I’m just spending a little time trying to ponder the differences between Halloween and a political campaign…can’t think of many.  Everyone has their hands out; most people are wearing masks; and if it weren’t so funny, it would be kind of scary!  :)  But beyond that let me take a moment and hit three other common intersections between Halloween, politics and the church.

SAYING THANK YOU. With each of my children, whenever they have gone into our neighborhood trick-or-treating.  My number one instruction has always been — Never forget to say thank you.  Whenever someone gives you candy, always say thank you. Too be honest, I think a political season should always cause the church to pause for a moment and say thank you to God.  We live in a nation where ideas are freely expressed and leaders are freely selected.  In many countries around the world, elections are a sham and attempted transitions of power can bring unimaginable levels of suffering to the people — places like Myanmar.  As annoyed as I get with negative adds filled with “mistakes,” we should say thank you to God for the place we live.

THE CHURCH DIVIDED. Some Christians think Halloween is a harmless kid’s activity.  Some think it is the devil’s holiday.  And I’ve seen some Christians divide over their views on Halloween.  Some think Jesus is a republican.  Some think Jesus is a democrat.  (But both know that He’s not a libertarian.)  :)  And I’ve seen Christians divide over political views.  All I can say is…stop it.  Just stop it.  If you vote, vote as you feel God is leading you to vote and trust that other followers of Jesus are doing the same.  When Halloween/Election is over, they will know that we are Christians…not by our costumes or our votes, but by the love we have for each other.

THE BIGGEST SCARE:  One last common intersection between Halloween and a presidential campaign, the money. We will spend over $2.5 billion on Halloween costumes this year.  The money spent on the presidential campaign is also nearing $2.5 billion.  This year close to 9 million children under the age of 5 will die from preventable poverty conditions around the world; things like dirty water, and no food.  EmptyTomb.org suggests that about $5 billion a year would prevent those deaths.  Give up costumes, pick the President out of a hat…and save 9 million potential artists, story-tellers, inventors, teachers, farmers, fathers, mothers, doctors, nurses, firemen, carpenters, leaders, accountants, engineers, janitors, and friends.

One of the things that I love about Calvary is that every year (around Christmas) we are challenged to give 1% of our annual income to serve kids in need around the world.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t vote or buy a costume, just reminding us that in some people’s minds, there might be something more important than both.

Everyone in our community has been preparing for the effects of  Sandy Frankenstorm.  I work best with lists, so I thought I would share my list.  Though it’s probably too late for most of you.  (By the way, while I realize that this is a very serious deal for folks along the coast, we are a bit removed so allow me a bit of humor.)

1) Fill the bathtub with coffee.  It takes some time to brew that much coffee, especially with those one-cup coffee makers, but in times of storm, it’s important to multi-task.  A bath-tub filled with coffee gives me options.

2) Charge up all smartphones, laptops and tablets.  No need to explain this one.  What will we do without power if there is no facebook.

3) Get all the leaves out of the gutters.  Actually I don’t know why I needed to do this one, other than Lynn said so.

4) Make a tray of chocolate-covered rice krispee bars.  Okay I didn’t do that one.  Lynn made them in exchange for the leave thing.

5) Get gmail inbox under 20.  Okay that one has nothing to do with Sandy, but I got that one done today and I like having something to check off my list.

6) Get as many batteries as you can get.  So that we can play with all the old Christmas toys when there is no electricity.

7) Read through every political post you can find on facebook.  If you don’t do this, and the electricity is down longer than a week, you might forget all the important reasons why you are voting for whom ever you are voting. Because the greatest thing about Facebook is all the political discourse.

8) Fill the car up with gas.  If we lose power or run out of coffee we can go somewhere where there is coffee.

9) Eat at Waffleshop.  Hate to go a week without Waffleshop Bacon.

10) Take some time and ponder how blessed I am that all I have for my list is 1-9.

 

 

Okay, before you read any farther, it’s confession time.    

#1) I’m a Vikings fan.

