My grandfather loved going to sales.

He was forever bringing home some strange object often something that we didn't need or didn't know what it was.

One of the more interesting things was an old school bell, retired from a one-room school somewhere.

He mounted it on a pole near the house, and yes, it was used.

When mealtime came, grandma would go out and ring the bell which could be heard out across the fields or wherever we were working or playing.

It was time to come, running.

It was a summons for something very good.

That is the mood of the imperative at the  beginning of our first lesson today.

Isaiah says, “Come, everyone who is thirsty and hungry; come here; come for something worthwhile.”

 

There are lots of invitations that are given for things which are not worthwhile.

There are dishonest and misleading kinds of advertizing.

There are the people with drugs and other illicit things to sell.

There are the temptations to break every one of the commandments; some of the invitations are blatant, and some of them disguised.

When we examine the daily newspaper, we soon discover that it is much easier to find a story about a commandment being broken, than it is a story about a commandment being kept!

 

There is plenty of bad news.

We can find it inside ourselves, and all around us.

The world is full of things which are going wrong.

The prophet Isaiah does not sugar-coat this truth, but he also does not stop there.

Come, and discover that God has something powerfully good and wonderful to say to us as well.

 

...the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, has glorified you, the prophet sings.

There is mercy, there is  pardon, he says.

And we do need to hear that, this day and every day!

 

Another one-room school story.

One room, one teacher, six grades, about four students per grade.

When it was time for arithmetic, the students in a particular grade came up front to the recitation bench, with books, papers, and homework.

Students then might be called to the blackboard to work some problems.

Mistakes are so easy to make: misaligned columns, getting 7x9 mixed up with 7x8, not having practiced enough at home...

and there one stands, in front of God, the teacher, fellow students, the entire school...wrong again.

I was often particularly annoyed because my cousin Sandy was always faster at math than me.

She turned out to be a business teacher, so I guess that was OK.

But the blessed eraser!

When the problem turned out to be a mess, there was the blessed eraser, and the mess was wiped away, no one saw it anymore,  and I could try again.

Fortunately the teacher was of the firm but encouraging sort, and not the vindictive, belittling kind.

Oh, the wonderful eraser!

After the last recess, someone would be chosen to take the erasers out to the coal house and clap them so that even the chalk dust was gone, utterly gone,

and they would be ready to use the next day.

How precious are those words that we hear near the beginning of worship each week: I announce to you the forgiveness of your sins, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

not because I am so powerful, but because God's mercy is so great.

Forgiven, for the sake of Jesus;

another chance offered, for the sake of Jesus; we can begin again, because of the promise of Our Lord Jesus.

We don't have to pretend that we are something other than messed up children of God.

As someone has said,

“we are free to have a negative assessment of human nature because we have such an optimistic assessment of God's nature.”!

Because it is of God's nature to forgive, we can confess honestly that it is of our nature to sin.

Because God through Christ Jesus has set things right between God and us, we have the opportunity to admit that we are wrong.

What precious freedom this is!

 

I read about a man by the name of Theodore Streleski who in 1978 was convicted of killing a Stanford University math professor for whom he held a grudge.

During some years in prison, he was offered parole several time, but each time he refused because he would not accept one of the conditions of parole.

He would not express remorse for what he had done, and promise never to kill again.

He said, ”I don't feel sorry, I have never felt sorry.”

This is a dangerous man, but eventually he was released from prison ... out in California.

I did a Google search, and apparently he has not committed another murder in the years since his release, but he said “I can't predict the future.”

 

This is a man who just doesn't get it at all.

He doesn't hear an offer of forgiveness.

He cannot comprehend the freedom of hearing that offer with joy and receiving it.

He does not live in any circle of reality other than what is right in front of himself at that moment.

The future is only a meaningless continuation of what he has felt in the past.

The pattern of forgiveness, repentance, amendment of life, fresh chance, and joy has no meaning for him.  How sad!

We come to appreciate this new pattern of life only a little at a time.

When an angry parent stands over the child and demands, “Now tell me honestly, did you break this?” are we really surprised when the child answers “No”?

There is not much real honesty or confession if it is forced on the basis of fear.

 

Here we come to a crucial point.

We don't confess before God out of fear in order to be forgiven; rather we confess because we are forgiven!

We are not honest about our sin in order that God will love us.

Rather, knowing that God does love us in Christ, in spite of ourselves, we can be honest about the messes we make and know.

 

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, says Paul in Romans 8.

Not our sin and brokenness.

Not even our attempt to rid ourselves of Jesus by hanging him on the cross.

Even from there, he can look at us and say “Father, forgive.”

 

A divine eraser, one who says “I distinctly remember wiping away and forgetting those sins of yours.”  They're gone; they can't affect you anymore.

We don't have to wear a mask and act with pretense.

We don't have to lie about our shortcomings, problems, and flaws.

This can bring us great joy, not only in our relationship with God, but it also transforms our relationship with others.

Remember the story of Zacchaeus, whose repentance and joy issued forth in a new relationship and attitude for and with those whom he had  formerly oppressed and cheated.

Come, calls the prophet, come and learn of God's steadfast love.

Come, and he will abundantly pardon, entreats the prophet.

Come, says Paul, for with God's gifts you will be able to endure the time of testing and transformation.

 

Come with this prayer crafted centuries ago:

God our Father,

it is your glory always to have mercy.

Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways,

and bring us again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith

to embrace the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.