Sermon for March 1st
For God so loved the world…..
God loves this world. Of that, there is no doubt. God has stated it through the first recorded words of our Bible. The world was created out of love and for love. It was created so God, who is love, could offer that immeasurable gift to all living things. God loved the world. God still does. God loves this world, this creation, with such ferocity and relentlessness, that nothing can be taken away from God’s love.
Paul states that so eloquently in Romans 8, wherein he lists all the powers of this world and then unequivocally states that none of these can take us away from God. God’s love is triumphant. God’s love wins.
For God so loved the world…..
Yet we don’t always live according to that love. In fact, our actions often show a blatant disregard for that love. We say that God loves all and then act is if God actually hates much of God’s creation. If there is a group in this world that we have trouble with, then it is easy to project our animosity on to them by saying that God shares an equal level of animosity. We want God to share our human proclivities. We want God to like what we like and hate what we hate. Yeah, the sentiment of God loving the world is nice, but its not practical. How could it be? This world doesn’t run on love. It runs on our willingness to stand up for ourselves and to be strong enough to stand against those who would take from us. In the end, the strongest wins. We might not like to acknowledge this, but it is still true. God’s love is a nice, churchy thing that gives us comfort and a measure of peace. But it is not, nor could it ever be, the true nature of this world.
For God so loved the world……
So, we feel justified in the wars we fight and the hate that continues to fester. We feel justified in taking from the earth whatever we might want, regardless of the consequences. We feel justified in letting our siblings go without, as long as we have enough. We take comfort in the reality that the pain and suffering we see on the news is not our pain and suffering. “At least that’s not us”, we say. And when it is our turn, we wonder why God hates us and what we could have done to earn such torment, even though we never asked that question when our siblings were suffering. We just gave thanks it wasn’t us. We come to be resentful when another has enough and we do not. This self-centred response doesn’t bother us, at least as much as it should. The world rewards the selfish and the strong.
For God so loved the world…
God rewards the selfish and strong. We can even make that sync up with our theology. God loves me. But how much more would God love me if I did the right thing and condemned the right people? How much more would I be rewarded if I live according to God’s ordinances? Then God would truly love me, and I could pass judgement on my neighbor with absolute impunity. For I know I am better. I am better and I know God looks at me that way too. God rewards those who look after themselves.
For God so loved the world…..
I want. I need. My family wants. My family needs. My community wants. My community needs. My country wants. My country needs. Anyone else outside that circle doesn’t matter. God understands. God made the world this way. It is what drives all of creation. Survival of the strongest. Survival of the selfish.
For God so loved the world…….
For God so loved the world…….
For God so loved the world……
The whole community went to the shooter’s funeral, not to demand vengeance, but to offer forgiveness, even amid their own pain and grief.
The man on the street, who had nothing, came into the church building and offered his last two pennies to release his relatives from purgatory. For his effort, he was greeted with a warm meal and a caring community, a community that would become his family and his baptismal home.
She had no other place to go, but came into the community of believers, heavy makeup and often wearing the best she could manage. She found a home, though she could offer no financial support to the church. They embraced her and told her she was loved.
They came for a bit of soup, and suddenly they found safety. The pastor offered soup and he found friends.
His life was being destroyed by alcohol. But the office secretary took him under her wings and supported him. She called him her son. He dried out and found a new lease on life. And she found family, when it could have been easier to turn a blind eye.
He wanted to help at the shelter, offering what little time he had to a cause that was far beyond him. He was sometimes nervous when he would go, but always, always, the experience left him changed, desiring to do more for the brother he talked to, without a home, without much hope, who still found it within himself to ask how the volunteer was doing, and was sincere in the asking.
For God so loved the world……..
For God so loved the world……..
For God so loved the world…….
The world is selfish. It makes sense, considering the state of the world. Yet, embedded in this reality is something that makes no sense, a love that is not selfish but selfless, a love that doesn’t honor the strong but protects the weak, a love that desires community, not rugged determinism at the cost of all else. It doesn’t make sense. It moves against the grain and it is more real than every selfish impulse and hate filled action.
It is God at work. It is God’s work. It doesn’t make sense but is true. It is, in fact, the truest thing that exists in this world. When community forms in real love, bound by affection, it is real in a way few other things are. When a person acts for mercy or justice for another, even if they are a stranger, it is more real than when we turn our blind eye to the suffering of another.
For God so loved the world echoes through our lives. It is our hope and it is our center. It is what our world is anchored on, even when the powers of hate would try and tear the world apart. It is the beating heart of existence.
For God so loved the world…..
Nothings is greater. And nothing can overcome that love. For God so loved the world that God gave everything for the sake of the world and in that love, we have life and in turn, can offer that love to the world.
For God so loved the world…
For God so loved the world……
The words and the truth embedded in them echo into eternity. Like a hearbeat, this love gives life back into the world.
Amen