I'm All In!

 

For those of you who are churchgoers now or ever were, I have a question.  Was there ever a sermon that really stuck with you?  What made it so memorable?

As a kid, they were ten-minute homilies as part of a catholic mass but now it’s full-on sermons each week that are more than ten minutes for sure. 

I look back at all of the sermons that I’ve heard over the years, and I think about the messages I received from them.

I’ve been told about an all-loving God that welcomes everyone. 

I’ve been told that only a select few will be with God forever.

I’ve been told that it was already decided before I was born what would happen to me. 

I’ve been told that the message is the important part and not to get caught up in the details or science.

I’ve been told that every word was from the mouth of God and there is “no interpretation necessary.”

I’ve been told that embracing oneself is a false gospel if they happen to be LGBTQ.

And I’ve been told that everyone is made in the image of God.

Messages from the pulpit whether in person or through podcasts/YouTube, can be conflicting and confusing.  With that being said, there’s one sermon I keep going back to.

I heard a pastor who is also a family friend preach on grace.  The main message that I pulled from this was if that pastor got to the pearly gates and he was accused of offering too much grace during his life on earth, that was a risk he was willing to take.

I think about this sermon often as I feel it’s truly what being a Christian is all about.  Pretty sure Jesus himself said that we’d be known as followers by how we love one another. 

As I’ve gotten older, I would say that I take this message of grace even further.  I will lean toward inclusivity and understanding.  I will encourage the church to understand that an evolving world is not something to be feared and the more we learn about ourselves, the closer we get to actually becoming who we were made to be. 

To take a poker metaphor, I would say I’m going all in on kindness.  All in on welcoming.  All in on inclusivity. 

I am confident that when I do meet Jesus one day (if I haven’t already), he’s not going to ask me to quote the bible.  He’s not going to ask me how many people I converted or brought to him.  He's not going to ask how many people I rebuked for how they were living their life or showing their faith.  He’s going to ask how loving I was.  He’s going to ask if I welcomed people.  He’s going to ask how I treated everyone around me. 

I could very well be wrong on this but every so often I like to roll the dice and I’m willing to stake my eternal life on this if Jesus is who they say he is.