#2) I smiled, okay grinned when I first watched the replay of the ref-replacement-ELE (Extinction-Level-Event).

#3) Yes I agree it was a bad call, that’s partially why I smiled.

So here are my thoughts are this end of the Mayan-world event.

Keep Calm.  The NFL will survive.  If it doesn’t, we will.. I know those of you reading this blog are calm.  It’s not a big deal to you, but wow, it sure was to everyone else.  Twitter almost exploded.  Political candidates were giving input.  NFL Replacement-Prohibition laws were being formulated in Congress.  Football players were considering boycotting the first play of every game from now till the “real” refs come back.  And Facebook’s stock plummeted.  (Okay that one might be unrelated.)  I know it’s a huge business but it’s still a game, that’s why they play it.

Humor Helps.  One status update read, “Call Liam Neeson, the refs have been taken.”  That one made me smile.  The KFAN parody “Call It Maybe” made me smile two or three times.  The eye clinic with the neon sign, “Free Eye Exams for NFL Referees” was cute.  The New Yorker had a story that started with, “G.O.P. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney finally got some good news today as he found himself ahead of President Obama in a poll of N.F.L. replacement referees.”  That was humorous, but I have to be honest a few of the replacement ref memes made me laugh out loud.

Life Requires Grace.  I agree, bad call.  Unfair.  Messed up ending.  By the way, I’m sure glad that my mistakes aren’t replayed over and over again on a jumbotron that’s a thousand square feet huge.  So what do we need when we’ve messed up big time?  Grace.  And who better to give grace, than those who have been wronged.   I truly hope that somewhere on one of these NFL teams there is a person who has received enough grace to go up to a replacement ref after a game and say something like this, “Man I know you guys are doing the best you can.  Thanks for hanging in there when the whole world is yelling at you.”

It’s Not Funny for Someone.  I’m trying to imagine what it’s like to be one of those guys.  Yeah I’m laughing at the memes but it’s not funny for someone.  Some one out there was looking at this as the opportunity of a lifetime, but now they are facing the wrath of the American male.

Of Course I Would Be More Worked Up If…  I was a Packers fan.  I know.  Do you know how I know?  Because I remember a game in 2010, Vikings vs. the Packers, TWO Vikings touchdowns were recalled and Carl Johnson, the NFL Vice President of Officiating came out the next week and acknowledged that on at least one of the calls, the refs (regular refs) had made a bad call.  Should have been touchdown Vikings.  Should have been victory Vikings.  It happens.

The Packers Season Is Just Beginning.  That is if they are still championship material.  Champions will look at things like eight sacks, and a stalled final drive more than the officiating.  I’m fairly certain that’s what the Packers will do…though as a Vikings Fan, I’m hopeful that they will focus more of their attention on the refs.  :)

Last Thought.  This one isn’t fair.  It isn’t fair because it contains a teaspoonful or two of hypocrisy.  The hypocrisy is that if this had happened to the Vikings I would have been yelling as loud and tweeting as hard as a Packer.  And it isn’t fair because most people, even in their annoyance are just having fun.  They do indeed know that replacement refs are not an extinction-level-event and that football is just a game.  So I realize that this statement is a bit unfair, but it’s still the one that I will leave with us.  I wish we could regularly get that excited about something that matters…a lot.

May the Packers win the rest of their games this season…except for the times they play the Vikings…  :)

Last Thursday Calvary sponsored a showing (at the State Theater) of the film, They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain.  My first Myanmar experience was in 2005.  I journeyed to Myanmar with my two then-teenage daughters, Sarah and Katy.  I’ll never forget reading a publication — just days before we left — that listed their leader as one of the top three worst dictators in the world!

Calvary now supports children from four different orphanages north of Yangon.  Of about 200 children in these orphanages, some of the children are true orphans, no mother or father.  Some are poverty orphans, often coming from a family where one of the parents have died and the remaining parent simply cannot afford to care for the children.  Some are children who lost their families in the Nargis Cyclone.  All of them are beautiful, in need, and filled with potential.But to be honest, our nervousness disappeared like early morning fog, when we met the children.

