Lent #25 (Wednesday, April 2)

Revelation 22:12-16

We were simply going to dinner with a whole group of friends. We meet at the restaurant, find our places at the table, order our drinks and settle in for what looks to be an adventurous meal. You see, the restaurant was Mayan as we were in Panajachel, Guatemala and our host, Miguel, was gracious and a little different. (in a good way!)

Then the music started.

Marimbas, built in the traditional style and played by 3 young women (2 of them Miguel's daughters), began echoing their rich tones and catchy tunes. Miguel then began the story of the Mayan people. The tale was entertaining as the smells from the kitchen wafted over us making us even hungrier after a hard day of work at the school. Then we moved.

Miguel "invited" us to leave our seats and enter a small alcove of the restaurant where a large flat top griddle was heating and a young Mayan girl was rolling and patting the corn paste into perfect little circles that were carefully placed on the griddle to cook. Even the Tortillas have a story it seems.

Then it was put into our hands!

After a short demonstration, we were expected to make a tortilla of our own, mimicking our teacher's as closely as possible. (Now it is true that some were more successful than others. Some ended up nearly perfectly round, others not so much. Some were too thin or too thick and some even ended up on the ground before they made it to the griddle!) But what was going through all of our minds in that moment was simple and a concern...

"Are we going to eat these?"

I will say that the tortillas we were served later were all perfectly shaped, so I'm positive that our tortillas were only for the show and the contest! But it did remind me of something important to my own spiritual life, my own salvation...I've got to be involved.

Fortunately we didn't have to make our own dinner that night (or why would we go to a restaurant?), but participating in that way made us respect and appreciate the meal that much more.

The same is true in our own salvation. Jesus has done the hardest work and now expects us to "help out" in the process. Too often when we hear salvation is "free" and that Christ's work on the cross was to redeem his people, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son..." we forget that there's a key part we also have to play. It's the practice of continual repenting (turning our lives toward God), abiding in Christ (presence), sharing our life with Christ (prayer) and then sharing in this life in community (witness and serving).

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." (Rev. 22:14 NIV)

Washing robes and making tortillas. It's our part of the transaction, the process, the journey within the kingdom of God...that takes us into the City of God. It's about doing what is necessary to stay on the journey with Christ because our salvation is not passive.

And when we drop our piece of dough on the floor, we start over until we get it right...

...and then keep making tortillas.

Prayer: Lord, help me do today what I need to do to remain in your blessing in this life and in the life to come. Amen.

Peace ><>
Pastor Chris