According to The Washington Post (November 14, 2005), a man named Bennet Nicholson lived in a New Hampshire house overlooking the Connecticut River valley. The value of his spectacular scenery led to a doubling of his property taxes in one year. He ended up selling his house and moving to Canada.

Another resident made a formal complaint about the “view tax” when his property value doubled. He argued that he doesn’t own the view, he can’t control it, and it’s increasingly obscured by pollution. Besides, he is legally blind!

The tax assessor was unamused … and unmoved. The value of the view remained in place.

Putting a dollar amount on spectacular scenery might seem absurd to us, but in our hearts we all know that views have value. They really do. Seeing the world through the lens of Christian faith is what gives my life its meaning and purpose and value. It makes a difference to me that I view the world around me as a good creation of a loving God. I am so grateful that Jesus died to bring me forgiveness and new life. It really matters that I can experience the presence of Christ in our worship together, in the smile of a child in Vacation Bible School, and in the face of a homeless neighbor. It is of tremendous value to me that I can make a difference in this world as a disciple of Jesus, and as a person who can count on the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit every day.

Without this view, life would not have nearly as much value to me.

In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul says a prayer for his readers — a prayer for people who looked out of their windows at a view of ancient Ephesus, and for people like ourselves, looking out at Fairfax today. Paul says, “I pray that [God] may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power though his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:16-17). He goes on to pray that you may “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (v. 19).

What a view this is. Just picture yourself as a person strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit. A person with Jesus Christ dwelling inside. A person who knows the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, filled with all the fullness of God. That’s a view with real value. It’s a view that can help you when you are going off to college for the first time, when you are facing a rough patch in your marriage, when you are struggling with alcohol addiction, when you are about to be deployed to Iraq.

Best of all, it’s a view that is true. This is the view that God has of each one of us. God looks at us and sees something he loves — a little dirty, perhaps, a little polluted by our sinfulness — but something that is potentially spectacular.

Our mission as a church is to help each other to grow into the people God knows we can be. To gain a new view of ourselves, one that is truly stunning. It’s a well-known phenomenon in parenting, and in youth work, that children rise to the level of our expectations, so there is always a danger in setting the bar too low. The same is true for each of us, from God’s point of view — he sees something spectacular in us, and so he offers us the power of his Holy Spirit, the presence of his Son, and a love that surpasses knowledge. God sets the bar high, because he wants us to reach for the place where we can be “filled with all the fullness of God.” He wants our lives to be full of meaning and purpose and value.

That is why we just spent a week here at FPC, offering a Vacation Bible School Fiesta to 80 children from our church and community. These children grew as they discovered that Jesus is their friend, their life, their leader, their savior, and their helper. That is why Michelle Fincher challenged you in her sermon last week, asking whether you are personally engaged with God when you enter this sanctuary on Sunday mornings. You will grow as you discover that God is in the seat of honor here, ready and waiting to meet you — but only if you are ready and eager to meet God.

That is why Bruce and Sallie Horner are putting together a music program that is focused on both musical excellence and spiritual depth. The goal of their work is to help you to encounter God in a rich variety of musical offerings — through a hymn set with organ and guitar, a teen bell choir offertory, a youth musical, an Abendmusik concert, an anthem sung by VBSers, or a prelude by guest musicians such as Amy and Patrick. And that is why Nancy Stevens and her Youth Ministry Team are working on youth ministry this year, not just youth work. Their focus is on GRACE — an approach in which they will glorify God, reach non-believers, accept all, care for others, and equip young people for discipleship.

All of these efforts are designed to help us to grow into the people God knows we can be. Together, they challenge us to gain a new view of ourselves — one in which we are “filled with all the fullness of God.” It’s a view that has real value — for each of us today, and for the future of this congregation as well. It’s a view that is clear in some ways, and still fuzzy in others, but one that will come into sharper and sharper focus as we move forward together.

Since God never calls us to a new place without equipping us for the journey, today he offers us the gift of spiritual nourishment in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. He gives us the body and the blood of Jesus, our Risen Lord, so that Christ will dwell in our hearts, and fill us with the fullness of God. One of the things of I have always loved about Communion is that it makes the Word of God visible in the middle of our life together. It is not enough to hear that Christ has died for our sins — we also need to see it in the broken body and the shed blood. It is not enough to hear that Christ wants to live within us — we also need to see it as we eat the bread and drink the cup.

What a valuable view this is. What a spectacular sight, to see the presence of Christ in this sacrament, and in all of you, as we gather to eat and drink together. I can only pray, along with Paul, that God “may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power though his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love” (vv. 16-17).

God is able to accomplish far more than we can ask or imagine (v. 20). So let us come to this table to be forgiven, nourished, strengthened, and inspired. Together, we might catch a new view of ourselves — a glimpse of the people God wants us to be. Amen.

Sources:
David A. Fahrenthold, “N.H. Puts a Price on Panoramas,” The Washington Post, November 14, 2005, A1.