Where am I going?

For whatever reason, Sam has been singing the opening lines from Paint Your Wagon a lot lately, and it’s gotten stuck in my head. “Where am I going, I don’t know.  When will I get there, I ain’t certain, all I know is I am on my way.”  Do you ever feel like that?  Not sure where you are going or how you are going to get there?  Or even what to do once you do get there?

Sam and I had the pleasure of spending the past week down in Galveston with 20 other retired clergy couples.  There were also 7 members of the Church Pension Fund who led us through a series of talks, exercises and discussions designed to help us look at our life and our goals for living out our retirement and Christian vocation as couples.  The Credo conference that I attended in September did very similar things, but was focused only on clergy.  But this conference acknowledged that spouses are an important part of our life, planning and future.  

So in essence, this conference helped us address that burning question in Sam’s mind, “Where are we going...”. I think the disciples, after the death of Jesus had some of these same burning questions.  Where am I going?  What do I do next?  How do I get to my next assignment?  If you remember last week, after baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip was whisked away by the Holy Spirit and set down in Azotus.  But mostly the apostles had to walk where ever they went.  

In today’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles, our focus is on Peter who is preaching to the household and friends of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion.  Peter is breaking a lot of rules just being in Cornelius’ home and preaching to these Gentiles.  Because the leaders considered this new sect to still be a part of the Jewish religion, they insisted that only Jews were acceptable in their movement.  They wanted to limit who could be included in God’s salvation.  But God had other ideas and He was beginning to spread his net over all people, not just Jews.  

So even though these are not circumcised believers, as Peter preached, the Holy Spirit fell on them all and they began to speak in tongues and extol God.  This is one of those examples where the disciples/apostles had to make an about-face and hurry to catch up with what God was doing in this place.  They not only had to accept the gentiles, but they realized that they also had to baptize them. 

When Peter got back to Jerusalem, he had to defend his decision before the counsel.  He had done at least four things that were wrong.  He stayed with Gentiles in their house.  He ate their food.  He preached to them.  And He had them baptized.  The church was not happy with Peter.

But Peter, even though he had broken the rules, knew that he had done what God wanted him to do.  And that was more important that any rule that had been imposed.  God’s will, not mine, be done.  So, what does that mean for us today?  It means when God leads the way into something new, whether we like it or not, whether we agree or not, we at least need to pay attention.  

The Gospel lesson tells us that we are to abide in God’s love – to obey the commandment is to love one another as God has loved us.  It also tells us that we are no longer servants, but friends.  That means something special - it has deepened the relationship between us and God – we are no longer slaves, but now are friends because the master has made known to us what he is doing in the world.  God is always navigating new pathways into our broken and torn world, and we sometimes have to run to keep up with what he is doing and the way he is reaching out to all people.  

His desire is that all should be saved.  In Chapter 2 of Acts, Peter preaches his first sermon and says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Not if they are good enough.  ..  Not if they believe exactly like us...  Not if they are without sin...  But if they call on the name of Jesus, then they shall be saved.  

Our two lessons from John both speak of love and abiding in the grace of the Lord. Jesus also says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”  To many of us, in our humanity, question whether we are good enough to be chosen, but the truth is that we are all created in the image of God and he has chosen every single one of us.  All we have to do is answer his call to love, both God and one another.

And if we love him and choose to follow him, then we need to be prepared to go to uncomfortable places and live into the kind of love that he has for all creation.  When I started the journey with God, I told him, “If you open the door, I will step through it.”  That’s the way I’ve lived for the past 18 years.  Walking through open doors and trying not to look back when a door closes.  Following where God leads and very grateful that this last door he opened was right here at my home.

I’m not sure where I will go from here.  I have several short term plans for next month and Sam and I want to do some traveling.   Our collect says, “You have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding...”  We plan to continuing to follow the Lord, because he has already led us into more wonderful places and relationships than we could have imagined.  I plan to continue preaching the love of God to those who will listen and to seek his will for our lives.  I also plan to continue singing a new song to the Lord whenever and wherever I can. I know that God is going to be here with you after we leave and that he will make a way for us to return someday.  

I believe that God has great plans for Grace Church, but you need to be willing to step into whatever role God has for you in follow him.  What is your plan for following the Lord?  What doors are you willing to step through for the Lord?