Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, We are the People of the United Methodist Church; that is the claim we have made to millions of television viewers. Let’s watch one of those commercials.

SHOW Igniting Ministries Commercial LOVE LETTERS EXPRESSION: ADVICE

As George pointed out last week, Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors is the claim we make every time we drive our church vans around. It is critical that we practice truth in advertising, not just for our church’s sake, but for the sake of those who aren’t experiencing the gift of their Savior. George spoke last week about having open hearts, about being compassionate witnesses of God’s resurrection power; your present does not have to be your future. Today I want to talk about Open Minds.

I think that an open mind begins with humility. As the Word in Life Study Bible says, “When Paul told the Christians [in Philippi] to cultivate humility, he didn’t mean a groveling, abject demeanor. The biblical humility he did recommend means not thinking you are better than you really are (Ro 12.3), but instead acknowledging what you are -- with every strength and weakness, plus and minus, success and failure.”^[i] Humility is not self-hatred; it is honesty. It is recognizing that we are not better than others, we are all in the same boat together and amazingly in Jesus, God climbed into the boat with us. Jesus could have come as a god in supernatural form. Even as he lowered himself to come as a finite human, he could have come as a king or great high priest with all the status, power and wealth, but he didn’t even do that. He came as the son of a carpenter and a scandalized young girl who immediately became refugees in a foreign country and he died the death of a Jewish criminal. I believe God chose him to come to us in that form so that no one would feel beneath the Divine loving reach. Jesus humbled himself to bring us God’s amazing love and grace. He fulfilled a conspiracy of grace that we continue to participate in. That term “conspiracy of grace” comes from Mike Yaconelli in his book called Messy Spirituality: God’s Annoying Love for Imperfect People.^[ii]

I love his subtitle, “God’s annoying love for imperfect people.” It is frustrating, isn’t it when a person is driving you nuts and someone says, “but remember he or she is a child of God too.” And the really annoying thing is you know it’s true! The other part of humility I believe is accepting that God is much more than we can imagine. All to often we in the church try to domesticate God thinking we can speak for and judge for the one named Yahweh which means “I am who I am and I will be who I will be”. But my experience of God and my reading of the Bible tell me that God is constantly blowing our minds with who is in and who is not out. Paul told the Philippians “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” so now let’s turn to Jesus’ words in Matthew. “I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He was saying this to people who saw their enemies, the Roman legions, walking through their towns. He is saying this to us as we face the violence of terrorists bent on destroying us. Love Osama bin Laden and pray for him! Enemies in the New Testament can mean foreign people but most often it means personal enemies,^[iii] people who disagree with you, who affront you. Is Jesus saying that fundamentalist Christians are to love progressive Christians and vice versa? Is he saying that liberals are to love conservatives and Republicans are to love Democrats? Does he mean we are to love ex-spouses, people who cut us off in traffic, the grouchy neighbor who complains about our dog, the person who cut in line? He couldn’t mean that, could he? Is this “political correctness” gone mad or is it the radical love of our Savior? God’s mercy and grace are so great that it even extends to the unworthy. – Thank God for that or we’d all be in a lot of trouble. The conspiracy of grace is not just for the deserving, but for the contemptible as well. Jesus says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Last weekend George quoted a very similar passage from the Gospel According to Luke, “be merciful just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Matthew and Luke actually use different words. The word perfect used in Matthew means to be fully accomplished, without shortcoming in respect of a certain standard. The standards of behavior and radical love that Jesus lays out in the preceding chapter are impossibly high!  Maybe that is why Paul reminds the Christians he is serving, “for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). It takes an open mind to follow Christ and to participate in God’s conspiracy of grace.

Mike Yaconelli tells the story of a visitor at his church. The older man sat in the front row. He had braided and partially dreadlocked hair that hung below his belt and he had an extremely long goatee that shot in all directions from his chin. His nervousness was obvious. Mike could feel his fear. So during the time of welcome, Mike talked about how important it is for the church to be a place where a few somebodies and mostly nobodies feel safe, no matter how unsafe it is outside the church. When it came time for the passing of the peace, this man mingled throughout the small congregation. After the service he approached Pastor Mike his eyes moist, and said, “I’ve never been to a church like this. To be honest, I was seriously apprehensive when you announced the giving of the peace. I expected the worst. Do you know what it is like to walk into a church and not one person talks to you, not one person touches you, and no one even acknowledges your presence? I do. You can cut the rejection with a knife. You cannot imagine how alone you feel.”^[iv]

Let’s just take a brief look at some of the kind of people that God called into God’s conspiracy of grace. At one point Abraham was such a coward that he asked his wife to say she was his sister so that Egyptians wouldn’t hurt him to get to her. Later in his life, Abraham received the covenant from God, I will be your God and you and all your offspring will be my people. Moses killed an Egyptian overseer who was beating a Hebrew slave. God called him and used him to lead the people to the Promised Land. Jesus chose Peter, an impulsive guy who often spoke before he thought and who denied Jesus at his lowest hour to be the rock on which he built the church. He chose a woman, Mary Magdalene, who had been cured of such a terrible condition that is was described as seven demons, he chose her to be the first to hear and pass on the good news of his resurrection. And let’s not forget Paul whose letter we read earlier. Paul was a zealous persecutor of the followers of Christ. In fact, when the risen Christ told Ananias in a vision to go to Paul during Paul’s conversion experience, Ananias said are you sure, Lord? “I have heard from many about his man, how much evil he has done to your saints” (Acts 9:13). We now read Paul’s writings for inspiration and guidance. If a coward who put his wife at risk, if a murderer, if an impulsive betrayer, if a woman with a terrible mental or physical condition, if a Christian-hater came to our door would we see what God saw in them? I honestly don’t think we would, that’s why an open mind is so important because God sees what we can not and God can do what we can not. We get the joy of being part of God’s conspiracy of grace, of watching as Yahweh transforms us all.

I’d like to show you a conspiracy of grace that happened much more recently. I’d like for you to look for the open mind.

SHOW VIDEO “The Keys to the Kingdom”^[v]

God did change Roger’s life. The Rev. Dr. Roger Swanson became a United Methodist pastor and is the former Director of Evangelism for the General Board of Discipleship. Without that pastor’s (and church’s) open mind, Roger’s story could have very easily turned out much differently. And it would have been not only his story, but the stories of his children and his children’s children. We worship a powerful, amazing, mind-blowing God. It takes an open mind to be part of the Lord’s conspiracy of grace. Amen. 

Sermon delived by Rev. Nancy Cushman on September 25, 2005.