WHAT DOES IT COST TO GET IT THERE?
A Sermon Delivered at Memorial United Methodist Church, Sunday, May 9, 2010

When you are as big as I am and you want to look more fashionable than a tailored black Hefty bag, you usually have to take steps other than buying off an in-store rack. This means either mail order or the greatest boon known to mankind coming from the Internet: eBay. In fact, I have been tempted to go out to California to campaign for eBay founder Meg Whitman in her bid for the governorship of California because I am attuned to her philosophically and because I am grateful for the impact of her venture on my life. I have purchased everything from electronics to office supplies to clothing through eBay merchants and have generally been delighted with the results.
eBay is best known as an auction site, but much of its business is in “Buy It Now” products and in online stores. After you have used eBay for a while, you learn certain strategies. If you are in competitive bidding and the price has not yet reached your limits, you need to be monitoring the end of the auction to make sure that you do not get outbid at the last moment. If you see several bids on an item and you place a bid and find out that others have bid higher limits, you may want to think about whether you want to place a sizable outside limit on your bid or whether you should surrender.
The one thing that most trips up eBay bidders and mail order customers is what the merchant charges for shipping. Recently, I was on eBay looking for a suit of a particular color. One merchant was offering a suit on which bidding began at $49.99 and another was a “Buy It Now” at $59.99. However, the $49.99 merchant was going to charge $14.99 for shipping and the $59.99 merchant was offering free shipping. Therefore, the $59.99 suit was ultimately cheaper than the $49.99 suit. I bought the $49.99 suit only because after closely studying pictures of both of them, I concluded that I preferred the design and the texture of the fabric on the $49.99 suit and that it was worth the extra money for the shipping. I have bought toner cartridges for my laser printer on eBay. I saw one for $21.99 and another that was only about $11.99. However, the $21.99 merchant offered free shipping, which the $11.99 merchant was charging in excess of $12.00 for shipping. $21.99 was the better bargain.
If you buy clearance from outfits such as KingSize, Blair, Haband, or Heartland America, you sometimes pay more for the shipping than you do for the item itself. However, all these companies have promotions when they have free shipping or charge shipping on only the first item and this is usually the best time to buy, because this way you get the full benefit of the bargain.
One also needs to take such factors into account in seeking to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I have chosen some of the scriptures and hymns today to consider the cost of entry into Heaven. Noah was called upon by God to build an enormous boat and to gather two of any creature that he could and all of his family so that he could endure and survive a great storm and a great flood. The enormity of this task was so great that Noah went out and became roaring drunk and stripped naked before his sons came for him and boosted him up to be able to meet the task. Moses needed to overcome a stutter and tremendous modesty and humility to lead an arduous 40-year trek, which he did not himself survive, in order to reach the Promised Land.
The authors of two of our hymns also went through a tortuous route on the way to the Lord. The author of “Amazing Grace,” Rev. John Newton, went through one of the greatest transformations since Saul of Tarsus became St. Paul on the road to Damascus. His poem opens “Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.” Newton was about as low a wretch as a Christian or any member of a Western society can be. He was the captain of a slave ship, a major factor in the wicked “Molasses for rum for slaves” trade triaspora. Anyone who has engaged in even the most casual study of the slave trade has seen diagrams of slave ships where the human cargo is packed into the hold like sardines in a can. The death of one or a number of the human chattel subjected to this treatment was regarded as “shrinkage,” no more serious than Rice Krispies settling in the shipping of cereal boxes or a can of green beans becoming dented in handling. However, Newton underwent an epiphany, repenting of the sins of his former career, becoming an ordained clergyman, and eventually joining with William Wilberforce and like minded political figures to put an end to the British slave trade. Some of this was chronicled in a motion picture entitled “Amazing Grace,” released a couple of years ago and produced by a Hollywood consortium headed by Patricia Heaton, who played Deborah on “Everyone Loves Raymond.” As a mortal man with strong feelings about humanity and race relations, I do not know if I could ever find it in my own heart to forgive Newton for what he did in his earlier life. However, what I think does not matter. What is important is that Newton repented of his sins and attempted to stem some of the damage he caused and that Jesus Christ died on the cross for those sins and Newton was absolved of them because of his true faith.
