We Are Not God

We are not God

They say that many preachers only have one sermon in them.

I want mine to be Grace.

Many Christians speak for God in angry tones that crush and berate -

Words of judgment and condemnation, of exclusion and superiority.

But the God I know speaks in hushed tones of love -

Words of comfort and peace, of reconciliation and forgiveness.

We say “In God we trust,”

that we want our land to be a reflection of God’s vision for humankind,

so why do we make laws that take away healthcare from the old and poor,

ignore the harsh realities of inequalities for students with disabilities,

let people go hungry or sleep in spiked doorways,

stand up against those who only want to pee in peace,

refuse to make marital abuse a condition for divorce, or

define strangers as “other” and work hard to turn them away?

If grace is not the driving force of our faith,

Then the clanging cymbal of self-interest will obscure any opportunities

That others have to hear the message of the Gospel –

To know who Jesus is.

God is love!

God is love!

God is love!

The greatest sin is that we are not claiming God’s love as our own.

We need to get with the program if we are going to live up to the legacy that

We are created in the image of God.

Beloved children, all -

In need of love and grace, all -

In need of comfort and forgiveness, all -

In need of the wisdom to take ourselves off of our self-imposed pedestals -

In need of a mission and ministry to lift us all from the darkness of sin and the depths of depression.

And what we will not give

We cannot receive.

We are not God.

But created in his image, we are called to be givers and receivers of grace

In peace.

Deb Luther Teagan – March 13, 2017