Rescue Me - by Bob Scott

While Pam and I were away speaking at the TransFORM conference, Sharon Linnea and Bob Scott led our worship this past Sunday.  Bob is the Director of Trinity Institute.  Here's his message:

Have you ever had an experience so awful that the one thing you could hope for was that maybe it would make a good story someday? Our family had to replace both of our cars last spring, and somehow our insurance company messed up both new registrations. I found that out when I was pulled over by police officers on two separate occasions within about two weeks. Both times they told me that my license plate flashed on their data base of suspended registrations, so driving was – what’s the word? Oh, right – a crime. They gave me court dates and explained that it had to be those particular days, because that’s when the district attorney would be there. My first court date was in the town of Tuxedo. I arrived early, but the clerk explained that people who brought attorneys got to go first. Attorneys! Now I was REALLY anxious. It only got worse when I listened to the first cases, because the assistant district attorney, or ADA, talked about things like jail time. When my turn came, the judge asked if I wouldn’t really rather come back next time with a lawyer. I said I didn’t think that was necessary, and I hoped I was right! I showed the ADA my little document from the DMV. He scowled at it and started to ask questions, but then he spotted the word “rescinded.” Apparently that means that the violation ought never to have been issued in the first place, because he immediately turned to the judge and said, “This is an insurance company mistake, your honor. The people move to…” and then he said the magic words: “‘dismiss in the interest of justice.’” The judge smiled and she said, “Dismissed in the interest of justice.” Wow. “Dismissed in the interest of justice” had the ring of such total vindication it made me almost glad the whole thing had happened. A few weeks later I went through the same routine in Goshen. Again, it felt great.

            Reflecting on that experience, I think the desire not only to be rescued from a bad situation, but to be truly vindicated, runs very deep. We know that something’s not right; that things are not what they could be – in our personal lives, our relationships, and our society. We have a gut feeling that, as Paul says in today’s scripture, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” In short, we need to be saved, not just in the next world, but here and now.