on the Twelvth Sunday after Pentecost...
Sunday, August 3, 2008
From Romans, Chapter 7: 15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. "Inseperable Love" A
Communion Meditation Preached by at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton United Church of Christ
In a village in South Korea, a janitor discovers a newborn baby boy, just a couple of days old, in the girls’ room of the local school.1 Because an American Air Force base is located near the town, it is assumed that the baby left at the school is the child of an Anglo-American soldier and a local woman. It is an unfortunate fact of life in South Korea that illegitimate children, or those of mixed heritage, are shunned by society. And so, having been abandoned by the father, the mother now abandons their child. If that forsaken little boy could understand language, what words might he need to hear? And how about his mother, who – deserted and desperate – feels that her only alternative is to abandon her son? “God is for you, and nothing can separate you from God’s love!” Fifteen-year-old Jake finds it hard to approach his peers. Diagnosed with autism when he was a toddler, Jake anticipates being rejected or laughed at or turned down, so he won’t attempt to break into a group. John, another teenager with autism, says his classmates can sometimes be mean. "There are some people who are not nice and think I'm crazy and a loser and a stupid retard," says John.2 When Jake and John are feeling disliked and rejected by their classmates and the world – feeling like “losers” – what words might they need to hear? “God is for you, and nothing can separate you from God’s love!” A frail and ashen middle aged woman lies in her hospital bed, feeling helpless and hopeless. So many times she has tried unsuccessfully to quit drinking, and she feels like such a failure that she hates herself. In her pain and self-loathing, what words might this woman need to hear? “God is for you, and nothing can separate you from God’s love!” An elderly woman sits alone in her room, lonely and forgotten. Her friends are all gone, and her family members have long since stopped visiting. What words might this forlorn and solitary figure need to hear? “God is for you, and nothing can separate you from God’s love!” Who among us cannot relate in some way to the experiences of these people? Abandonment, despair, hopelessness, rejection, disappointment, self-loathing – who hasn’t felt one or more of these at some time or another during our lives? Who hasn’t wondered if God really cared, if God was on our side, if God still loved us? The Apostle Paul has an even more extensive list of life’s challenges which might cause us to question God’s presence and love. In chapter 8 of Romans, he includes suffering, futility, bondage, weakness, hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth and as if that were not enough, he throws in – “anything else in all creation.” Despite everything, Paul is adamant: none of these can separate us from God’s love. Perhaps you could make your own list of things or people or experiences which cause you to feel that God is far away. Maybe its your parents, your children, your boss, employees, colleagues, foolish choices, bedeviling sins, public failure, private disappointments, anxieties, school, a bad business deal, and on it goes. Whatever is on our personal list, Paul’s words hold strong and true: nothing can separate us from God’s love.3 Paul’s unequivocal language is not pious cliché but rather a deeply held conviction born of his personal experience. A few days after his conversion on the road to Damascus, God promised him that he would suffer much for the sake of God’s name4 and that “prison and hardship” awaited him in every city.5 And so it did. Paul faced brutal treatment, constant harassment, and strong opposition.6 The book of Acts records at least eight murder attempts on his life.7 Paul described himself and the other apostles of the early church as being treated as spectacles to the world, dishonored fools, vagrants who were hungry, thirsty, homeless and in rags, and – perhaps most memorably -- as “rubbish of the world, dregs of all things.”8 Through all of this and more, Paul remained unequivocal and uncompromising: nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love.9 When you have been abandoned and deserted; when you are desperate and hopeless; when you feel rejected and disliked; when you have failed yourself and disappointed others; when you think you are unloved and unlovable; when you sense that everyone and everything is against you – what are the words you need to hear? Memorize this verse; write these words on your heart, so that in your darkest hours, they will be near to you: Nothing, nothing in all creation can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. 1This little boy was later adopted by my brother and sister-in-law and has grown up into a fine young man! |
The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.