If you viewed the film — the website is now selling dvd’s if you were unable to come — then like most of us, your heart was grabbed by the struggles of the children; non-existent health care, lacking food, child labor, and no education were simply a few of the battles they face.  If you study Myanmar, you will also find there is a thriving sex-slave trade, a high incidence of AIDS and in the past it has been a country with one of the highest numbers of child soldiers.

As I watched the film, one of the thoughts that came to me was that the children in the orphanages that we support are so blessed.  They get at least two meals a day.  They have a higher degree of health-care.  They go to school.  They have adults in their lives who love them.  Some of them even have sponsors who pray for them and send letters to them.  They are blessed.

The other thought that came to my mind was that we can do more.  In the last few months those words have had a certain resonance, “In retrospect I could have done more.”  We could probably speak those words over dozens of areas of our lives, but when it comes to kids, the words seem to have a deeper impact.  Many of you who read this already sponsor a child, or give to help those in need around the globe.  Some of us do not, but all of us can ask ourselves the question, is there something more I can do.

We have started a ministry called Calvary Global Kids.  It’s a sponsorship program that gives us the ability to connect kids to hope around the world.  For $40 a month you can help a child eat, go to school, get health-care, and have a place to live with people who love them.  In other words you can make a difference, and not many organizations can say this, but because of Calvary’s commitment to these kids, every dollar you give goes to the children.

Check it out and consider making a difference in a child’s life.  If you can’t sponsor a child at this moment but would like to make a one-time gift to help our partnership in Myanmar, click CGK Donate and select Calvary Global Kids fund.

 

Last weekend at Calvary we pondered together the story of a young boy who gave his sack lunch to Jesus so that Jesus could feed a crowd.  If you know the story, you know that all the people ate (most likely 10,000+ people) and they gathered 12 baskets of leftovers.  Evening came, the night went by, and the next day the people came looking for Jesus — big surprise huh?  “Jesus, what’s for breakfast?” Is what most of them were thinking. “We were here when you did the multiplying sack lunch thing and that was pretty cool.  What’s for breakfast? You gonna multiply eggs?”

And Jesus told them,  “You’ve come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs – and for free. Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life…”  (John 6:26).  Then later (vs. 47-51) Jesus said,   I’m telling you the truth, whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life.”

Jesus is saying that in the end we’re all hungry.  We just don’t know what will satisfy our hunger.

A few years ago, Lynn and I were spending a couple of days with Calvary leaders praying, talking about, and seeking God’s leading for our facilities at Harvest Fields. It was an incredible time…but that night while we were out at Woodward, Lynn got a text from Jake.  Jake was playing rugby at the time.  She got a text saying, “Hey mom, I think I broke my nose, playing rugby.”  She came over to me — more than a little concerned.  “Dan, Jake thinks he broke his nose playing rugby.”  And of course I asked, “Yeh but who won?”  She said, “I don’t know I didn’t ask.” Typical mom.  So I texted him and got the news that they won and “Dad I played the whole game.”  Man I wanted to go home  and give him a man-hug.

So then about midnight, Lynn got a phone call from Sarah. “Jake isn’t feeling well. He’s nauseous, his head hurts. He’s really groggy.” So being a nurse Lynn knew that he was about to die and she wanted to go see him one more time. So we drove home to take him to the emergency room. He did have a broken nose.  They did a catscan of his head, but it showed there was nothing up there — I mean nothing wrong up there — so mild concussion and a broken nose, and we could have been in and out of the ER in no time flat.

But at about 1:30am the ambulances started coming in; 10 in less than an hour.  All or almost all of them were college students who had drank too much. They were packed in all over the place.  The halls were full of students on stretchers, many unconscious, some getting their stomachs pumped, some with adult diapers.  And as I was walking the halls looking, watching, it hit me…  THEY ARE JUST HUNGRY.

