_{The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.}

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, ―So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

That is God’s plan. His goal in your life is to mold you, shape you, and transform you into His ―glorious image. That is the destination you will arrive at the end of your sanctification. 

What I have been learning is that one of the windows in Scripture we can look through for a glimpse into what that means is John 1:14 (NIV) where Jesus is described as coming with grace and truth.

God became man. The Creator became part of the creation. Jesus Christ did not come to set Himself above us, though He had the right to do so. He lived among us, in the midst of us, as one of us. As Jesus said in Matthew 20:28 (NIV), ―The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

John and the other Apostles saw His glory. His glory was the very glory of God, the glory of the Fa-ther Himself. What was the glory that Jesus exhibited? How did He show that He was from the Fa-ther? John describes His glory as being ―full of grace and truth.

Jesus treated people with grace. Grace compelled Him to humble Himself and spend Himself serv-ing others even when He was seeking rest and solitude. He was as free with forgiveness with tax collectors, prostitutes, and the very people who nailed Him to the cross as He was with His closest disciples. He did not turn away people who were ritualistically unclean, contagiously ill, or pos-sessed by demons. His grace cut through the invisible walls of class, culture, race, and gender. His grace was not intimidated by tradition or position. If the life of Jesus could be captured in a single word grace would be an accurate summary.

As full as Jesus was of God’s grace, He was not any less full of God’s truth. He lived according to the truth. He was righteous and just in all that He did. He kept all the commandments flawlessly. He outright asked people to name one sin He had committed and no one could think of a single one! He not only lived the truth, He taught the truth. He did not hide behind the truth, nor did He hide the truth from view when people opposed Him. He did not apologize for the truth. When standing for the truth was dangerous He was a rock. When people tried to trip Him up, He used the truth to reveal the motives of His opposition. His stance on the truth was not moved by tradition or influenced by those in power. The truth defined who He was, what He said, how He said it, and what He did from the time He could speak to His last words on the cross. Jesus even said of Himself, ―I am the truth.

Becoming like Christ means being full of grace and truth. Full of grace and full of truth. Not some of one and some of the other. Not all one and none of the other. If we are growing into the image of Christ we will be changing into people who are full of grace and truth, because He was full of grace and truth. Make the effort to be pursuing that in your life. You’ll be glad you did. 

Well…we did it. I say “we” for two reasons. Obviously you and sixteen friends from the Wakefield Rotary Club contributed over $2,400 to Sharing, Inc. This gift will, as always, be divided between needy children in Mississippi and the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry (66%-33% respectively).

But, because of a painful condition in my left foot (plantar fasciitis), I was only able to walk three loops. Three of you—Rich Bardet, Bonnie Mercurio, and Pat Weisenbach—walked the other three.

By the way, my sore foot feels much better! Thank you again for your support. Here is a list of my partners:

February 6 was Ash Wednesday and marked the beginning of the Lenten Season. If you forgot that, don't feel too bad. Ash Wednesday is not one of our nationally promoted holidays.

Why do we celebrate Lent anyway? Why do we have a simple soup supper every Ash Wednesday? Have you ever won-dered about that? It is easy to understand celebrating Christ's birth at Christmas and His resurrection at Easter. Good Friday marks Jesus' death on the cross. Pentecost marks the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. These days all mark key events in the life of Christ and the Church. Ash Wednesday marks no event in the life of Christ. Lent marks no particular event in the life of Christ or of the Early Church.

What I have been learning is that the lesson of Lent is to take special time contemplating just how deep and pervasive the cancer of sin is in my life. And along with that, to sit in awe at how powerful and free and deep the grace of God is, that He would send His Son to pay my debt.

The purpose of Lent is not to spend 40 days thinking about what a wretched sinner I am--although that is true! The pur-pose of Lent is to give God glory for His holiness that does not wink or bend in its evaluation of us. It is to give God glory for His justice that would not stop short of collecting all that it required to be perfectly satisfied. It is to give God glory for His mercy that moved Christ to take that debt from us so He could pay it Himself. And to glorify His grace in freely giving us His righteousness that we might not only be forgiven but adopted as sons and daughters of the Father.

So yes, take special time throughout these next seven weeks to remember that you are a sinner, but do so that you can better focus on becoming the man or woman God wants you to be. Yes, remember the horrible price your sin and rebel-lion against God cost Him, but focus on the fact that God thought you were worth the price. You deserve hell, but focus on the fact that you are going to heaven.

Lent reminds us that we need to go down to go up. We need to be honest about the state of our heart. But this only heightens our apprehension of the wonder of grace. So take the time to get honest about yourself and need for Christ. As hard as it may be to believe, you'll be glad you did.

 
As I look out the window, I can see the snow coming down at a pretty good clip. People are coming out to find their car under an inch or two of snow. The streets are wet with snow and cars are hav-ing to slow down to keep in control and keep from slipping and sliding. Some of the people walking by are very unhappy with the snow. As a guy with a bad back, I am not thrilled at the idea of getting a whole lot of snow either. But there are other people who are thrilled with the snowstorm outside. They see the beauty of it. They see the opportunity to play in it, ski on it, build snow men with it. Maybe even get out of school with it. To paraphrase Jesus words in Matthew 5:45, God causes it to snow on the just and unjust alike. Snow is a fact of life living in New England. 

What I have been learning is that the extra work and care that snow brings with it, also comes with a valuable lesson. This time of year brings a whole lot more work and responsibility with it. And I am not really talking about the business I have as a pastor.

The Christmas season brings extra family gatherings, parties with friends, gift shopping-wrapping-and-giving, travel, extra church services, more opportunities to give, more food to buy, cook, and serve, more messes to clean....you get what I mean. Like the people who get caught up in the extra work a snow storm brings, we can be like Martha when it comes to Christmas and get bogged down in the details and work and forget why we are doing it.

Is your attitude about the extra hustle and bustle like that of Martha "all this stuff just slows me down and takes away my time. This is no fun for me." Or is your attitude more like Mary? "Sure it means more work, slowing down, doing more than usual. But there is a joy that this time brings that is hard to find the rest of the year."

Don't let the busyness of the next few weeks keep you from seeing and appreciating the beauty of Christmas, the grace it guarantees, the hope it heralds, and the depth of God's love for you. Take the time to bask in the glory of the snowstorm of grace that Christmas brings to your soul. Get out in it, play in it. Enjoy it. You'll be glad you did.