St. David's United Church

I suspect that when we die, we’ll be asked to show our hands.
If we can use cartoon images, I imagine St. Peter (of course) standing outside the pearly gates (of course). As you approach and stand by him, I suspect he’ll say, “Show me your hands.” But he’s not wanting to see if you washed first with soap before entering the gates and sitting at the banquet table. He wants to see if you got your hands dirty. He wants to look at the accomplishments of your life. Where have you been? And with whom?

Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? In God, death does not have the final word. What is mortal is transformed into immortality. What is perishable and open to spoil and decay becomes an imperishable good.

The wilderness is not only wild, it can be holy. It can bring us to those places of awesome wonder, sheer beauty and raw size. When lost, pay attention. Something may be happening that you don’t at first see or detect.

Rev. David Ewart: apologies for the poor audio quality of this podcast.

Here, there are new rules. Strange rules. God’s rules. Here, Paul teaches, we’re to put aside ambition or conceit. Here, with humility, we are to regard others as better than ourselves and attend to their interests. This kind of radical hospitality is the mark of a community that is distinctly Christian. It points to the quality of life that Paul refers to as salvific.

When we’re in the off-season of life, when things are falling apart all around us and we’re still able to give thanks, we still have a sense of an abiding peace, well…that’s the work of God. The ability to “rejoice, always” and to find a “peace that passes all understanding” is not dependent upon our pleasure or comfort or preferences. It’s a gratitude that rises without a why, no matter what. It comes as a surprise because we don’t make it happen.

Their call came at an inconvenient time, and their decision to follow came with a heavy cost. That’s what I’d like to consider this morning as we find ourselves addressed by this passage. The inconvenience of the call, and the cost of saying “yes”.