The Sacred Journey. Christopher D Surber

       Print ISBNs:

       ISBN10: 1-893729-85-0

       ISBN13: 978-1-893729-85-8

       Library of Congress Control Number: 2010940785

       Energion Publications P. O. Box 841

       Gonzalez, FL 32560

       (850) 525-3916

       energionpubs.com

      This work is for my fellow sojourners at First Congregational Church Peru, Illinois

      I count it pure delight to share the pilgrimage of faith in Christ with you!

      Foreword

      Any journey that is to be undertaken requires choices whether the destination is to the nearest grocery store or on the other side of the globe. As Christians, however, we can embark on a sacred journey; it is that believer’s pilgrimage that Pastor Chris Surber has so eloquently described through his reflections on our Lord’s beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10).

      The reader will re-discover the totality of God’s mercy, find reassurance in the totality of Christ’s compassion and be humbled by God’s unlimited grace. As Pastor Surber wrote, “...we are all broken. Recognition of this reality helps us to love, and not judge, one another. [It is] only when we recognize how deep our need is that we will know how vast is His love!” (p. 66). Be blessed by the journey you are about to undertake!

       Karl W. Fivek, EdD

       Peru, Illinois

      Introduction

      I once purchased a house in Tarpon Springs, Florida that prompted a fellow pastor to say of me that I was the kind of person who is willing to take something in shambles and rebuild it. As I immersed myself in the renovation of that old house his words rang more true than either of us could have known that day. The house had been recently remodeled inside but the outside property had much work left to be done. In Florida if a yard is left unkempt for more than about seven and half minutes it begins to turn into a suburban jungle!

      For several months I worked the yard, removed bushes, planted healthy vegetation, installed stone, removed rock, painted decks, cleaned the pool area, and generally transformed the appearance of that once shabby abandoned jungle-yard into a lovely outdoor area. One scorching Florida summer afternoon I was in the front of the yard using an electric weed whacker to clean out some vines. While working I heard some kind of low growling sound. I turned off the tool and look behind me.

      Apparently the pit-bull who was growling at me and showing his teeth was not fond of the sound of my gardening equipment! I have often wondered if I disturbed a lazy afternoon dog nap because he was so incredibly unhappy with me. I laid down my tool and extended my heavy leather glove covered hands in an effort to sooth the animal. This only prompted him to spring at me, stopping just short of my hands and baring his formidable teeth. With my heart leaping out of my chest, I began walking slowly backwards toward the back door of my house.

      I was all the way on the front of my very rectangular property. The front door was locked so I knew that I had to make it all the way around to the back. Every few feet the dog would lunge at me and I would yell loudly. This would confuse him just enough to buy me a few more steps. It took me probably not more than a few minutes to make the walk around my property and into the back door of the house but it felt like a lifetime. After I was inside of the house I cracked the door to see if the dog was still on the back porch. When I opened the door he charged at the opening as if to get inside the house. I called the police who quickly dispatched a patrolman.

      The police officer was able to “apprehend the suspect” by opening both of the back doors of his portal car, walking around the car while being pursued by the dog until the dog and he were eye to eye through the opened back doors of his car. He slapped the seat and the dog leapt into the backseat in attempt to get at the police officer. He quickly slammed the door and ran to the other side of the car to shut that door as well. The dog was taken away. I have never in my life seen anything more aggressive than that dog on that day.

      I have never witnessed anything more determined, more insistent, more violent, or more singly focused on its target than that animal, that is with the exception of the radical love with which God pursues His creation! God in Jesus Christ was determined to make a way for sinners to be forgiven at the Cross. While man had sinned and caused a divide between himself and His creator, God has insisted that those who receive the grace and mercy offered in His Son shall be forgiven of sin and reconciled unto God in eternally secure love.

      The violence of the love of God is shocking when we consider the brutality of the Cross. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). The radical compassion of God is as compelling when we consider the wonder of the mercy of God. According to His perfectly just nature God demanded payment for sin. According to His perfectly loving nature He paid for our sin by sacrificing His own perfect Son.

      God in salvation is singly focused on reconciling all who will place their trust, their faith, and their hope in that sacrifice. It is not we who make our way to God through good works, right belief, perfectly ordered creedal statements, or any other edifice of human composition. It is God who pursues us heatedly to receive the radical beauty of the violence of the Cross! “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” (II Corinthians 12:9).

      God has pursued, forgiven, and reconciled us unto Himself. Through the wrath which was poured out upon Jesus, mercy was poured out on us. Salvation is purely the work of God’s mercy and grace. We who have received Him have done so by faith when we have responded to the pull of God on our hearts. Grace rests upon us because God has loved us. What, in response to such a violent grace, should our reply to God be?

      In what follows I have offered a collection of insights, thoughts, and personal experiences centered on and emanating from the Beatitudes of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes offer a uniquely concise and complete understanding of the way of Jesus and the teaching of the Bible. Preaching and teaching them has had a profound impact on the shaping of my understanding of the sacred journey, the pilgrimage of knowing God in this life. The Christian life is not a onetime affirmation of any specific creed or faith statement.

      The Christian life is a pilgrimage of encountering Christ as He is revealed in the pages of the Bible. The Christian life is about strapping on your sandals, picking up your walking stick, and following after the master of mercy – Jesus Christ! In the grip of His grace…

       Pastor Chris Surber