I’m just the girl with quips and quirks for your entertainment who may or may not add to your recipe box from time to time. Lyrics from songs which make up the soundtrack to my life grace the lines of so many things I write, and this is no different, in that regard.
I don’t have a recipe for you today. I don’t have a story about my kids, or my grandma, or a holiday party. This time I want to talk about lyrics and love and life.
Today, I am thinking on a song from several years ago, and it starts out saying, “who here among us has not been broken? Who here among us is without guilt or shame?” The song goes on and talks about how we are never abandoned, or orphaned, by God as a result of our behavior.
This is good news, friends! I, for one, desperately need that security. Even my most basic, mundane days are clouded by my own sin and failure. And so are yours.
I am brought to my knees in humility and in prayer with the recent events surrounding a man who is a hero in the faith to me. Many of us have heard, at this point, about the resignation of Pastor Tullian Tchividjian from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida. Many are citing “moral failure” and “the fall.” There is no disagreement from me. He failed to meet the standard of God’s law. He has fallen. He has sinned against God and broken vows to his spouse. And so have I, and one way or another, so have each of us.
Just days before the news of Pastor Tullian’s resignation broke, I was listening to a sermon of his (which I do regularly), and I wrote these thoughts down:
“We are foolish to believe that our biggest failures may not be just ahead of us”
“None of us would deny that we all fall short of the glory of God, but we often try to measure (compare) the distance of our falling short against hers… or his….”
“Those who know how bad they need grace are the best teachers of grace”
The news didn’t make those words less true. They resonate even more in light of the very public fall, shame, valley, failure, sin, hurt, disappointment, loss – which the Tchividjian family is facing right now.
I ask; I beg you, pray for them. Pray for Kim and for Tullian. Pray for their kids. Pray for their parents. Pray for their congregation. Pray for them what you would pray for yourselves, for your kids, for your parents, for your congregation: that there will be repentance, healing, grace upon grace, restoration and love.
We may have all the answers to all of the questions in life, and we may have all the wisdom in all the world (which clearly suggests that we would never commit such a grievous sin that would have nailed Jesus to the cross). We may understand science and mysteries of the universe, but if we do not love, what do we offer? If we are spending time praying for the Tchividjians (and others, of course) we have fewer moments in our day for angrily discussing the complete moral failure of Church leaders.
Coming through some serious broken places in my own world, I can tell you that people are mean. Christians can be judgmental and hurtful. I know because I am one – and I know some (lots). We can do better than that. We MUST do better than that.
I sing songs every day about the wonderful way that Christ is near to the broken. I lift my hands in praise to the One who controls the wind and the rain of the storms in my life. I thank the Father for bruising the Son; for the blood that flowed and covered my sin.
I want to be patient in times of trial, though I confess, I am not. I am humbled and tearful in the presence of a perfect Savior – I am thankful that He is all of those things for me, and for you, and for Tullian and for Kim and for all of us just like them.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ abundantly fill our hearts and minds, and may we know the power of His love in our lives. And may that same grace be evident in the way we respond in times of disappointment and failure.