Saugatuck Church, UCC
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
September 13, 2015 – Welcome Sunday
There’s a lot I don’t know – a lot I don’t even know I don’t know. One of the best parts about my sons Tobey and Ian going back to school – like so many of you did last week – is getting to hear about what they are studying. We spin off some of the best dinner table conversations, inspired by stuff that comes up in their classes. Sometimes, I can contribute a little wisdom, a fun fact, historical context (no, that’s not ancient history; yes, I was there). But there’s plenty I just don’t know at all, or only barely know, or knew once and then forgot… We are all of us, including adults, learning all the time.
But here’s something I do know: I know that God love us with an amazing, persistent, fierce-tender love – a love the color of sunflowers and deep blue seas; bright and warm and embracing: a love that doesn’t let go, no matter what. God, the Creator of the universe, Crafter of stars and starfish, architect of the Andes Mountains and African Savannahs, the One who designed fluorescent tree frogs and puffins and finback whales; the One who formed our own bodies, pinky toes to eyebrows and everything in between – that One loves us – loves this whole crazy, diverse planet, with its bazillion parts – and loves you in it. No strings attached.
So, how do I know? Fair question. Well, first, I look around. And I think, how could God invent so much, come up with 14 different shapes for noses, the flavor of ripe raspberries and the smell of fresh cider donuts without really loving it all. Creating IS an act of love. I know this, too. Several years ago, on Christmas Eve at about 4 pm, my youngest son announced that his stuffed armadillo, Snuffles, needed a scarf – it was cold that December. And could we get him one for Christmas? I looked at the clock, I calculated the odds… After my son went to bed, I dug out some variegated purple yarn from the very back of my closet and knitting needles that had mostly collected dust since college. I found my “Knitting for Beginners” book, reviewed how to get the yarn onto the needle, then off I went. The next morning, in his stocking, my son found that scarf – about 2” wide and 14” long – with fringe! Just the right size for Snuffles. His face lit up, and I was SO proud. I loved that scarf – because I made it, unskilled knitter that I am and because it brought joy to someone I love.
Maybe you know what that’s like: to make something – a valentine, a birthday gift, a work of art – as a pure expression of love?
I look around and that’s what I see: God saying, ‘I love you,’ in every painted leaf, every person born.
I also know God loves us because I’ve been told so by people who have felt that love and passed it on, people who have looked me in the eye and said, “God loves YOU.” Maybe you know what that’s like? Maybe your parents, or a best friend, a teacher, someone at your church … even your minister has told you that you are precious in God’s sight. I hope so! I hope you’ve heard it often enough to believe it, to feel the love, especially when life gets squirrely, when you feel afraid or alone or all in a muddle. I hope you have felt that love wrap around you like a blanket, or steady your knocking knees, or calm your beating heart.
I also hope no one has ever told you that God only loves you IF… If you believe in Jesus; or IF you are good; or IF you follow all the rules, or IF you go to the right church, or never swear, or vote democrat, or vote republican, or only marry a person of the opposite sex, or never laugh at dirty jokes or… fill in the blank. This is bologna – theologically speaking. It’s worse than bologna; it’s toxic sludge poured all over the best story ever told, until it’s utterly ruined. I’m talking about the story that includes that line, “For God so loved the world…” It’s a story about God who loves us before we do anything. That’s a truth that gets obscured sometimes, ignored or distorted. But I want you to hear this: nothing we do can stop God from loving us.
You don’t have to take my word for it. It’s right there in the Bible, which is, after all, the story of God’s love affair with creation. Take a look at the first half of the Bible, the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible, and you’ll find this line again and again: God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Or in the psalm we read today:
your loyal love, Lord, extends to the skies;
your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
Those lines were originally written in Hebrew, and the word that’s translated as ‘loyal love’ or ‘steadfast love’ is chesed, which can also be translated ‘loving kindness’ or ‘loyalty.’ Chesed [Here’s what it looks like: חֶסֶד]: Love that does not fail or flag. Love that inspired God to save the Israelite people from slavery, to lead them to freedom, to teach them how to live in loving community with each other. And when that didn’t go so well? When the people disobeyed, got anxious or self-centered and did dumb stuff, hurtful stuff? God got frustrated, even angry sometimes. But God never abandoned them, never stopped loving them. God’s steadfast love endures forever.
