from Ron Rose
June 23, 2008

Preparation

Let’s call him Starbuck’s Larry. We met at 6:30 am on Sundays for five years; the coffee was hot and tasty, but the conversations were rich and rewarding.

Our talks were a prelude to church; After a couple hours I would go on to preach and Larry would go across town to the church that did everything exactly the way they had done it for as long as Larry could remember.

There he knew exactly what to expect.

That’s the way it was till the Sunday Larry’s emptiness poured out, “OK, something’s messed up. I go to church every Sunday, I read the Bible. I pray at every meal. I give my 10% to the church. I don’t cuss. I try to treat other people fairly. I’m faithful to my wife. But, something’s missing. I feel like it’s all a game… surface stuff. I’m going through the motions of faith without any passion within. Frankly, I’m tired of keeping up the image. I’m tired of faking it.”

Larry’s spiritual condition had left him disillusioned and exhausted, far from being energized and empowered. It seemed to him that his faith was a burden to carry, one that produced more misery than joy…all form, no substance.

He was tired of never being good enough, even though he could teach the truth of grace and acceptance to others, he had never experienced it down deep; so his confession was the first step into the deep.

Some of us have learned to define and describe grace and love and acceptance and forgiveness, but we have not yet discovered how to be grace and love and acceptance and forgiveness. We can’t get beyond the words.

Stay with me here… The answer is not… “Try harder.” Nor is the answer found in more study, or more prayer time.

The answer is solitude and silence.

Like Elijah, Larry needed to hear the voice of God-- to EXPERIENCE his presence. When he did, he found something that consumed him… a new mission that invigorated him—an adventure that challenged him and humbled him. He found what was missing.

Inspiration

There is a powerful message in Babette’s Feast. The short film is set in a barren stretch of Denmark. Martina and Philippa are the daughters of an austere, fundamentalist clergyman who preached grace on Sunday but demanded a life of self-denial, and good deeds during the week. Guilt haunted the group; they could never do enough.

The rigid preacher had a dominant hold on his daughters and the small group of disciples that lasted long after his death. Each week the little group gathered for worship and to continue his teachings.

Things began to change the day a stranger came ashore and the sisters agreed to take her in as a permanent houseguest. Her name was Babette, a refugee from France where she has been a chef in a classy Paris restaurant. Even with a live-in chef these two sisters continued to advocate the notion that any pleasure is strictly forbidden and is anathema to true spirituality.

For fourteen years Babette gradually introduced this austere twosome to the world of taste.

Then, unexpectedly a letter arrived for Babette. She had won the Lottery in France (10,000 Francs). Babette asked the sisters if she could prepare a special dinner in honor of their father, a real French dinner for the little flock. And, the sisters reluctantly accepted.

But just before the special evening the sisters and the church members secretly agreed they would eat the food, but they would not enjoy it, or praise it. They would eat it in silence.

Babette’s gift was more than food; she cooked her magnum opus flavored with sacrifice and love. In the end, the stern old puritans were seduced by the food and drink that cost them nothing. Friendships were restored, resentments healed, and joy received. That night impossible things happened. They didn’t talk about the food, but they experienced the power of grace.

Soon after dinner Babette told the sisters the cost of their elaborate meal… shocking--it cost everything (10,000 Francs). She had prepared her masterpiece, and that was enough. In her words, “Artists are never poor.”

The little legalistic church didn’t earn it; they barely possessed the good sense to accept it. Grace came that night free of charge, no strings attached, just like it always does.

And it leaves the joy of life in its path… always!

Motivation

Listen very carefully… get out of the clouds, out of the Book and into being grace and love and acceptance and forgiveness.

Missing something? Get away and listen for the voice of God. Prepare to be surprised, to be challenged and energized with a fresh mission.

Is this your week for grace?