It was fall of
1981 and I was heading to Grantham, England. This is the place I would be
spending my junior year in college. After a tearful good-bye to my parents at
the airport, I had quite a trip ahead of me. With 2 suitcases, a duffle bag
(carry-on) and purse in tow, I was off to see the world. I had to switch planes
in JFK airport, not a small place by any means! Then once I arrived in London,
I had to collect my bags and take a subway to Kings Cross Railway Station. Now
I met a wonderful lady, named Margaret Nash who helped me collect everything,
showed me the way and helped me queue up to buy my ticket. The next part of the
challenge was to stay awake on the train, fighting jet-lag, so that I would not
miss my stop. There again I was assisted by my fellow passengers, who allowed
me to dose off and then alerted me to get off in Grantham. The last leg of my trip
was to take a taxi to Harlaxton College. As the car turned into the one mile
driveway leading up to the beautiful majestic manor, which was glistening in
the setting sun and looked like a castle, I knew that this journey had been
worth it. I had been a challenge but worth it. I had quite an adventure ahead
of me. I also had a feeling that my life would change in this place.

The journey of
becoming a Christian can be challenging and also exciting. There are people who
help you along the way. There is growth that happens and transformation. God's
desire is that we become stronger in our faith. But in this journey one cannot
deny that there will be peaks and valleys. There will be temptations. There
will be miracles. There will be happy times and sad times. There will be
illness and good health. There will be fellowship with believers and
nonbelievers. There will be work in the church and stories to tell. Then when
our earthly journey is over, there will be death. We stand firm in the promise
that there will be resurrection. Like we say in the Apostles' Creed, there will
be life everlasting.

This journey of
becoming a Christian is unique to all of us. I was raised by Christian parents.
Christ has always been a part of my life. The good news that I am saved by
God's grace through Jesus Christ is something I grew up knowing. But some folks
don't hear about it until they are a youth or some may be an adult. It is
different for all of us. But the gift is the same and it is free to us through
our merciful God. All we have to do is accept it.

But there is more
to grace and salvation than the promise that this will be our ticket into
heaven. It is true that we are saved and our ultimate gift is a place in
heaven. There is so much more to grace and salvation which can be experienced
here on earth.

This past weekend
Revive and Restore Ministries had a Hispanic Women's Retreat here at John Knox.
This was the first retreat which this group of women had hosted in Spanish in
the United States. They had 120-135 women attend over the course of a day and
an half. It was incredible to hear about the healing stories of God's grace
that took place in those women. They talked about 2 women, who had been
severely angry at each other and had not spoken in years. God's grace was able
to mend these old wounds and renew this relationship. They were hugging and
laughing and that had not happened in years.

I learned that in the Latino or Hispanic
culture many times they are looked down upon because they are women. They are
considered weak and many times are not loved by their mothers. They are not
allowed to show emotions around men. Men have a higher ranking and our more
important in their culture. It was very freeing for them to learn of the grace
of Jesus Christ and how much they are loved by God, who set them free from all
bondage!

Now you may ask,
"How do I know about this retreat?" Well, it comes down to me not being able to
say, "No." When they explained what they were doing with the women, they added
that they wanted to offer programming for their children. It would be like a
mini-Vacation Bible School. You know how I love VBS! So I agreed.

With 120-135
women, we ended up with 55 children on Friday and 45 children on Saturday. Now
we have had over 80 children for VBS but not for so many hours and not with
babies. This was like VBS on steroids! It was crazy because we had 15 babies
and half of them cried! God bless Tina Davis, who was in charge of the crib
room!

One of the
activities that we did with the children was a feet washing. We had 3 tubs of
water set up in the sanctuary while their mothers were eating in Fellowship
Hall. I was wondering how the 3-5 years old children were going to handle this.
Would they be going wild, running around the sanctuary not being able to focus?
Would they splash water everywhere? But they were mesmerized when they put
their feet into the warm water. When they felt that water wash over their feet
and their soul, they knew they were special in God's eyes. They felt God's
grace and were renewed! What a way for them to begin their faith journey!

There are forces
that pull on us in our daily life. These are the forces we wrestle with
throughout our lives, which are just like the temptations that Jesus
experienced in the wilderness. We have
the forces of Satan, the evil one or as the letter in Ephesians refer to it as the
"Powers of the Air". Some of us have a more difficult time than others fighting
these forces.

