Week of April 3, 2000
Pastor Dan

"For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God."
Ephesians 2: 8

We don't easily give up control of our own lives into God's capable care. Part of my own problem comes from being fiercely independent and self-reliant. I guess it's an admirable trait---until the point that it makes me so stubborn that it is hard to accept gifts and service from others. Accept the gift of God's grace or God's giftedness through somebody else? "No, thank you. I'd rather do it myself!"

Just for kicks, a colleague of mine tried a little experiment at a toll booth along the New Jersey Turnpike. As he rolled up to the booth just ahead of a person he had never met, he handed the cashier a dollar and said, "This is for me, and that red Ford behind me." Then he drove off. Watching in his mirror, my colleague saw the guy in the other car behind him motion emphatically with his hands as he took far longer at the booth than other cars. Then he punched down on the accelerator and caught up with the donor down the highway. As he drew even with my colleague, he suddenly snapped his head to the right and glared at him---with anger!

We receive God's grace like that, too. We want to second guess God's motives. It just seems too good to be true. We evaluate why we might be selected for such grace. Then, we wonder what kind of hidden hookers there might be behind the gift.

For heaven's sake, Dan, just accept the gift of love and forgiveness and say, "Thank you." What freedom there is in giving up such stupid control! From that point on, life in all of its giftedness becomes a vast vista of surprise.

Thank you, Lord, for your startling grace that scrambles our control. Thank you for the adventuresome life in your Spirit that opens our hands to give freely and receive freely. Amen

Contributed by Pastor Dan
Published Monday April 3, 2000
Week 19 of Liturgical Year B