In the New Testament, or the Christian Testament, which is written in Greek, the word for the best, most Godly kind of love is agape [Here’s what that looks like: ἀγάπη]: covenant love (covenant: as in, a promise to be kept). “For God felt such agape for the world, God sent God’s only son…” Jesus.
Once, Jesus faced a whole crowd of folks who were about to stone a woman to death for something she’d done. Jesus stood with her and asked everybody else: “Are you all perfect? Is any one of you without sin?” And they all put down their stones and left. “I don’t condemn you, either,” he said to the woman. Another time, some of Jesus’ adult followers tried to keep the children from bothering Jesus; they thought children should be seen and not heard. But Jesus said, “Let them come to me. They have a lot to teach us!” and he welcomed the children and blessed them. And once, Jesus met a tax collector named Zacchaeus, a guy despised by his neighbors because he was a cheat. Rather than rebuke him, Jesus invited himself over to Zacchaeus’ house for supper.
Over and over again: Jesus demonstrated God’s agape: embracing people with this big-hearted love; love no matter what came before; love with no strings attached.
“God sent God’s only son, that by believing in him, the people might not perish.” If Jesus was God’s best gift to the world, the person meant to teach us how to love one another, and he loved people like that –well… There’s your evidence. That’s how I know that God loves us with amazing, persistent, fierce-tender love. Because that was how Jesus loved.
So, why does it matter? Whether God really loves us? Because God’s love makes us brave, gives us hope and the courage to live boldly. Have you ever done something hard – run a race, compete on a team – while your mom or dad, aunt or grandfather or best friend cheered you on? I ran hurdles in high school. I loved it, except for the bit about leaping over barriers at high speed. During one race, I tripped over a hurdle and crashed to the track. I scraped up my legs and my ego. Worse, it ruined my confidence. The next time I had to race, I was terrified. It was only my Dad’s calm presence on the sidelines that gave me the courage to try again – not because he’d convinced me I’d make it (in fact, I didn’t. I psyched myself out and crashed again) – but because I knew he’d pick me up and dust me off – every time. Then he’d encourage me to try again.
That’s what love does: it gives us strength we didn’t think we had. It allows us to try things we might not tackle otherwise. It gives us a baseline – something to hold onto. I may blow this, but at least Dad will still love me. Or my kids. Or my spouse or that best friend. And God.
THIS is exhibit #1 in my Case for Church: Church is where we come to be reminded, over and over if necessary, that God loves us, will always pick us up and dust us off. We come to hear that story – and to tell it; to look each other in the eye when we tell it, until we feel the love. This may be incredibly hard for you, some days. Hard to believe, deep down, that you are worthy of such big-hearted, unflinching love. It’s hard for me, too. That’s ok: We are, all of us, learning all the time. Learning to love and learning to be loved. For some of us, being loved without strings attached is a brand new sensation. For the rest of us, well, the news bears repeating. We all need to practice being brave and living boldly. Because here’s the thing: God’s crazy, diverse planet is also suffering, and it needs all the brave hearts we can muster! This world needs outrageous artists, and out-of-the-box thinkers, scientists who can imagine big and poets willing to speak the truth. Marine biologists to protect those finback whales, astronauts to explore those stars, and peacemakers to share that agape love with all God’s diverse people. The world needs you, and all the gifts – all the LOVE – that God has poured into you.
THIS I know to be true. God who loves us, is cheering for us like mad. So don’t hold back.
Feel the love? Then let’s share the love!
Thanks be to God. Amen.