Grace - For Real

Lately, I have been noticing the number of churches called "Grace Something-or-Other."  Now, I think that "Grace" is a great name for a church.  However, what I have also noticed is that a great many of these churches don't actually preach about grace.  This is, of course, not universally true.  I am sure there are plenty of Grace Churches that do preach the Gospel with all of its sweetness, and have even been to one.  However, there are at least an equal number that do not.  If you are going to call yourself "Grace,"  you had better be preaching about grace, and not just state it in a mission statement.  After checking out a variety of Grace Churches on the internet and listening to their sermons or reading sermon manuscripts, I am even more sure that these churches do not actually understand the concept of grace.  The sermons that I looked at from these churches were all about how to be a better person, live a better life, or the things that we must do.  They did not address the fact that we are poor miserable sinners, and, that no matter how hard we try, we will always be poor, miserable sinners who need the redeeming blood of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."  (Romans 3:23-24, NIV)

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. '"  (2 Cor. 12:9, NIV)

God's grace is sufficient.  Yes, I do need to hear the Law.  I need to hear about what a terrible creature I am on my own so that I can realize that I cannot save myself.  Then I need to hear the Gospel message of Jesus Christ crucified and raised for me.   I need to hear both of these things every week.  (Frankly, I need to hear both of these things every day.)  So, if you are going to call yourself "Grace Something-or-Other,"  please, please, please preach the Gospel.  Because, without it, everything else is meaningless.
 

The Lamb Once Slain and Raised Again

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

I want to wish a blessed Easter to everyone.  Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the devil!  That is a reason to celebrate.  Besides spending a lot of time in church (at least, we do), another way people tend to celebrate is with food.  So, today I am going to verge a bit off the normal path for this blog (although, considering that my posting has been few and far between lately, nothing is really normal) and talk about Easter food.  And, how can I talk about Easter food without a recipe?
One long held tradition in the church is to eat lamb for Easter.  "Lamb?" you say.  "I thought the traditional food was ham?"  (Especially in Southern Illinois, where most people have never eaten lamb, and some think that is is gross, even though they have never tasted it.)  Frankly, in the scope of church history, ham is a newer tradition.  I'm not sure where the idea of eating ham on Easter came from, even.  However, the tradition of eating lamb has deep roots.  When the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, God sent an angel to kill the first born son of everyone in Egypt.  Everyone except for those who put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts.  The angel "passed over" these homes.  This, of course, is where the Jewish celebration of Passover comes from.  Jesus also celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples.  At this meal, Jesus gave the disciples his own body and blood.  The next day, Jesus, the one and true sacrificial lamb, died on a cross to save all mankind.  On the third day, this Lamb rose from the grave.  Now we can say with Paul, "O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55, ESV)
On Easter we celebrate the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world and has victory over death.  What better way to do this than to eat lamb, the same way the Israelites did when the Angel of Death passed over their homes?

There are many different ways you could prepare lamb for Easter.  I love a good leg of lamb or rack of lamb, but, they are a bit out of our budget.  Plus, there are only two of us in our household.  We need something that is a bit more practical.  The recipe I am about to share comes mostly out of the cookbook For One or Two (Parragon Publishing, 2004).  However, I have made a few small modifications.  And, in tribute to my friend Dan over at The Narnian Chef (http://narnianchef.wordpress.com/), I have a couple of pictures I took while cooking this meal yesterday.

Roast Lamb and Tomato Packets (serves 2)

olive oil
2 large (or 4 small) lamb chops
8 cherry tomatoes (or 4 roma)
2 cloves of garlic (diced) (The original recipe calls for crushed garlic, but I like my garlic a little stronger, so dicing it helps with that.)
fresh torn oregano (about 4 tsp, but I never measure it)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Salt and pepper the lamb chops to taste.
Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over high heat and brown the lamb chops on both sides.

Cut a large square of aluminum foil.  Drain the meat and place in the center of the foil.  Spread garlic over the lamb.  Arrange tomatoes on top of the meat and sprinkle with the torn oregano.  Fold the foil to seal the packet and transfer to a cookie shete.

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes.
Opening the packet carefully, transfer the lamb and tomatoes to a plate or serving dish.  Spoon on the juices from the meat.

Next Easter, consider lamb a must-have for your Easter table.  Have a blessed Easter, everyone!

Happy Good Friday