University Christian Church

Right now, the number one movie in America is the three hour superhero blockbuster, Avengers: Endgame.

And while I don’t won’t to spoil it if you haven’t seen it, Endgame finishes a long developing plot line that peaked in the previous Avengers movie, Infinity War. Thanos, an evil cosmic villain, fought through space and time to gain six infinity stones representing all of reality, time, and space - and once together, he was able to do the unthinkable with this immense power. He snapped his fingers - and half of all living things across all of the universe disappeared. Vanished. Dead. Turned to dust.

In Endgame, the heroes have to work together to figure out a way to undo what fans call the Snap, bringing life back to the universe.

Whether or not you are a movie or superhero fan, this image of the SNAP is pretty darn grim. Because in real life, in our lives, we know too often that the world in which we live is one mired in death and death dealing actions. People suffer. Communities torn apart. Churches, synagogues, and mosques become targets of hatred. Blood in holy spaces.

But I don’t want to just focus on those headline grabbing events which frighten us - but acknowledge the way ordinary, small things prick us and poke us, frustrate us. The way we might get placed into boxes before someone even knows our story. The way we might get overlooked or dismissed because of who we are. 

We don’t do church here together to escape from that reality but to endure it, to get through it, to hope beyond it. And recognize that we need help to overcome it all.

In Ephesians, Paul tells us the bad news - SNAP - You were dead.

Given over to the powers and forces of this world that seek to rip your dignity from you.

Paul starts with this bad news to place in context the work of Jesus. Many scholars believe that Ephesians is a pastoral letter that is intended to inspire and encourage a number of churches scattered across an area, many Christians, some of whom would have been raised as faithful Jews and others who were Gentiles, new to the Jewish law and new to Jesus. It sounds depressing to suggest that everything these people knew before discovering Jesus and the church and life in God was death. But Paul is not really saying everything they did was death dealing - but that they were mired and locked in systems and choices that they don’t have the power to escape on their own.

If any of you have been in a situation of debt where you can only make minimum payments, Paul is talking about that kind of setup - where no matter how hard we try, it seems like we are not making any progress. Treading water. Sometimes, not realizing how bleak the situation is.

Life often brings us daily snaps that rob us of our beauty and joy and hope.

But then, Jesus comes along - the good news of resurrection - life even in the midst of death - and there, we discover grace, God’s grace for us.

And then by the grace of God, we were chosen. Paul is always clear that it isn’t anything we have done. We did not build up our resume or get everything right. We did not believe the perfect beliefs and answer every question correctly on the test. We have not led perfect lives. We sometimes messed up. And God chooses us anyway.

Verse 8 says - for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

God chooses us. It was God’s doing, not our own. God’s gift. God’s acting to rescue and lift us up out of that which daily seeks to keep us dragged down into death. God undoing the snaps of death that snatch away our lives.

And this idea of grace that is debated about in Christian theology, generation after generation, is more than just love - it is love despite being unworthy of it. It is being given a second chance when we don’t deserve it. It is being chosen despite not being ready or all together.

From this incredible experience, of being loved first by God, our life of faith flows outward.

Rather, now that God has blessed me and touched my life and transformed me, now, my life is forever different.

Once we were dead, but in God we discover life.

Scott Hoeze - “Our lives are one big overflow of grace-i-tude, of God’s grace spilling out over the edges and enabling us to accomplish everything we do in our studies, our work, our families, our churches, our careers.  What we do, how we live, what we accomplish matter but only because they flow out of God’s grace.  Take away grace, and we’re still dead no matter how busy and alive we seem to be from the outside looking in.  Throw grace into the mix, however, and we are alive in a way that means we can never be dead again.”

The good works that flow out of this is what we call outreach.

Just as God reached out to us, so we reach out to others.

Our church over the past 60 years have been kind of like the Avengers that our community needs.

We’ve had brave spiritual warriors of God provide food to the hungry, whether they are neighbors who happen to be homeless, families who are hungry, teen parents at Northwestern High School, working people who just need a little help. Our efforts to address the immediate needs of hunger are pushing back against the death dealing forces that allow people to go hungry in a rich, thriving economy.

We have brave spiritual warriors of God who transform our humble building into a life-giving hotel. This year, we welcomed a group of men during Safe Haven and a group of men, women, and children during Warm Nights to sleep here, be safe,  be encouraged, and recognize that at least for one week, they are home. And so we snap back against those forces and policies that let people go homeless.

We have brave spiritual warriors who go a step further - and seek to end homelessness all together. Our team of neighbors, part of the Bridge of Hope ministry, stare in the face of evil and seek to help one single mother and her family escape homelessness and rebuild their lives. Take that, forces of evil!

We are mighty people of faith who give generously, even when it doesn’t help our tax returns, supporting refugees and disaster relief through Week of Compassion, organizing with other churches to transform our county through Prince George’s Action Leadership Network, combining forces with other congregations to make our generosity go farther through global missions and new church plants across North America. Even today, a group of us, if the weather holds up, are going to march to end hunger through the Crop Walk, a truly ecumenical effort.

Our Good Works here are not about our resumes or not about how good we are - they are a response, an overflowing response to the goodness of God that we experience at the table, that we experience in worship and prayer, that we experience through God’s grace who chooses us.

You are a hero. You are God’s beloved. You have been lifted up and raised up and seated next to God - saved so you can participate in working for the healing of this broken Creation.

Once again, this stewardship season reminds us that when we give and respond - we make this kind of fight against the evil that robs too many people of their dignity possible. You make it possible with God’s help. So, go and be the hero you know you can be and join in God’s work of undoing the snaps that break apart this incredible Creation.