Lazy Days of Summer?

Where did this phrase come from?  Does anyone experience these anymore?  Some of you know the stereotype.  Mom sitting on a porch swing, sipping lemonade while the kids run around the yard/neighborhood playing games while Fido plays along, nipping at their heals.  Does that still happen?  Not too often, I'm afraid.  Some might long for those days again and even refer to it as the days of Gracious Living.

I think the demise of that era of perceived innocence was air conditioning.  If you think about it, why was mom on the porch swing?  Catching her breath from the oppressive heat of the kitchen or laundry room!  Think about it.  What would your house be like today if it were 90+ outside and you didn't have air conditioning?  Try driving around town on a summer day without AC.  Its changed our world! 

Look at home building methods, for instance.  Homes prior to AC had large, sturdy, windows on all four sides of the house.  The primary reason was to allow for cross-flow of air.  Every house was equipped with fans you could set into the windows to help draw the air into the house, or even one permanently mounted in the attic to suck the cooler air from outdoors in.  Now homes only have windows on the front and the back of the house so that we don't have to look at our neighbors--because we don't have to in order to stay cool.

And if we are staying indoors, we aren't on porches so they soon went by the wayside.  And if we put our kids in front of TV's X-Box and iPods, they aren't playing stick-ball or tag or having water balloon fights in the neighborhood either.  Perhaps I should begin a movement to ban AC so that we can get back to the Good Ole' Days when everything was fine and dandy--swell, even--and all the children behaved and all mothers and dads were Mrs. and Mr. Cleaver, seat belts weren't needed, smoking was healthy, murder never happened, war was patriotic death was always "a blessing."

But, when would that be?  I'm afraid we have a knack forgetting the problems of our past. Or worse yet, inventing a past that never was!  We have short memories for the negatives of every situation.  We deny that we have any flaws, or at least none that really matter to others in the big scheme of things.  Right?  Well, then, our conscious starts to nag at us. We can't sleep because something is bugging us. And sooner or later we have to realize that something is sin.

The fact of the matter is we do sin.  We are sinners.  We aren't perfect; never have been and never will be.  But as children of God, forgiven by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, those sins are blotted out as we confess those sins in repentant faith.  And from that point of our baptisms, we are New Creations.  Though, as flawed humans, we still sin, the stench of death from that sin does not stick to us.  We don't deserve this by any thing we have done, but by what Christ has done.  This un-earned gift of New Life in Christ is called grace.  G.od's R.iches A.t C.hrist's E.xpense.

Those who know this GRACE live lives a little differently.  We are no longer burdened with the worry of "what will God do to me because of my sin?" That is a burden which, for the sinner, is answered with the same verdict every time; you will die and you will not see heaven.  But for the sinner Redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ the burden is no longer life-taking, but life-affirming.  The new burden placed on the hearts of those living in Grace becomes, "What will God lead me to do and be because he no longer sees my sin?  How will I experience Graceful Living?"

This week our church is mailing out a magazine into our neighborhood called Graceful Living.  Our hope is that it allows folks to see some of the ways we can live in the Grace that God calls us into through our Lord and Savior Jesus.  If you live within 3 miles of Redeemer it'll come directly to your mailbox.  If not, stop by sometime or call the church office and we can send you one while supplies last.  If you would like to help us pay for this endeavor into our community that would be much appreciated as well--it costs several thousand dollars and issue to publish and mail this our neighbors, but we hope God uses it mightily to expand his kingdom of believers.