secrets no more

"For nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known." Matt 10:26

There's a pretty well known story (who knows if it's true!?), about a fellow who wanted to play a joke on a few of his friends. They were big shots, had important jobs, and probably ran their own companies. The jokester decided one day to send out telegrams to five of his friends with the message: "All is figured out, leave immediately." I suppose the fellow expected his friends to launch into a panic, wondering what in the world had been figured out. I suppose he thought this was going to be pretty funny. I suppose he was not expecting four of his five friends to close their bank accounts and leave the country overnight.

I suppose he wasn't expecting that his friends had anything to be 'figured out.'

I suppose he was wrong.

The point of the story is that we all have things that we'd rather not have figured out, known, talked about, or discovered. Since there aren't any halo's floating about our heads, we've all sinned, we've all disappointed ourselves, and we've all blown it.

Many of us probably know the sting of someone finding out something about our past or present that we'd rather not have broadcast. All you need to do is think of Presidents: Nixon, Clinton. Michael Jackson was found innocent of the charges against him, but a lot of things were found out that I'm sure he would probably not have wanted to be the main topic of conversation on Larry King Live.

I worked in a urban church for a summer in Atlanta, which was pretty close to the Atlanta City Jail. The congregation decided to begin a ministry to the jail, offering friendship, fellowship, and worship services to the inmates. One old, wise, black woman - who was no nonsense - and who I half expected to be against the idea of going into the jail - said one day: "Hey, if the truth were told, we'd all be in jail. If the truth were really told."

Every Sunday we gather in our churches, and begin our worship with the prayer: Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid. . . It's a prayer that was written almost 1,000 years ago, to be prayed by the priest as he got ready for the service to begin. It reminded the priest that as he came before God and his congregation to lead worship, his heart was open, his deepest desires were known, and no secret was secret enough. God knew all. in other words: all is figured out.

And today, God still knows all.

And I mean, God knows it ALL.

There's no fooling him, there's no pulling one over on him, and there's no use in trying to hide anything. He knows the whole story.

There's something overwhelming about that - I mean yikes.

But, there's also something incredible about it all. God knows everything about us, he knows everything we've done, everything we haven't done, and every thought that's gone through our minds. All is figured out.

And still, he loves us. And still, he offers mercy and grace. And still, he forgives.

In today's Gospel lesson, Jesus was speaking to his twelve apostles. Twelve of the sorriest bunch you've ever seen. Illiterate fishermen. A kaniving tax collector. An armed revolutionary (we might call him a terrorist today). All is figured out.

And Jesus looks them in the eye, knowing everything about them and says: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

God values us, counts us worthy, and tells us to not be afraid - not to worry - because we're being held in his hands. The good, the bad, and the ugly - we're all his and he loves us each regardless.

There's something amazingly freeing about that. We don't have to hang our heads low, we don't have to try and avoid God (as if we really could), and we don't have to walk around with guilty, unworthy feelings about ourselves. Everything is known, and still it's all ok. In fact, it more than ok.

And if that's not enough for you, not only does he reassure us and free us in these verses, but he gives us a job to do. He sends us - even though he knows it all - to do his work. Behold, I send you out as sheep into the midst of wolves. He counts us as sheep, and rates us higher than the sparrow, and he wants every precious hair of our heads to be busy working for the Kingdom.

And so today, rest in knowlege that the God who knows you better than you know yourself loves you dearly, finds you worthy, and is counting on you. No matter what, no matter what.

All is figured out. Thanks be to God.