Last week Pastor Dorry introduced our study on the Book of Romans and told you that it was my idea…that I love the book of Romans.  And she was right..I do!  She also reminded us that Paul has some tough things to say and that he can come across as challenging and maybe even argumentative.  And I agree.  But I love a good conversation- even a hard one!.  In my Thoughtful Thursday this week, I talked about how my connection to God comes through my intellect.  I love to read, to learn, to ponder, to imagine.  I love to challenge my old beliefs and try to see things in a new way.  Paul’s letter to the Romans does all those things for me.  And he does that in a way that respects the tension between the free and unmerited grace of God and our human inclination toward sin.Yup… I said the word…sin.  We don’t always like to talk about that, but we will see today that it is a part of our lives…it might make us uncomfortable and we might try to minimize it , but I think we have to hold on, and see what we learn.I have always had a passion for wanting to find and practice ways of  taking the message of Sunday morning (in the pew, or now from your couch) and use it on Wednesday when we are at work in the cubicle or the classroom or in line at the grocery store…how does our worship, our praising, our learning impact our everyday life?  How do I make my faith a way of life and not just an exercise on Sunday morning?One of the things I like about Paul, and especially this letter to Romans, is that he really just says what he wants us to hear…no sugar coating.  He preaches the Good News of Jesus Christ and the love of God with passion, he wildly encourages people, but he also speaks the truth- which is sometimes not easy to hear.  Sometimes the truth is hard and makes us face our lives, how we live, how we love, how we treat others, and how we treat ourselves. Maybe Paul is hard to hear because it is so true for us.  Maybe we get a little angry at Paul because he plucks a nerve in us.  Maybe he holds up a mirror that we don’t want to look in. For me, Romans, above any other book in the Bible, helps me to build the bridge and see the connection between the promises of God and the reality of the world in which I live.I think today’s scripture is a perfect example of how Paul combines the Good News of the gospel and the bad news of how we as humans struggle with consistently relying on the grace of God. Paul uses some really strong words in this passage we read today, doesn’t he?  When I read it, I hear some attitude, some disappointment, some frustration.  Paul writes “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them…so they are without excuse. For though they know God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but became futile in their thinking.  They claimed to be wise, they became fools.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.   It is so easy to say, “Look at THOSE people”.  Of course they are under the wrath of God. They knew God, but did not honor or thank him. They thought they knew everything. They put God to the side and made other things more important!Come on, I cannot be the only one who has thought, or maybe even said something like ““well at least I am not like that”.  “I come to church, I pray, I give my offerings, I read my Bible, I love God. Whew!” I can’t help but remember the parable that Jesus tells us about the Pharisee and the tax collector.  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’  Jesus says, “I tell you that this man (the tax collector), rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” God, have mercy on me, a sinner… An important part of our time in worship is the time of confession.  We frequently pray this prayer… Merciful God,we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.We have failed to be an obedient church.We have not done your will,we have broken your law,we have rebelled against your love,we have not loved our neighbors,and we have not heard the cry of the needy.Forgive us, we pray.Free us for joyful obedience,through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. When we say those words, we too are saying, God have mercy on me, a sinner.  We are saying that we too are the people Paul describes in his letter to Romans. OUCH!We sing songs like Amazing Grace- Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see…The key is recognizing ourselves as sinners, as people who get misaligned with God, who distort the relationship, who put our energy in the wrong places. Paul’s words hold up a mirror and we don’t like what we see. Maybe Paul’s words sting because we know what is in our own heads. We know the greatest commandment- love God, love your neighbor and love yourself.  But, we are not so good at that a lot of the time.  Paul reminds us of our humanness- of our tendency toward sin.I don’t think Paul means to shame, however.  He doesn’t want us to get bogged down or discouraged. No, Paul never leaves it there!  