Dearest e-votees-
May you know God's peace and God's grace this week no matter what storms might bear down on you.
Peace,
Karl
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As we work together with him,a we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
May you know God's peace and God's grace this week no matter what storms might bear down on you.
Peace,
Karl
-----------------
As we work together with him,a we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”
See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
We have a prayer box out in front of our church. People from the community are invited to offer prayer requests. We take those requests and try to fold them into the prayers of the church. This past week we got three requests which cover the three main types of requests.
Type 1: We receive specific prayers for particular individuals. This week we were asked to pray for a woman who is struggling with cancer. Her name was part of our prayers in worship this week.
Type 2: We receive requests for broad categories of people. This week we were asked to pray for those struggling with drug addiction, with homelessness, the mentally ill and the hungry. Those folks struggling in those areas were also part of our worship this week.
Type 3: On Monday morning we received a "prayer request" in our box that said:
Unsurprisingly this request came in without a name or return contact information.
The question I have as I ponder this third request (or as I recall the phone call that emphatically and with great profanity told my answering machine what the caller thought of our prayer box and Christians in general) is how do we respond/witness/share faith with those who engage us harshly with little desire for honest dialogue?
You don't have to read much of Paul's writings to realize that Christian witness isn't always received warmly and with appreciation. Paul's catalog of beating and sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:23-26 reminds us of the cost of sharing the faith at times. Paul's traditional demise as the victim of a Roman beheading reminds us too.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that we receive hostile reactions from time to time. We certainly don't want to antagonize or inflame such things. Nonetheless, not answering doesn't seem so very faithful either.
When we see people who are perhaps accepting God's grace in vain (however that might look) do we find ways to invite them to reconsider? When we ourselves are receiving God's grace in vain--are we open to our sisters and brothers offering a word of encouragement and dare I say the word--rebuke?
For the next few days our street sign at the church simply says:
GOD CAN HELP
I don't know if it will help or engage the person who dropped in the "prayer request"--I hope and pray that it does--but it is good for my soul to be reminded of those two stark truths as I drive into work. Perhaps it is good for your soul as well.
God's grace is available to you this day. Please don't accept it in vain.
God, use us to respond well to surly prayer requests and hostile confrontations. None of us deserve your grace and mercy. All of us need them. Have your way in us and through us. Amen.
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