I had just signed up for my first ever seminary class. I took a seat on a bench next to the registration building and wondered how this new college experience would compare to being an undergraduate engineering student. Two young women walked by and stopped to talk to me. “Girls talking to me – that’s different than engineering school,” I thought. As the conversation wound down, one of them said, “You’d be cool if you just smoked.”
Well, that was a new one. But something about the experience did feel familiar. Someone had evaluated me and judged that I didn’t measure up. Know that feeling?
Most of us feel like we don’t measure up pretty frequently, and unfortunately churches often send mixed messages. One day you may hear that God loves you just the way you are. On another day you may hear that you need to (fill in the blank – pray more, give more, read the Bible more, etc.). What’s going on?
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, had this realization: we are works in progress, beloved by God as we are and inspired by God to become more. In Wesley’s teachings about what he called “grace” I have discovered a faith that gives me both peace about my shortcomings and excitement about overcoming them.
I would love to share this with you! Please join me at Access the next three weeks for a series of sermons titled, “Enough.”
See you Sunday!
Rich
Rich Rindfuss
Access Pastor
First United Methodist Church Richardson