All the parties and drinking and hooking up, it’s all a voice crying out from behind walls, saying, “I have a hunger that goes so deep I’m not sure it will ever be satisfied.”  They don’t realize it, but what they are saying is God give me Christ. I need Jesus so bad. Nothing will fill this hole in my soul if I don’t get Jesus.

Last Saturday night, Lynn was over at our facility on University Drive, late at night, praying for Calvary, the community and our worship gatherings.  She got home about midnight and as we were settling in she said, “As I was praying, I felt like God was telling me that the church needs to wake up.”  We need to wake up to the desperation and the spiritual hunger, the soul hunger around us.  It’s not just the students, it’s all over.  We need to wake up and see our community from Father’s perspective.  He loves our community, but He loves it with His eyes open.  If we will do the same, I’m convinced it will lead us to pray like we have never prayed…which will lead to a feast, a spiritual feast in the valley like we have never imagined.

God wake us up.

 

So the first Penn State football game of the season has been played.  We lost.  It was an inspired, energetic first half and a difficult second half.  You have to go back to 2001 to find a Penn State home opener loss, of course that was Miami…the Florida Miami.  The last time Penn State lost a home opener to a non-BCS team was 1967.

I remember when I first fell in love with football.  It was on the play-ground when I was in fourth grade.  In fact I remember the day I fell in love with football, it was the first day I played running back on the play-ground game.  (Note the words play and game.)  I was juking and joking and scored my first touchdown.  I was in love with the game.  As I grew older, my first season of tackle football in 7th grade, led to a 27 game winning streak in high school, which led to four years of college ball in Division 3 school in Minnesota.

Through it all I never quit loving the game, but as I grew older I realized that I loved it for at least two reasons.  It was a great game and it was a great growth opportunity.  During those years I grew as a leader. I grew as a man.  I grew in my understanding of what it meant to be part of a team.  I would guess that there are few high school or college coaches who wouldn’t tell you that one of their greatest football passions is the opportunity to mold the hearts and the character of young men.

It’s not that we don’t like to win, but it’s a recognition that there are some things more important.  I loved winning, but I grew more through losing.  I experienced both, large measures of both.  I loved winning, but I grew more through losing.

So here is what I think after watching the first Penn State game.  The kids (note the word kids) who stayed to play through this season are no less worthy of our support today than they were when we rallied because they stayed.  How we (the State College community) respond to the fact that a group of teenagers (and 20+ year olds) lost a game, (that’s teenagers and game) will show whether we want our football team to save us, save our reputation, save our national image, save our economic viability, or whether we want to serve them.

In many ways this season may be more of a test of our character, than it is theirs.

I will be praying for these young men all season long… praying for more first half experiences than second half experiences, but more importantly praying that they grow in heart and character in ways that will positively shape their future.  Hope you join me.  That’s what it truly means to be “one team.”

So here are a few reorienting questions for everyone from Calvary:  Is it possible that three men from Ferguson Township could thwart/stop/mess-up or in any way diminish the plan of God to shape each and everyone one of us to live more like Jesus?  Is it possible that three men from Ferguson could thwart/stop/mess-up or in any way diminish what God wants to do both in us and through us in our community?  In fact is it even possible that three men from Ferguson could keep us from building whatever God wants built at Harvest Fields?  Finally is it possible that God wants to use three men from Ferguson Township to give us our own mini (because it’s only a mini) high-dive moment?

The proper answers would be no. no. no. and yes.

If you haven’t heard, 3 men from Ferguson Township voted no to letting Calvary hook into the public sewer system.  As I have heard it, (I wasn’t there) the other townships were not only in favor of this but also extremely upset with Ferguson.  I’m guessing that Ferguson will be forced to secede from the Happy Valley Union.   Just kidding…kinda.  No really just kidding.  From our perspective, and I might add, not just our perspective but the perspective of many supervisors from other townships, the process is broken and the decision was unfair.

But at the moment, that doesn’t really matter to me.

