I had the privilege recently to offer the opening devotion and prayer for the Georgia House of Representatives. This is the message that I delivered on the morning of February 12, 2008.
A Georgia State Patrol officer sat entrenched in the bushes beside Interstate 75 one day near Valdosta. He had had a particularly frustrating day because everyone seemed to be obeying the speed limit. He waited for hour after hour but nobody seemed to be pushing the envelope at all today. Resigning himself to that fact that he would not meet his quota for the day, he began to pack up his things to go home when there it came. A beautiful red sportscar went zooming by. He clocked him going 93 in a 70 mile an hour zone. Finally, his moment had come.
He pulled the car over and walked up to the driver and asked for the man’s license and registration. The driver handily complied with his request. The State Patrol officer said to the man, “I want you to know that I have waited all day for you.” The driver responded, “well, I got here as fast as I could.”
Someone once said to me that if you want to know what a preacher is struggling with in their own life, listen to their sermons. Well, I just recently made a contribution to the county treasury by way of the traffic court division in Echols county and so the rhetoric of the by-the-road traffic stop is on my mind.
But like any good pastor, I don’t want to let a good life experience pass me by without making a sermon out of it.
If you’ll allow me this morning, I want to take the sacred opportunity you have given me to pull you over from the highway of life for just a moment. I want to ask you the historic question that has been handed down through the decades. Can I see your license and registration?
First of all, I want you to know that I learned what you made clear to me from my basic driver’s education that although we are all endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, that is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the “right” to drive is not one of them. It is a privilege. It is a privilege granted to me frankly by you all, the government of this fine state. It is a privilege that comes with responsibility.
So I ask you this, who has given you your “living license”? Who has given you the chance to act and live the way you do? Who trained you on what the rules of the road are? You see, the only reason we don’t have any more accidents on Georgia highways than we do is because we all covenant together to obey the rules of the road. When we accept that license, we are implicitly and explicitly acknowledging that we will obey the rules.
That is how it should be in life, and particularly for persons of faith. We are to hold one another accountable for living by the same rules. Our common life together works best when we all follow the rules together. When we remember to…
Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength
Love our neighbor as ourselves
Do unto others as we would have them do unto us
Do no harm and to do good
In the church we understand ourselves to be all of one body. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:26 that when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer along with it. When one member of the body is honored, we all rejoice together in it. Whatever we do as Christians, we are in it together. Whatever you do as legislators, you are in it together. You also have a set of rules by which you guide your discussions and deliberations. Everything just works better when everyone follows the rules.
You and I both know some folks who think the rules are different for them. Some think they deserve a pass because for one reason or another, they don’t believe that the rules apply to them. I suppose I didn’t think that the speed limit in Echols County mattered all that much on an otherwise average January afternoon. However, I was wrong. The church is hurt badly when people live outside of the covenant. Your body, your reputation as a whole is hurt badly when individuals do not live within the covenant that you have created for yourselves.
It doesn’t take very long in Atlanta traffic to realize that you aren’t driving alone. Well, Christianity is not and never has been an individual endeavor. We receive our “living license” from all of those who have taught us the rules of the road and when we don’t follow the same rules, we have accidents - arguments, broken relationships, anger, and bitterness are just some of the accident sites.
The second thing I want to see is your registration. You have all heard the expression that “possession” is 9/10 of the law. So, I ask you this morning– who are you registered to? And no, I don’t want to know whether you are a democrat or a republican. I want to know who you belong to.
You see, just as your vehicle is registered to you as an owner, you are registered to someone. Do you belong to your spouse? Perhaps you have a sense of belonging with your parents. As elected officials, I would sincerely hope that you have a sense of “belonging” to your electorate. Some of us sometimes belong to our calendars and are ruled by them. Others of us belong to our checking accounts and to our desire to fill our pockets with more money and material possessions. But everyone is registered to somebody. All of us belong to someone or something.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a real sense that the United States of America is in a bit of an identity crisis. The rhetoric of partisan politics is in my ears at least, useless noise, aggravating an already unsettled populace. I confess to you that I am a part of a generation who has not had to make any significant sacrifice for the freedom that we all enjoy and take for granted. In the absence of real hardship like those of the past suffered in depressions and in war, we need to take a moment and examine ourselves from time to time to see who we are, where we are going, and directions on how to get there. We need to ask ourselves the important questions – who gives us the privilege of life? To whom do we truly belong?
I got my living license from two wonderful parents who, despite their imperfections, instilled in me a love for God and neighbor that I have never forsaken. They brought me up in the Christian faith in such a way that I cannot remember a time when I did not believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I had countless friends and role models down in Norman Park, Georgia who encouraged me along the way. One of the most important things I am learning as I get older is that most all of my accomplishments, however meager, have come at the hands of encouraging friends and relatives in the family of God surrounding me with love and support. Wherever I have needed it, the church has been there for me. It is probably true that my wife, Lisa, has been a greater representative of God’s grace and forgiveness in my life than any others I can think of. When I have struggled to drive on in life’s difficult times, she has always been there. You have these people in your life, I hope – people who help to keep you awake on the road when you are sleepy – people who will say to you the things that you really need to hear in order to live a life worthy of God’s calling on it. I have been blessed and I pray that God has blessed and will bless you with friends and family who will keep you on track.
The final thing I want to say to you today is that I am registered to the kingdom of God to be used as needed. I echo in my heart often the covenant prayer that Wesley often used, “put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee.” You see, I don’t belong to the United Methodist Church. I don’t belong to the state of Georgia or even to the United States of America. I belong to God. You see, God tells us that we can live in covenant together with him – that we can be His people and that he will be our God. So yes, I belong to God. God belongs to me. The old gospel song refrain tells this well –
Now I belong to Jesus
Jesus belongs to me
Not for the years of time alone
But for eternity
You have been so gracious as to allow me to be your “traffic cop” on the roadside of life today. As you look at your life “documents” what do you find? Whose rules are you playing by? To whom do you belong? I pray that we will all allow the wisdom of almighty God to guide our path and to set the rules. I also pray that you will find yourself registered to the creator of heaven and earth and to the savior that was offered as a sacrifice for your and my sins.
So by now you must be asking – am I going to give you a ticket? No. I will let you off with a warning. I want you to continue now on your day, but slow it down a bit and drive carefully. It’s dangerous out there. You can easily get lost or speed out of control. Rely on God to get you there in His time.
Let us pray.
Gracious Lord,
This body of legislators is about to begin another day at work for the citizens of the state of Georgia. They have been endowed with a sacred trust within this wonderful democracy in which we live and for which people have died. They have honored you this day with this sacred moment, so be glorified in their work for this great land today. Lead them forward in courage and boldness to rise above and beyond the calling of their duty. Help them realize, Lord, that together, they are more than the sum of their individual parts. Encourage them in their work, Lord, and bring them to the close of this day having fruitfully labored in the fields of democracy. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.
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