My brother, Jon, who
I shared during my Advent sermon was adopted, wrestled all his life with these
forces or inner demons. He fought addiction to drugs and alcohol throughout his
short adult life. It was this abuse that led to his death. He always struggled
with choosing from right and wrong. But he knew that Jesus Christ was his Lord
and Savior and he had his final peace. I had that reassurance at his funeral.
But I wish he could have grown in his faith on earth and knew more about grace
and salvation.

5 years ago this
coming June, my brother, Tim, and his wife, Susan, gave birth to a 5 pound baby
boy, named Matthew. He was born with severe birth defects and only lived 45
minutes. They knew early on in the pregnancy that Matthew had problems. Tim and
Susan decided to continue to carry the child and let him live for as long as possible.
I was blessed to baptize him. They were blessed to have him for a short time.
They also know that there is the promise that they will be reunited with him
one day. But, you know I can't imagine how they carried on with life. I think
after the funeral I don't think I would have the strength to get out of bed.
But they did. You would think that they would have been angry with God and I'm
sure there was some of that, which is okay. But Susan and Tim were able heal
from their brokenness. Their faith today is stronger than ever! They relied on
this precious gift from God, their faith – their strong faith, to give them new
strength, new life, new hope.

God's gift of
grace and salvation is not only something that grants us the ultimate prize of
eternal life in heaven. But God's grace and salvation, which grants renewal and
wholeness, is experienced every day in our journey as a Christian on earth.

Our grand prize
in this journey will be a spot in the heavenly places. What a glorious place this
will be! There will be no more struggle with good and evil. The external powers
that we struggle to overcome will be gone! Our sins will be no more! Recently,
our Committee on Preparation for Ministry talked with one of our seminary
students about one of the lines in his statement of faith. This is a statement
about what he believes. He declared, "Christ had vindication when he was
resurrected from the dead and then he went on to heaven, where he is Lord and
King of all creation." When asked to explain this, he shared that when Christ
was resurrected he conquered death and sin so we in turn will conquer death and
sin because we are with Christ. We will all have our Easter morning and that
will be glorious!

Our journey does
not stop with salvation. Because we are alive with Christ, we are also created
in Christ to do good works. Good works
have nothing to do with the forgiveness of our sins. Good works has everything
to do with our relationship with Jesus Christ. As Walter Brueggumann says,
"Good works are the activities of those who are saved". (Text for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary based on the NRSV;
Westminster John Knox; 1993; p. 226) We do good works because we are created in
Christ. We do good works because Christ came into the world to serve not to be
served.

As we grow in
faith and grace, we change and take on new challenges. What I did back at
Harlaxton at 21 years old is not what I would do at 51 years old. I wish I
would have drunk less at the pub at the end of that 1-mile driveway although it
was good fellowship. Even though I did do a lot of traveling, I wish I would
have made my way over to Wales and Ireland. I wish I would have served that community
and got more involved in the church. I certainly changed and learned from that
experience! There was a friend who I met there and he shared the Bible with me
like no one else had ever done. It was more than just stories. It became a road
map for my life.

We find ourselves
in the thick of this Lenten season making our journey to Jerusalem. Remember a
couple of weeks ago; I said our Lenten journeys are like clearing out our
flower beds, preparing them for new growth. It is about pruning back the
overgrowth and clearing out the dead to make room to welcome our Savior on
Easter morning. How will we welcome him with refreshed souls and newness in our
hearts?

We also find
ourselves 2 weeks after our 50th anniversary. I remember Frank talking
about the challenges of us moving into the future after the celebration. Judy
Ricketts stood up here talking about all the wonderful great things we had done
over the years. All the awesome stuff and things from our past, some of which
we no longer do here at John Knox. That is okay. Those things had run their
course and we stopped doing them. It made room for new things. What comes after
the 50th year anniversary? What comes next on our journey of
Christianity? What good works are we created in Christ that is still left to
do? Frank talked about all the people who come through our doors during the
week. Maybe we need to have a couple people greeting those people every night,
sharing our faith and welcoming them back on Sunday. So that they know about
the gift God has to offer for all of us. What has God have prepared for us as
we move into the future? May we be ready and prepared to use the gift of grace
and salvation here on earth as well as what waits for us in eternity. Amen.