so much better about myself\u2026Not that I feel bad.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re wondering why I have such a word for word account of your trip, it\u2019s because I go on the same one. Often. But might I suggest that,\u00a0although we are not criminals,\u00a0ours is just a different shade of darkness. It\u2019s the shade of twilight, the shade of darkness creeping up on you. Your eyes adjust gradually so you don\u2019t quite realize it\u2019s gone full dark until, well, it has.<\/p>\n We tend to adjust our barometers of virtue and transgression based on our own behavior patterns. We, who consider ourselves basically good people, figure that nothing we can do, surely, is as bad as\u00a0\u201cthat\u201d sin of our neighbor. We are not deviant types of folk, geez especially compared to THEM. We are ok. Forever and always, everything about us is ok.<\/p>\n Except this little trip gives shape and dimension to our own greatest sin; a lack of grace toward neighbor that forever validates our own behaviors and existence. At least I\u2019m not<\/em>\u2026 is a judgement call of biblical proportion, and we are exactly the people Jesus invites to throw the first stone. We que up eagerly, stretching out our pitching arm, because the more stones we can hurl at _________ [choose your THEM] the more o.k. we really are. The less we need to follow Jesus down into the valley of doubt and repentance, the less we need to experience the true grace of God, and the less we are enabled to see the holy in the people around us. Gee, it got dark all of a sudden\u2026<\/p>\n It\u2019s usually harmless enough, to begin. \u201cThey\u201d are just a stone\u2019s throw away, really. The woman in the store who\u2019s not handling her child\u2019s tantrum the way that you would; the #**&$% in traffic who not only cut you off but is driving a HUMMER, of all\u00a0offensive things; the\u00a0friend who\u00a0had a few too many last night and misbehaved in public. It\u2019s usually these smaller things that lead us down the path of self-righteousness. It\u2019s not always the rapists and the serial killers.\u00a0 But herein lies the problem. It is too easy, every\u00a0second of every day, to find someone around who\u2019s sin is surely greater than your own.<\/p>\n To what shade of\u00a0darkness does it lead us, this perpetual lifting up of self at the expense of other? Well, it\u2019s a\u00a0mutli-layered darkness, as most of\u00a0our shadows turn out to be. For one thing,\u00a0living on such a high pedastal as we do, we get nosebleeds easily. It\u2019s a toxic place to reside, and our bodies and souls were not meant for the altitude.<\/p>\n For another, so easily calling \u201cfoul\u201d on your neighbor means that you routinely miss the opportunity to witness how God is alive in them\u2013because, sinful as they are, God surely lives in them as much as in you. And finally, living in a place of judgement\u2013however good it makes you feel\u2013means that you are not living in the place of grace that your creator intends for you. It means, over and over again, that you don\u2019t get it. That you don\u2019t really get what the whole grace tune is\u00a0about.<\/p>\n I just realized that in the last paragraph, i went from \u201cwe\/us\u201d language to entirely \u201cyou.\u201d Isn\u2019t that just the way? Talk about not humming the tune\u2026 OK, what i mean to say is: loving neighbor as self begins and ends with grace, and it has as much to do with extending grace as with accepting it. (Not that WE ever need to accept it because WE are so totally ok. )<\/p>\n I ramble. But, this little tune will help give some shape to my sermon later. For now, I\u2019m having a coke (real one) and some girl scout cookies to perk me up from\u00a0an afternoon slump. At least I\u2019m not doing cocaine\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We love to sing the song. But do we get it? That grace could save \u201ca wretch like me?\u201d Truth is,\u00a0most of the time, we really do not feel all that wretched. Let\u2019s face it, most days we feel pretty proud of ourselves. Because no matter what we have done, we can always say, \u201cat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,5,1],"tags":[87,88,12,25,27,89,53,90,91,82,30,92,93,94,10,95],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-being-a-person","category-faith-and-community","category-uncategorized","tag-amazing-grace","tag-cast-the-first-stone","tag-community","tag-desert","tag-faith","tag-grace","tag-jesus","tag-judging-others","tag-judgmental","tag-lent","tag-neighbor","tag-redemption","tag-salvation","tag-sin","tag-spirituality","tag-throwing-stones"],"yoast_head":"\n