What matters is how we respond.  Here is what I think.  This isn’t about Ferguson Township.  This isn’t about our facilities.  This isn’t even about our poop.  The timing is too obviously God; immediately after the

. This is about us…and our response.  This  is about God giving us a mini-high-dive moment through which He is asking us, “So will you love me with all of your trust.”

So how do we respond?

Pray about everything.  Practice Gratitude.  Ponder God’s Good Everywhere.  Practice trust.  And not only will God’s peace guard our hearts and minds, but the God of Peace (shalom), the very God of Peace (overflowing fullness and blessing) will be WITH us.  If the God of Peace is with us…his favor is on the way.  So if you read this before you go to bed, take a moment to pray about this, take a few more moments to tell God thank you for all that he did at the CoG meeting.  Ponder the good that could come from all that has taken place.  And jump into God with all your trust.

I’ll be honest, I’ve got a smile on my face at the moment, I don’t really giggle anymore, but I’m kind of chuckling.  That’s not how I felt when Lynn texted me the words, “Ferguson voted no.” I didn’t text back a smiley face.  I texted a word that started in c and ended in p.  But once I hit send on that word, God brought my mind back to the weekend with the words, “Don’t worry.”  And now I’ll be honest, I kind of excited to see what God does with this.  I think there is a boomerang of favor on it’s way back around…  I don’t know how He will do it, I just believe He will.

His blessing is coming, so much blessing that I’m even praying a pile of blessing falls on those three guys from Ferguson.  How cool would it be if they came to know the love of Jesus through our response.

Keep your eyes open… as you jump… God is up to something…good.

By the way, to all those of you who came to the meeting and who prayed for the meeting… thank you, you have represented Jesus so well.  I couldn’t ask for anything more.

No I didn’t go to Chick-Fil-A yesterday, but I was in Cancun.   And I probably won’t go today — though today might be more dramatic — I’m still in Cancun. But I responded often enough on facebook that I decided to collect a few of my thoughts.

1. If you know me, you know that I’m not a big believer in Christian boycotts or protests.  When Ben and Jerry’s renamed one of their flavors to support same-sex marriage (from Chubby Hubby to Hubby Hubby) I kept eating.  When Target started selling gay-pride T-Shirts to support a MN group opposed to the ban on same-sex marriage, I kept shopping.  When the Southern Baptists called for a Disney ban because they had a day where they catered to homosexuals, I disneyed on.  When Altoona congregations came to protest a same-sex couple affirmation in our borough, I specifically told Calvary we would not join the protest.

I don’t think protests or boycotts are very effective at changing culture or changing hearts.

But at the same time, this feels a little bit different.  Honestly doesn’t it to you?  Let me bring it down to a smaller scale.  Let’s say that my children start a business.  They go into business together to start a landscaping company.  It’s a great company.  They decide that they want their company to be in alignment with their values.  So they talk through their values and they pick out the ones that are most important to them and they begin to shape their company accordingly, even putting parameters on what they will do with their profits.  One of those values happens to be a value on marriage.   So one day a newspaper asks them about their company, and the interview heads into the realm of their values…and in the midst of talking about marriage, it comes out that these four business people believe in a traditional view of marriage.  They actually put some of their profits into organizations that support local marriages.  When news comes out about this, the local mayor goes on a campaign against them to close down their business.  So my question simply is this:  If those were my kids would I want my church to love my kids by supporting them in some way?    In that case what does it mean to say that the world will know we are followers of Jesus by the love we have for each other.  Honestly I’m not sure what the correct answer is…but I think it would be helpful to think through the question.

2) I don’t believe that politics will ever change the world.  Politics is a little kingdom.  The Kingdom of God is the BIG KINGDOM.  Only the Big Kingdom can change the world and it typically happens one heart at a time.  Having said that, Christ calls us to be salt and light in every area of culture and society.  In other words Christ calls us to bring the Big Kingdom into every little kingdom we inhabit.  So by all means get involved in politics, but do it with a Big Kingdom heart.  Make no mistake this week eating at Chick-Fil-A was all about politics.  In fairness to Dan Cathy and Chick-Fil-A, they DID NOT try to make this political.  I believe they have a Big Kingdom heart.  But the mayor’s responses followed by Mike Huckabee’s response followed by the people who ate yesterday and today…all made it political.  There is nothing wrong with Christians being involved in politics as long as they bring a Big Kingdom mentality and heart.

