Sermonette: July 11, 2022

The blinking line… | there it is… blink blink | | and here I sit… in front of my screen…trying to think of something to write for this sermonette article… and the blink blinks each time I stop typing…seemingly taunting me… I don’t you have anything to day? My answer to the voice in my head? NO! Apparently not!

Summer writer’s block is a curse!

Maybe I am over thinking this. Maybe the words don’t need to be profoundly new or revolutionary. And just like a flash, something occurs to me… perhaps the blinking line is not a curse, but rather an opportunity.

Perhaps, I just need a new perspective. I can actually fill this blank page with any kinds of words I want to. And, I remind myself, words have power. So, what is it I want to say today?

God loves you. Like for real. Not in some far off, I’m looking down on you kind of way, but in the–I created you and know you and am in you and through you and beside you and holding you - kind of way.

Oh, and God’s love is not conditional. In fact, there is nothing, and I really mean nothing you can do that would make God love you less than God loves you right now, and right now, and every right now until forever.

Oh, and there is also nothing, and I mean nothing that you can do that could make God love you more than God loves you right now… and now… and now… and right now, and every now until forever.

Got that? God’s love is unconditional. You are God’s beloved. This truth is what we call God’s amazing grace. Unearned. Given freely. A gift of love from our God who is love, through our Savior, Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is always busy revealing God’s goodness to you and to me.

I pray the power of these words penetrate your mind and heart today. Stop for just a minute. Read the italicized section again, then read it one more time for good measure. Let the words in, for these words are true. Not too good to be true, but actually truly goodness graciously true; like the best news you ever heard. The Good News… of God in Christ Jesus.

We believe this truth, put our trust in this truth. We gather with other believers of this Good News- to be reminded of it and to be spurred on to share it. We share it through acts and words and generosity and vulnerability and sometimes even tough love. And Jesus calls us believers “the church.” As the church we are not perfect by any stretch; but faithful and beautifully broken witnesses to the transformative power that the Good News has in our lives and in our world.

And still, the blinking line on the screen blinks… unfinished. A loving reminder that our stories are not finished.

Our lives are a blinking line; an invitation to write our stories, an invitation to join God’s story of love and redemption. May we each say yes and lean into the most meaningful life possible.