Then there is the author of “It is Well With My Soul.” That hymn brings such peace to me that I have even said that if I were able to control the circumstances of the hour of my death, I would like that hymn to be playing at the time that I die. I have it downloaded onto my cell phone and sometimes play it when I stop to rest on the porch of the Arthur Cleveland Bent Cabin at the Gertrude Boyden Wildlife Sanctuary while walking my dog, perhaps the most peaceful spot and the most peaceful frame of mind I enjoy only half a mile from my home. However, what amazes me is the faith that created that great hymn of peace. The author, Horatio Spofford, wrote the poetic lyrics while he was on board a ship returning home to bury his wife and daughter who had both died in an epidemic. He somehow found it within himself during what had to be the most horrid part of his human existence to say that “When peace, like a river attendeth my way and sorrows like sea billows roll” he could still call upon the Lord and upon his faith to make it so that “It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Yes, Noah and Moses and Abraham and Saul of Tarsus and John Newton and Horatio Spofford paid some dear shipping charges on their way to the Kingdom of God. However, God is running a very special promotion for His people. Entrance into the Kingdom of God now comes with free shipping. You may ask, “How can God afford to do this and still realize a profit?” Actually the shipping, postage, and handling are free to the customer because they are prepaid. About two thousand years ago, God sent his only begotten Son to walk among us and then, even though he was innocent of any wrongdoing, that Son, Jesus, died the most horrible human death imaginable on the cross to accept the punishment for the sins of mankind and to open the way for forgiveness and entry into the Kingdom of Heaven for those who truly repent of their sins and who truly believe. While he was among the worst of sinners on Earth, John Newton now resides in the Kingdom of Heaven because he discerned God's will for him and lived his life accordingly.
We often find ourselves feeling unworthy of this gift. I remember a few years ago, either Chef Boy-ar-dee or Franco-American had a commercial for their canned ravioli in which the husband/father of the family eating this sumptuous repast asked the dumbest question in the history of television: ”Can we afford to eat this and still stay on our budget?” As one who learned to eat pasta on meals prepared by my grandmother who was born in the arch of the boot-shaped peninsula where spaghetti sauce originated or faithful replicas prepared by her daughter-in-law, my mother, I would have put the question about the dollar can of stuff in orangey-brown pseudo tomato sauce as “Are we really so poor that we have to eat this dreck?” However, the humble consumer in the commercial was not sure if he was worthy of what he saw as a gourmet feast and questioned it. I have to admit that in my eBaying, when I get something for a minimal bid, I often feel guilty or unworthy, that I am somehow cheating the people who posted the item for auction. When I was thirty-five years old and had not married and did not feel that prospect was likely, I questioned whether I was worthy of the happiness of a family of my own. Now, after nearly nineteen years of marriage and nearly eighteen years as the father of a beautiful daughter about to head off to college, I still often question my worthiness and I pray daily that I do not become an impediment to my wife and child. If we feel such guilt or humility over our worthiness of the simple things in life, how can we feel that we qualify for the Kingdom of Heaven?
The answer, of course, is that we are redeemed by faith and not necessarily by works or by perception. Going back to Reverend Newton’s poem; ”The Lord hath promised good to me. His Word my hope secures.” God has told us from the time that the serpent tempted Eve, who tempted Adam that we are not of ourselves worthy, but He has told us since the death and resurrection of Jesus that we are made worthy by His sacrifice. Our old communion ritual used to ask forgiveness for “our manifold sins and wickedness” and the Roman Catholics, who do not consider us worthy of partaking of their feast, say in their mass “We are not worthy to come to Your table, O Lord, but only say the Word and we shall be healed.”
When we see what the Lord gives us for free, from the beauty of nature to redemption and forgiveness, it can make the debate over the cost of Obamacare or the temporary closing of schools somehow seem trite. There may be no such thing as a free lunch here on earth, but eternal life can be ours just for the acknowledgement of our sins and our belief that God forgives. Let us show gratitude for these great gifts and, as they say on eBay, “Happy bidding!”