July 16, 2023
Do you ever get these kinds of texts or emails sent from your dentist, doctor’s office, or oil change place?
They say something like, “This is just a friendly reminder that your car is due for an oil change.” Another one might say,“This is just a friendly reminder that you have an upcoming dentist appointment. Type the letter ‘Y’ to confirm.”
These places of business know what they’re doing. They know that we tend to forget these basic needs in our lives. How sweet of them to make sure that they get our money!
Actually, I like it that they offer these little reminders just in case we might have forgotten to put it in our calendar. I have to remind myself of these little, but important things that I need to be aware of on a regular basis. We are prone to forget.
I think this is why the Apostle Paul is sending us one of these reminders from our Romans scripture reading this morning. It’s like Paul is sending us a text that says, “This is just a friendly reminder that there is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Press ‘Y’ to confirm.”
Now, if we are faithful in attending church and spending some time reading the scriptures on a regular basis, we get these little reminders all of the time. And that’s really good because like dentist appointments and oil changes, we can easily forget.
What a wonderful thing it is to get a reminder like this. “There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The Holy Spirit is wanting us to type the letter “Y” to confirm that we got this very important reminder today.
Several years ago, worship scholar and author, Laurence Hull Stookey wrote a book entitled, Baptism: Christ’s Act in the Church. In his book he refers to our susceptibility to spiritual amnesia and how easy it can be for us to forget what Christ has done for us and who we are in Christ Jesus.
In referring to this spiritual amnesia which comes and goes, he says that our baptism is what can help us to remember that God loves us and that we belong to God. He writes in his book that baptism is what helps us to remember that through faith in Christ; we have been born again, we have been cleansed from our sins, we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that through baptism, we are part of the church family.
Think of baptism as our ongoing text reminder, that “there is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation!
There are many people who struggle with their sense of worthiness and acceptance. I think not feeling worthy or accepted is one of the most difficult challenges that we can face.
You might remember when the talented US gymnast, Simone Biles withdrew from each team event and all but one of her individual events due to mental health concerns. When she went public with this, she received a lot of support across the world, but sadly she also received a huge wave of criticism and judgment.
All of that judgment against her was so sad, because nobody can possibly know what it must have been like for this world class athlete to feel like she had to live up to those very high expectations that people had of her. Talk about pressure! She was living with that tremendous pressure every single day.
Thankfully, she was able to come back from her mental health recovery to return for her final individual event and win the bronze medal. She was able to return to her high-pressured gymnastic environment because she took the needed time to be reminded that she was more than a world-class gymnast. She was a human being who needed reassurance and a renewed sense of confidence.
This is why we gather each week for worship. We gather to receive a reassurance and a renewed sense of confidence that we belong to God no matter what others may think of us, not to mention the pressure that we put on ourselves.
Our country and our world are experiencing a large-scale mental health crisis. My heart breaks for people who are in need of emotional and mental healing in their lives, but who end up not seeking that help and support because of fear or a sense of unworthiness. It’s OK to not be OK.
Let me say that again. It’s OK to not be OK. Life can be hard and it’s important to take time and be reminded that God loves us, sent Jesus who died on a cross for us, and who rose again for our sake so that we can be made whole. So that we can be made whole and to be the people God has called us to be.
We don’t have to carry the expectations and the weight of the world on our shoulders. And the good news of our faith is that God is always reaching out to us, reminding us that we belong to God.
I know that I’m getting ahead of myself because two Sundays from now, our appointed Romans reading has the reminder of all reminders that we belong to Christ no matter what other voices or those voices in our head might say about us.
At the end of chapter 8 of this magnificent chapter, Paul writes, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Type “Y” to confirm this reminder about who you are. Or better, yet, just say, “Amen” to that reminder of who you are! Amen! Let’s say it again, “Amen!”
I attended a United Methodist conference event a few years ago that included a testimony of a young man, named Patrick who recently was baptized at a United Methodist Church. Here’s a portion of the testimony that he gave that day that might help us to remember the good news of our faith as well:
At this event, he shared these words, “I was an alcoholic and a drug addict. My life was going nowhere. It had no meaning. If I had to use one word to describe it, it was hopeless. I looked up an AA group which was meeting at a United Methodist Church that I had attended when I was a little kid.
People from that church would see me coming in for the meetings and they kept inviting me to attend worship on Sunday morning. So I decided to attend worship one Sunday. From the moment I walked through those doors, there was nothing but love. These people treated me better than my own family. I kept attending every week and ended up getting baptized.”
Now listen to what he said next about what a difference his baptism has made in his life:
“When I was coming out of that water, it was like all the muck and mire and nastiness that I had subjected myself to, it was rinsed off and laid at the bottom of that pool. And I’m nobody special. This could happen to anybody. And honestly, without the UMC, I would probably be dead right now. But praise God that he saw to it to bring me back! I now have joy and happiness and I love serving in the church.”
That church ended up helping Patrick to reclaim his faith and he was reminded through the love of that congregation and his baptism that Jesus loved him unconditionally. Unconditionally.
How does the Apostle Paul put it? “There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation.
Type “Y” to confirm.
Patrick typed “Y” and confirmed his faith by being baptized and allowing Christ to be his Savior and Lord.
My heart always breaks for anyone who feels shunned or unwelcomed in the church. I don’t want anybody to feel excluded or unworthy of God’s love. So, about four years ago, I started thinking of some intentional things that our church could do.
We already had a hospitality team and our congregation was known to be very friendly and welcoming. But then it dawned on me what we could do differently on a weekly basis. That’s when I thought about the benediction. That’s something that churches do every Sunday at the end of worship.
What if the benediction became a weekly reminder for everyone; long-term church members, new members, worship guests, and anyone who would be attending worship on that particular Sunday, that they are loved unconditionally by God?
So, I came up with these words for a benediction that we ended up saying every Sunday at the end of worship. The beginning of that benediction goes like this: “You are a blessed, beloved, and beautiful child of God. There are no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes.”
That benediction became our weekly reminder that every single person is a blessed, beloved, and beautiful child of God. There is nothing that we can do to make God loves us more and there is nothing that we can do to make God love us any less. God just loves us. God loves us unconditionally because we have all been created in the image of God.
I would find out a year or so later after our church had been using this benediction, that one of our teenage youth had this benediction printed out and she would take it to school with her. And every time that she was bullied or was feeling down, she would pull out this little reminder that God loves her and that there are no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes.
So friends, this is your friendly reminder from the Apostle Paul; “There is therefore now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus.”
To confirm, please say, “Amen!”
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