#MakeAWay #GodUsesOurMess #IfWeAllowIt #BeautifulHotMess #SaintsandSinners #GoodBadUgly #BeingHuman #BeLight #BeLove #BeJustice #BeTheChurch #LoveWins #GodLovesYou
Last Sunday Rev. Tom continued our “Bad Girls of the Bible Sermon Series” with the story of Gomer – the presumably promiscuous prostitute who was in a pretty dysfunctional marriage to the prophet Hosea. What a mess their situation was! And yet – God was in it and made it good.
And, that got me thinking about the ways that God uses the messiness of our lives and the messiest of us; prostitutes, addicts, sinners and cheats – God uses them all. Not saints or superhumans or geniuses, but ordinary people – crooks, creeps, lovers, and liars – God uses them all. What they lack, what WE lack – in perfection and purpose – God makes up for in love.
You see, God loves all of us – in all of our humanness – in the good, in the bad, and even in the ugly.
And if we allow it, God will use all of our humanness; God will use all of your messiness –
to make a way where there is no way;
to teach a lesson when there’s need of a lesson;
to love extravagantly in the face of hate; and
to work for equity where injustice prevails.
But here’s the rub, the operative phrase is “if we allow it”. You see, we need to be in it with God, so that She can transform the darkness into light; We need to participate with God so that we might be shown the Way;
We need to allow God to use us – so that we can become the love and justice that we’ve been waiting for.
So go – Be the Light, be the love, be the justice.
God will show you the way!
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Check out Rev. Tom’s sermon to hear the whole sordid story.
And join us this Sunday at 10:30 for Messy Church and the story of the original bad girl, Eve. Was she “Willful & Wicked or Wondering & Wise”?
And let us know if we can pray for your mess, because – everybody needs a little sanctuary.
