Reverend Raymond Osborne, Pastor

Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

Gosh I think, and I say this very cautiously, that Spring has finally sprung! The weather the past few days has been absolutely a Godsend. There are two times of the year that I love dearly – Spring and Fall. Seems kind of odd doesn’t it? In Spring there is evidence of new life and in Fall there is evidence that things are dying.

As I drive up and down the roads I see signs of new life everywhere. The Easter Lilies are popping their bright yellow heads out of the ground and the Bradford Pear trees with their gorgeous pink blossoms are standing there blowing ever so majestically in the wind. The grass is turning green and people are beginning to mow their lawns. Oh the smells of fresh cut grass! One of my all-time favorite smells that remind me that it is in deed Spring!

Soon we will be gathering together in the cemetery bright and early on Easter morning. The air will be cold and brisk, but we won’t mind because after all, it’s Easter! There is a sense of joy and happiness that come with this time of the year!

It’s as if we see the world from a completely different point of view this time of the year – and we should! God who had spoken so dramatically in bringing the created order into being by saying, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has once again spoken through the chaos of human darkness. This time the light of life and order now shines through “the face of Jesus Christ!”

What we need to understand this morning is that new creation has not merely occurred “out there,” but new creation also takes place within our lives and our hearts if only we allow God to do His work in us through His Son.

Sing the song with me this morning, “Something beautiful, something good. All my confusion, He understood. All I have to offer Him is brokenness and strife, but He can make something beautiful of my life.”

The Apostle Paul says, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.”

Tomorrow morning," the surgeon began, "I'll open up your heart..."

"You'll find Jesus there," the boy interrupted.

The surgeon looked up, annoyed. "I'll cut your heart open," he continued, "to see how much damage has been done..."

"But when you open up my heart, you'll find Jesus in there."

The surgeon looked to the parents, who sat quietly. "When I see how much damage has been done, I'll sew your heart and chest back up and I'll plan what to do next."

"But you'll find Jesus in my heart. The Bible says He lives there. The hymns all say He lives there. You'll find Him in my heart."

The surgeon had had enough. "I'll tell you what I'll find in your heart. I'll find damaged muscle, low blood supply, and weakened vessels. And I'll find out if I can make you well."

"You'll find Jesus there too. He lives there." The surgeon left.

The surgeon sat in his office, recording his notes from the surgery, "...damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, widespread muscle degeneration. No hope for transplant, no hope for cure. Therapy: painkillers and bedrest. Prognosis: here he paused, "death within one year."

He stopped the recorder, but there was more to be said. "Why?" he asked aloud. "Why did You do this? You've put him here; You've put him in this pain; and You've cursed him to an early death.

"Why?"

The Lord answered and said, "The boy, My lamb, was not meant for your flock for long, for he is a part of My flock, and will forever be. Here, in My flock, he will feel no pain, and will be comforted as you cannot imagine. His parents will one day join him here, and they will know peace, and My flock will continue to grow."

The surgeon's tears were hot, but his anger was hotter. "You created that boy, and You created that heart. He'll be dead in months. Why?"

The Lord answered, "The boy, My lamb, shall return to My flock, for he has done his duty. I did not put My lamb with your flock to lose him, but to retrieve another lost lamb."

The surgeon wept.

The surgeon sat beside the boy's bed; the boy's parents sat across from him. The boy awoke and whispered, "Did you cut open my heart?"

"Yes," said the surgeon.

"What did you find?" asked the boy.

"I found Jesus there," said the surgeon.

Being “in Christ,” first of all means having Christ in us. But that’s not all that it is and that often becomes a “sticking point” with us. I find many who have a relationship with Jesus but few who carry it on beyond that initial “heart warming” experience, as John Wesley would call it. This is where “the rubber hits the road.”

Paul continues by saying, “All this (the new creation) is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given US the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. SO we are AMBASSADORS for Christ,.”

We, you and I are incorporated into the risen Christ that involves our stepping into this process of new creation begun with Christ – becoming a participant in this newly created order, where the old is gone and the new is come.

“Union United Methodist Church equips and prepares individuals to share and to show the love of Christ.” We are all ministers together. We are all to be ambassadors for Christ. What does that mean? That means that you and I having experienced the grace of God, having Jesus abiding within our own lives, having heard the Gospel and responded to the Gospel, now take that same Gospel out into the world to share with others. By our doing this we become participants in the process of new creation.

Being “in Christ” calls for a transformation of our lives. The Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2 NRSV)

Now I want to let you in on a little secret, there is no way you and I can ever transform ourselves. Accustomed as we are to thinking that personal transformation results from our own capacity to improve our world, and ourselves Paul issues this stern reminder that the new creation is not our own doing. God initiated it. God made the first move. You and I simply respond to that move.

While there are certain things that you and I can do and avoid doing that makes us a better candidate to be transformed by God, the transformation is as a Master’s paintbrush to a canvas. When the painting is finished the artist’s signature is all over it. People who know art can simply look at a van Gogh and tell it’s a van Gogh. By the same token, our lives ought to have the signature of God all over them; lives that have been beautifully created and transformed into a new creation by the handiwork of God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

I want to ask you a question that I will one day be asked by a Bishop; Are you moving on toward perfection?

The only right answer is “Yes.”

You see, for John Wesley perfection simply means loving God with all you heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

The only way you and I can ever do that is by the grace of God and with His help.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

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