Sermonette: Life in a blink

The blinking line ... ︱ there it is ... ︱ and here I sit ... in front of my screen ... trying to think of something to write for this newsletter article ... and the blink blinks each time I stop typing ... taunting. ︱ ︱ ︱ I don’t have any ideas of what to write!

Maybe I am over thinking this. Maybe the words don’t need to be profoundly new or revolutionary. What thoughts are rolling around in my head? 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 fill this blank page with any kinds of words I want to. Words have power. So, what is it I want to say today? Well, let’s start there (two paragraphs in!).

God loves you. Like for real. Not in some far-off in the sky, 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 am holding you and guiding you” kind of way. God loves you intimately.

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 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.

Do the words above give you life? I pray they do, and that you know them in the depths of your heart and soul as true. Not too good to be true, but actually truly, goodness graciously true; like the best good news you ever heard. The Good News ... of God in Christ Jesus.

And then, all of us who have heard and know this good news get to gather together around this good news, to be reminded of it, and be spurred on to share it with others. We share it through acts and words and generosity and vulnerability and sometimes even tough love. And we call ourselves the church. Not perfect by any stretch; but faithful and beautifully broken witnesses to this Good News and the transformative power it has in our lives and in our world.

And still, the blinking line on the screen… ︱ no longer a curse, but an invitation to share this Good News with you. And so it is with our lives, stories as yet unwritten.

Our lives, a blinking line; an invitation to join God’s redeeming work in our world. May we each say yes, and lean into the most meaningful life possible. ︱