3) I’m not an alarmist, an extremist, or a doomsday guy, but let’s be honest, there is a possibility that one day, in our country, preaching an evangelical interpretation of the biblical view of homosexuality will be deemed hate speech, worthy of prosecution.  If that day comes we will have an even greater opportunity to be Big Kingdom minded.

4) One of my concerns for our community and our country (and this is not original with me) is that we have come to a place where we struggle to have meaningful dialogue with those who disagree with us.  Words like tolerance are used when partisanship is really the name of the game.  But it runs deeper than politics.  Christians need to lead the way by going beyond tolerance to having a deep, deep love for those who not only disagree with us, but who would choose to demean us.  Someone once said that the true mark of a servant is seen by how we respond when we are actually treated like one.

5) Last thing… last week I got an email message from someone in Myanmar, a country filled with poverty and greater religious persecution than I have ever experienced.  It’s helpful once in a while to set a context for our issues that goes beyond our community and our nation.

In the last few weeks, actually the last few months…going on a year, the question has been asked many times, “What are we going to do now?”  Perhaps the question comes from exasperation, or even a bit of desperation.  Perhaps the question comes simply from people who want to be involved, want to do something to make some thing better.  From the events last November to the events of the last few weeks, Happy Valley has gone from one “What are we going to do now?” question to the next.  To be honest I’m not even sure this will be the last time we ask that question.  

God has shaped me to think strategically, so I love that question…and as a leader in and lover of our valley, I want to tell you there is a plan.  But I think our plans might be the last thing we need at the moment.  In the last year if I’ve heard Pastor McKenzie — at Unity Church — quote 2 Chronicles 20:12 once, I’ve heard him quote it hundreds of times.  It makes it’s way into almost every prayer I’ve heard him pray.  I think it’s a good place for us to start as we ask the question, “What do we do now?”

In 2 Chronicles 20, Jehosaphat is the King of Judah.  He was a good King who loved God,  In fact he was described as a man who sought God with all his heart, but he was not a perfect King.  In fact some of his mistakes led them to the place where they were quite vulnerable to a great army that had come against them.  2 Chronicles 20:12 is part of King J’s prayer to God in the face of this great battle.

¹² Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. ”

We don’t know what to do but our eyes are on you.  Our eyes are on you.  On you.

Where we place our eyes has an amazing way of shaping what we do and where we go…and even who we are…

As we ask the question — “What do we do now?” — we must have in mind an answer to questions like, “Where do we want to go?” and “Who do we want to become?”  It is tempting to think that our primary challenge is the restoration of life as we knew it, PSU as we knew it, football Saturdays as we knew them, happy as we knew it..etc  But what if our primary challenge is to experience God in the valley?

If that’s the case then we have to start with the humility of crying out to God in our ignorance.  If the goal is to fix Happy Valley and restore the reputation of Penn State…we can come up with that plan on our own… a number of great organizations in the valley are working on exactly that — and by the way I think that’s great — but the people of God have a prior calling.  We want to encounter God in our valley.  We want our community to experience the love and the power and the grace and the life of God.  That’s a goal that is far too big for us…one that should call us to cry out in our humility.

God we can’t do this on our own.  We don’t know what to do.  But our eyes are on you.

The first teaching series this fall at Calvary will be titled Experiencing God.  It’s based on a study by Henry Blackaby.  For those who have been around Calvary for more than a decade, it will be like a blast from the past.  This study has helped to shape our church without walls.  In the study we will talk about seven realities of experiencing God — not seven steps, not a formula, but a description of the realities of experiencing God.

The first reality is this: God is always at work around us.

