Do or Done

One of my favorite hymns is one that a lot of people don’t care for, but it’s usually only sung once a year so I make the most of it with gusto. Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” is particularly rousing when sung with a lot of male voices, as it was at my grandfather the Rev. Dr. Herbert J.A. Bouman’s funeral in 1981. I don’t choke up as much as I used to, but the hymn never fails to make me think of him.

I like the observance of The Reformation of the Church, which falls on the last Sunday in October. It can be a majestic worship service, especially if the parish is lucky enough to have a pipe organ and a skilled organist. This past Sunday one of our two pastors preached on Sola Fide (Faith Alone), which Luther felt was the doctrine by which the Church will fall or stand. I really enjoy Pastor Rick’s messages as he has a style and sense of humor that reminds me very much of my father and grandfather. Pastor Rick has a gentle “tell it like it is” approach that provokes thought even while making you squirm. I usually get a lot of notes from his homilies and this Sunday was no different. 

I want to share some of his points because I care about you, the reader of this blog. (Disclosure: If you don’t believe there’s a heaven and a hell and that you’ll be in one place or the other eventually, then you probably don’t need to bother reading further.)

Did you know that basically we human beings are “good works” people? Despite what seems to be a lot of bad news and evil in the world, most people prefer to try to treat others fairly, with kindness, and to be helpful. Unfortunately, all those good works can’t save us.

Good works cannot save us because:

* Good works can’t cancel our sin, but sin will ruin our good works. Rottenness ruins goodness every time. Any farmer will tell you about that one bad apple…

* God doesn’t grade on the curve. He demands absolute perfection. Because our sins are so many, no amount of good works will cancel that sin to make us perfect in God’s sight. Let’s say we each only commit three sins a day and live to 75. That’s over 82,000 sins per person jotted down in the Book of Life. We could, perhaps, try to cancel that liability with an equivalent of three good works every day but a) we already know we sin much more than three times a day and b) it’s far harder to consciously do a good work than it is to commit a sin.

* We can never be good enough long enough. It’s physically and mentally impossible to never, ever think, say or do something mean or wrong. Refer back to the point above.

* We can never be sure we’ve done enough or are good enough. Because God’s holiness is the standard, we will always fall short of meeting it. Because we’re human.

* We wouldn’t have needed Jesus to die on the cross. Salvation is either won all by Jesus or all by ourselves, there is no in-between. Refer back to points one through four if you think you can do it by yourself.

So, are you pretty depressed right now? Or have you simply rolled your eyes and thought “your truth is not my truth, Kate”?

The good news…no, the Good News… is that our salvation is completely outside of our doing. As Pastor Rick said, “we’re going to heaven on the back of a crucified man.” Christ’s suffering and death, and resurrection, changed our F grade to an A grade forever. When Martin Luther realized this, it became a game changer for him. He was so passionate about sharing this news that he posted a list of 95 statements on the cathedral doors in Wittenburg, Germany on All Hallows’ Eve to let people know that they didn’t need to buy their way into heaven.

Sidebar: There is a published thought about why Luther chose to make the posting on October 31^st. He did so for maximum exposure when crowds would come to the city to worship and observe All Saints Day the next day and to purchase indulgences from the church to guarantee a place in heaven.

Anyway, one last take-away from Sunday’s sermon. The difference between religion and Christianity is just two letters. Religion is D-O – things we think we have to do to be saved. But Christianity is D-O-N-E – salvation is based on what was already done for us. We just have to believe and trust in what Jesus did for us.

God is fully satisfied with what Jesus has done for us, even if we doubt. When we believe, He takes us just the way we are – washed clean by Jesus’ blood – and given an A. It’s that simple.

My Energizer Bunny

On the recommendation of a friend, another boater here at the marina, I just finished reading a "self-help" book called Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy--Until You're 80 and Beyond. It's co-authored by a former lawyer (now in his 70s) and his forty-something internist. The primary premise is that exercise -- daily exercise -- will help reverse the decay of aging. There are a lot of common sense statements about nutrition, work/play balance and social life that are boiled down to seven "rules":

1. Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life.
2. Do serious aerobic exercise (at least 45 minutes) four days a week for the rest of your life.
3. Do serious strength training, with weights, two days a week for the rest of your life.
4. Spend less than you make.
5. Quit eating crap!
6. Care.
7. Connect and commit.

The authors also prescribe a heavy dose of having fun, in work or play, and it occurred to me that my husband has found a retirement lifestyle that does both. Many post-retirement 66-year-old men (and women) might feel they've earned a life of leisure at this point. Not Bill! Who else looks forward to hot, sweaty, manual labor day after day at that age? Other than the occasional cuts, scrapes and bruises (well, okay, almost daily), his job as marina handyman has been good for him physically and mentally. He's lost quite a bit of weight, has a terrifically positive outlook, and has made some good friends.

Here's a little gallery of some of his projects:

Powerwashing all the docks, slip fingers and sidewalks on the property.

Painting all the wood around the clubhouse.

Preparing the site for and constructing the garbage corral for the more distant docks.

Constructing this roofed pergola also for the more distant docks.

Foundation for the new bicycle corral.
Bill removed all the shrubs and bark mulch, leveled the plot with a screed, and added sand prior to putting in the paving blocks.

The finished corral, very much appreciated!

Along for the Ride

It’s been a while since I’ve felt inspired to blog. I suppose part of the reason is the time I’m spending coming to grips with a sudden lack of full-time employment and adjusting to a slower pace by filling my time with morning walks. I’ve been very fortunate to find freelance work reporting for our local community newspaper and the assignments have been varied, from sports (sailing, tennis, gymnastics and running) to hair salons, home décor trunk shows and adoptions. My first bylined article ran in October (along with a business profile and two photo ops) and the typo under my name in the article is not mine!

Whee! Whee-whee-whee! This weekend I had a little passenger on my car, who hitched a ride on the windshield wipers from the marina to the grocery store to the bank and back to the marina. At each stop the tiny lizard would peer up over the wiper, look around and decide “Nope, not home!” 

After over an hour of patiently waiting as I ran my errands, this little guy hopped off once safely back at the marina.

Sometimes in life we’re just along for the ride; other times we get to steer the course. At a time when most people would be looking forward to retirement I feel like I can finally take the wheel. I’m hoping to parlay this freelance business (Pure Grace Consulting) into enough work that I won’t have to let another company again do the driving. Last night at a party at our marina office manager’s home I met a woman who will be helpful in getting me contacts for editing and proofing work for Ph.D. candidates.

In the meantime, I'm letting go ... and letting God!