Romans 8:38 – 39 from Eugene Peterson’s the Message:
I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
When my knees shake and my stomach churns I find my mind repeating the more familiar phrase “nothing can separate us from the love of God we know in Christ Jesus…” As Eugene Peterson translates it “nothing can get between us and God’s love.” That gives me great comfort and hope.
Our theme this Lenten Season is “preparing the ground…” I understand that as preparing our grounding…our foundation…our core. We are preparing ourselves to respond to God’s incredible, astonishing love made known to us in Christ, made known to all creation in Christ. How do we respond? How will you respond? At our core, how will we respond?
On a visit to Haiti immediately following the earthquake we made it a habit to gather early each morning for prayer. Our Haitian friends joined us. We would be working together on accessing damage and helping our friends put their homes and lives back together. One morning I asked our driver how he found hope day after day, struggle after struggle, impossible odds following tragedy after tragedy. He looked deeply into my eyes and said, “You are here. Christ is here. We go on.” Christ Hope was brought to him because in us he saw tangible evidence that he was not separated from God’s love in Jesus Christ.
Pray with me: O God whose love knows no boundaries in all creation, help us as we journey with Christ to Jerusalem to prepare ourselves for our truth…we are Christ Love to all whom we meet…that through us – our actions, attitudes, words in Christ Love – all that might separate ourselves, others and all creation from your love melt away…help us to seize this truth…and live it…amen.
Written by Rev. Dr. Carol DiGiusto
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