Middletown United Methodist Church

The importance of congregation, community, and friendship in the Christian life.

We all “lose our keys” at some point or another in our lives. Small but very real reminders that we are not perfect, we make mistakes, and our humanity comes through once again. These small irritations are opportunities for formation, grace, and sanctification. They are a reminder of our small fears, inadequacies, and anxieties -places where we have no placed our trust in God. Our lost keys provide moments of revelation, revealing the lostness inside us and our misplaced reliance. The liturgy of confession that we do in worship is a liturgy that we are invited to each and every day. Confession and repentance are everyday activities that remind us that we are not “pretty good people”, but we are new people marked by grace in spite of ourselves. “The practice of confession and absolution must find its way into the small moments of sinfulness in my day. When it does, the gospel –grace itself –seeps into my day, and these moments are transformed!”

We all “lose our keys” at some point or another in our lives. Small but very real reminders that we are not perfect, we make mistakes, and our humanity comes through once again. These small irritations are opportunities for formation, grace, and sanctification. They are a reminder of our small fears, inadequacies, and anxieties -places where we have no placed our trust in God. Our lost keys provide moments of revelation, revealing the lostness inside us and our misplaced reliance. The liturgy of confession that we do in worship is a liturgy that we are invited to each and every day. Confession and repentance are everyday activities that remind us that we are not “pretty good people”, but we are new people marked by grace in spite of ourselves. “The practice of confession and absolution must find its way into the small moments of sinfulness in my day. When it does, the gospel –grace itself –seeps into my day, and these moments are transformed!”

We all have daily habits and rituals –these things we do without even thinking about them. These sometimes unconscious and second nature things form us into the people we are becoming. We have “liturgies” that we enact throughout our days that reveal what we love and the people are becoming. As people of God, we also have liturgies of worship on Sunday morning. Repetitious things that we do week in and week out that form us.

What did you do first thing this morning when you awoke? Did you yawn and stretch? Did you greet the one lying next to you–maybe your spouse or maybe the dog? Did you think about your day ahead and all you have to do? Whatever you did I bet it is something that you do nearly every day when you wake up. Often, people get so tied up in what they do, that becomes their identity. “I am…” fill in the blank. But, there is something else first we should all remember. It may even become our first thought as we wake up in the morning.Jesus is called “beloved” by God before he’s done anything to prove himself, before he’s resisted temptation, raised Lazarus from the dead, or anything else. When we wake up in the morning without showering, smelly breath and all, we are called Beloved by God. We are baptized and washed by the Spirit, we are new creation before we’ve done anything to prove it. “We are marked from our first waking moment by an identity that is given to us by grave: an identity that is deeper and more real than any other identity we will done that day.”

What did you do first thing this morning when you awoke? Did you yawn and stretch? Did you greet the one lying next to you–maybe your spouse or maybe the dog? Did you think about your day ahead and all you have to do? Whatever you did I bet it is something that you do nearly every day when you wake up. Often, people get so tied up in what they do, that becomes their identity. “I am…” fill in the blank. But, there is something else first we should all remember. It may even become our first thought as we wake up in the morning.Jesus is called “beloved” by God before he’s done anything to prove himself, before he’s resisted temptation, raised Lazarus from the dead, or anything else. When we wake up in the morning without showering, smelly breath and all, we are called Beloved by God. We are baptized and washed by the Spirit, we are new creation before we’ve done anything to prove it. “We are marked from our first waking moment by an identity that is given to us by grave: an identity that is deeper and more real than any other identity we will done that day.”