In other words, he hasn’t left the valley.  He didn’t give up and go away.  He isn’t scared by sin or sanctions.  He isn’t confused by the Freeh Report.  He knows the beginning from the end.  Whenever we meet him, he is always on the way back from where we are headed.    He opposes the proud but he is ready in an instant to give mercy and grace to the humble.   He loves our region, but he wants our hearts.  He wants our eyes on him.

God is always at work around us.  Right now, if he is at work in our region, the most important question we can ask is not, “What do we do now?”  but “What is God doing now?”

The last few weeks, actually the last few months for Lynn and I have contained some of our most difficult moments…but in all of our wrestling with decisions and with God, the one thing I know is that God has been drawing our eyes to him.  I invite you to look in the same direction.  Over the course of the next few days, I will share a few more thoughts connected to the seven realities of experiencing God in our valley, but this is where it starts.  Our eyes are on you God.

A jury of his peers — who listened to and deliberated about the evidence — convicted him of 45 counts of child sexual abuse.  An adopted son has added his name to the list of victims.  A few people still declare his innocence, and though I don’t have God’s knowledge of what he did, the evidence seems overwhelming.  His conviction led to a plethora of the usual comments.  “I hope God has reserved a special corner of hell for Sandusky.” “I hope Sandusky stays alive long enough to get raped in prison.” He’s been described as beyond redemption, a calculating predator, a monster, and evil incarnate.

I wish it was that simple.

I wish I could put Mr. Sandusky in a box and dismiss him as an aberration of evil.

I wish it was that simple.

Because that way I could unleash my judgement and feel good about my anger. I could imagine what I would have done to him if I found him with my son.  I could feel good about the fact that I am so unlike him.  But the grace of Christ messes everything up.  The outraged Christian in me wants justice to prevail, but the Christ in me has a broken heart.

My heart is broken for the victims and their families…and my heart is also broken for Jerry and all the people who love him.  I hate the brokenness that sexual abuse brings into a life, but I am convinced that while justice should prevail only grace heals. The lawsuit money won’t heal.  A confession won’t heal.  But grace runs deep.

And listen, the grace that runs deep, the grace that heals is a messy grace.  It messes up my boxes and simple judgments.  If I believe in the theological concept of grace, then I am just as deeply in need of grace, as Jerry Sandusky; and just as desperately unworthy of grace as Jerry Sandusky.  Jesus didn’t die on the cross because I needed a little bit of grace; I was desperately in need of grace.  When Jesus said “It is finished” while hanging on the cross, he was announcing to his Father that the work of redemption was now complete, and that redemption plan includes Mr. Sandusky, if he calls out for the forgiveness and grace of God.  Some of us can’t imagine and don’t want grace to cross that line.

We all have lines.  It makes life easier.  If someone crosses the line, we can dismiss them and regardless of where we draw our lines, we all would agree that the sexual abuse of children is on the other side of every line that has ever been drawn.  But the grace of Christ crosses every imaginable line.  That kind of grace is beyond our comfort-zones.

Here’s the deal. If we want to live in a community that is saturated with the grace of God, we need to pray that God’s grace will overwhelm all the lines and all the mess and all the brokenness.   We need to pray that Sandusky will experience the same healing grace that all the victims of sexual abuse in our community need to experience.  I’m not talking about a cheap grace that is like a “get out of jail free” card.  I’m talking about the costly grace that requires repentance and is funded by the self-surrendered torture and death of Jesus.

If the gospel that we proclaim is real then we need grace as desperately as he needs grace.  If the gospel that we proclaim is real then grace is available for him, just as it is for us.  Do you remember what Mr. Sandusky said when he met with the mother of victim number 1?  He told her that he had done wrong and he said, “I know that you will never forgive me…I wish I were dead.”

Jesus says, “I will forgive you, that’s why I died.”

And then as we receive grace, Jesus calls us to extend grace.  We want Calvary to be a safe place for people to heal and grow.  We want Calvary to be a safe place for victims of child sexual abuse.  But we won’t be…if we can’t give grace…to ALL those who are desperately need it.