Paul never says we are a lost cause. Paul tells us what the problem looks like- what the sin looks like. He challenges us to sift or dig through his strong words and see ourselves. He challenges us not to see his words as those that describe other people! But, Paul is equally clear about the solution- that grace is what stands us up straight- justifies us with God-  lines us up- puts us in line with God- makes us righteous- right with God.  We cannot do any of this on our own.  It’s the power of God that saves us from our sinful ways!James Moore is a UMC pastor in Texas and an author.  He tells a story of when he was a young seminary student working as a janitor to make money for tuition. He didn’t have any prior cleaning experience, but was lucky enough to have a supervisor who helped him learn what he needed to know.  The supervisor would ask him “what do you see?”  “You can’t fix the problem if you don’t see the problem…One day young James was getting ready to wax the floor of a classroom.  He prepared the floor, spread the wax perfectly and moved to the buffing stage.  The buffer wouldn’t turn on, in fact it wouldn’t do anything, he said.  He got frustrated.  Just then his supervisor walked by and asked him what the problem was.  The buffer doesn’t work.  His wise and experienced supervisor said, “I have been doing this work for a long time and I learned long ago that the buffer works best if it’s plugged into the power source.” Maybe that is what Paul means when he says, For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. We know about the outlet in the wall- we know its purpose.  The problem is that we are not plugged in- not connected to the power source.  Paul tells us that anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ can access this power. Faith allows us to trust even what we cannot see.  We plug the cord into the outlet and the buffer works…Faith plugs us into God’s power! Faith shows us how to trust in God’s goodness, faith allows us to trust in God’s promises, faith lets us trust that the power of God is available not just to us, but to everyone!  Just a few weeks ago we celebrated Pentecost where we heard that the power of God landed on people from a long list of areas and regions- Jews and non-Jews alike. This is the cycle of our lives as Christians, isn’t it?  We draw close to God in worship, in prayer, in reading scripture.  We draw close to God in our experiences at the table of Holy Communion.  Our faith is fired up and alive, we are aligned with God, we are righteous, we are plugged in…but our humanness quickly is revealed- we say something unkind or think something judgemental, we miss opportunities to serve others, we forget to honor or thank God, we make other things more important than God.  We get unplugged from the power source. The Holy Spirit helps us recognize our disconnection, our sin, our faults, our pain points.  And it is our faith that gives us the confidence to plug back in.  When we are re-connected to God, we are justified- lined up, made righteous, in right relationship with God. And the cycle continues…          So, I see that we have a choice.  We have been given a gift- a gift of grace.  Not because we earned it, not because of anything we did, or said or thought.  God knows our tendencies toward sin.  God knows that under our own power we are slaves to sin.  This gift of grace is given out of the pure love of God for each one of us. We can choose to accept this gift- we can choose to see the outlet in the wall and choose to plug in.  We can choose to believe that this gift has the power to overcome sin, to forgive us, to save us and to make us right with God. This choice is faith! We can choose faith to be our way of life!  We can choose to trust that despite what we have done or thought, that despite how often we try to take the power back from God, God’s gift is right there, in plain sight!  It is by faith we are made righteous, it is by the power of God we are saved.The author of the book of Hebrews tells this beautiful story of faith and grace, faith and salvation, faith and power.  In Chapter 11, we read the Wall of Faith.  Starting with Abel and moving through the story of God’s people, we read By faith, Abel gave a sacrifice to God…By faith Noah built an ark….By faith, Abraham left his homeland…By faith, Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice…By faith, Moses’ mother hid him in the reeds…By faith Moses led the Isaelites out of Egypt….By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea, By faith by faith, by faith… I want my story to start that way, I want each day to start that way…By faith, Karen was able to see herself as God does…what does your story say?…by Faith…insert your name here…As a church we can say together, by faith, Lima UMC will work to fight for equality and call out injustice, will strive to be a good neighbor, …as a people of God, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can say together, by faith we go into this world together to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Let’s make faith our way of life!           To God be the Glory. Amen.