Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I like to read bumper stickers, especially funny bumper stickers. I am not, however, a big fan of bumper sticker theology. Witnessing to our faith is an activity that I usually think is best done when it involves some kind of 'one on one' encounter with another person. The great divide created by tons of steel and tires seem to make the encounter more of an assault than a witness. but I recently saw a bumper sticker that touched me. It read, "Lord, let me be the kind of person my dog thinks I am". I like that one. It was funny, it made me laugh and it speaks of the unconditional love that we like to think that dogs have for their owners. But I also think it goes deeper than that. It speaks of the longing that people have for wholeness and understanding -- to be the persons we were created to be, especially to those who matter the most -- our families, our friends and our neighbours. It didn't escape me that the bumper sticker was a prayer. To be our best selves, we need God's grace. Knowing our failings and contradictions, God still beckons us to be our best selves because in that, we are reflections of Christ's love. I came across a prayer, I'm not sure who wrote it, that is too long to be put on a bumper sticker, but it says pretty much the same thing: that by Jesus' forgiving love, we can be the people God has created us to be.
In all that I do, Lord, I want to be yours.
In the first morning light, I want to be grateful for a new day.
I want to listen and offer all my circumstances and myself
to use as your hands, your feet, your voice.
I want to pray for those you have given me, lifting their burdens into the light of your love.
Sometimes failing, forgetting, fleeing, I receive your forgiveness.
Again, I want to be a place for your grace.
Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Doug
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