Fourth Sunday in Lent

Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3,17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21

if you read the NRSV a translation of Ephesians, it can sound pretty distant.  Here is the Common English Bible version: 

At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God.  You used to act like most people in our world do.  You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power.   This is the spirit of disobedience to God's will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience.  At one time you were like those persons.  All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.  However, God is rich in mercy.  (God) brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong.  God did this because of the great love that God has for us.  You are saved by God's grace!  And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Jesus Christ.  God did this to show future generations the greatness of God's grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.  You are saved by God's grace because of your faith.  This salvation is God's gift.  It's not something you possessed.  It's not something you did that you can be proud of.  Instead, we see God's accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things.  God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

Does that help?  It helps me.  I was in fact like a dead person.  I was angry at the God I was raised with, and I turned to a destructive spiritual power - anger aimed at myself and at others, drugs, alcohol.  I did what I thought I wanted, and it made me miserable.  And somehow God reached out through all that and brought me to life.  I followed, but I the initiative was God's and the strength was God's.  It still is.

Sometimes the choices we make are less drastic, less obviously destructive than my earlier ones.  Sometimes it's a matter of little deaths - holding onto anger or despair; gossiping; escaping into shopping for that next item that will give my life meaning.  Death may sound extreme for these, but you can check for yourself: how do I feel when I make those choices?  I feel a little less alive, a little more empty.

Today my choices are not just about my own life or death, but about the fates of others and of our planet.  Will I recycle and compost, or will I throw out trash and leave it to others to live with?  Will I investigate where my clothes are made or my food grown, to insure I'm not benefiting from the slavery of others (estimated now at 35 million people worldwide)?  Will I pray today, or watch TV?  Will I exercise?

In all my choices, God precedes me and offers me the strength to choose life.  God never forces me, but She opens doors and beckons me in.  And when I go through those narrow gates, I'm amazed at how spacious the other side is.

God so loves this world that She will give herself to call us to Her.  She's done it before, and She will keep doing it until we see and turn.

May you see and choose the path of life today, following the signs of God's love.  Together we can hold each other up until we enter the wide spaces of mercy.