10-12-25 Traditional Worship

That's where grace meets us. Where all our pretensions fail. Where all our achievements crumble. Where all we can do. All we can do is cry out, Lord, have mercy. It's at that place that enemies can stand side by side. It's at that place that Jew and Samaritan, saint and sinner, the proud and the broken, all sound the same. We have nowhere else to go. [00:41:07] (39 seconds)  #GraceUnitesAll

The same voice that had once cried out for mercy now shouted thanksgiving. And he fell at Jesus' feet and worshipped him. And that's when Jesus asked the haunting question, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? It's not a question of numbers. It's a question of hearts. The nine went on with their lives. The one came back to life. Nine sought confirmation from the law. One found completion in grace. Nine went to the temple that would not receive him. One went to the true temple that had already received him. [00:44:45] (58 seconds)  #ThanksgivingTransforms

But when we remember our shared desperation, our shared poverty before God, we stand together again at the feet of mercy. A church that believes its unity is found in its glory is not the church of Christ. But a church that confesses we have nowhere else to go is the church gathered around grace. [00:46:39] (33 seconds)  #HelplessnessAtTheTable

A Eucharistic church is not a people showing off their holiness. It's a people showing up in their helplessness. It's a people united not by success but by surrender. The Samaritan's Thanksgiving is not a display of self-righteousness. It's a confession that everything he has has come from Jesus' mercy. [00:47:37] (26 seconds)  #LoyaltyFindsGrace

And so from Ruth's loyalty to Paul's endurance to the Samaritan's gratitude, the song is the same. Desperation gives way to grace. Loss gives way to life. And the one who has nowhere else to go finds that Christ is already there. [00:49:42] (25 seconds)  #ChristIsTheTrueTemple

But Jesus meets us on the border. Between the clean and the unclean. Between Samaria and Galilee. Between sinner and saint. He meets us there because that's where he does his best work. At the borders. In the in-between places. Among those who whisper, I have nowhere else to go. [00:50:44] (35 seconds)  #GraceFindsTheLost

The Samaritan's story reminds us that Jesus himself is the true temple. The place where heaven meets earth. Where the unclean are made clean. Where the outcast becomes family. The nine went to the temple to be declared clean. The Samaritan went to the temple who made him clean. In Christ, there are no outsiders. [00:51:19] (35 seconds)  #JesusGoesBeforeUs

At the cross, Jesus became the leper. The outcast. The one outside the camp. So that you and I could be brought in. And in the end, it all comes back to that one sentence. I have nowhere else to go. It's a cry of despair. But also the beginning of faith. [00:52:06] (31 seconds)  #ThanksgivingAtHisFeet

When you've lost everything else. When your strength, your reputation, your health, your control, your illusions of self-sufficiency are all gone. That's where grace finds you. That's where the Samaritan found Jesus. That's where Ruth found her redeemer. That's where Paul found his perseverance. And that's where you and I find salvation. [00:52:37] (29 seconds)

``Because when you finally have nowhere else to go, you find that Jesus has already gone there ahead of you. He went to the cross. He went outside the camp. He entered the grave. So that no matter where you are, when you say, I have nowhere else to go, he answers, then come to me. [00:53:05] (32 seconds)