GOD’S LOVE IS ABSOLUTELY INCLUSIVE
Romans 8:31-39; John 13:34-25
Reconciling in Christ Sunday, Epiphany 4, January 28, 2024
Pastor Ritva H Williams
Here we are on the 10th anniversary of the adoption our Reconciling in Christwelcome statement. Let me begin with a special word of thanks to Bob Streeper forhearing the Holy Spirit’s prompting and urging us to build our welcome statement on the foundation of Christ’s commandment to love one another as Christ loves us.
Christ’s love is absolutely inclusive. Christ teaches us to love our neighbor, to love the stranger and the foreigner, to love the outcast and the marginalized. Christ’s mission in the world is erase the lines that we humans keep on drawing to divide us from each other. Inclusive love is how everyone will know we are disciples of Christ.
This morning’s reading from Romans 8 teaches us that Christ’s love is unbreakable. Nothing we experience in life or death, nothing in all of creation will ever separate us from Christ’s love. No matter what we do, no matter what is done to us by others Christ will not stop loving us. Christ’s love for us is rooted in God who is love.
Christ’s love for us in the firm foundation we can build our lives on. Christ’s love shows up in our lives when we are loved and is made complete when we love one another (1 John 4:7-12). But what does this love look like?
More than 1600 years ago, a north African bishop known as Augustine of Hippo had this to say:
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others. That is what love looks like.(Confessions)
Here in our beloved church we were seeing some troubling things that Matt Robins captured in this video (used on 11/17/19 to introduce renovation project, drawing on Jorge’s original renderings).
This introduction was followed by the video and then a series of slides walking us through the time line our A Place for Everyone – All Are Welcome renovation project.
What does all this have to with loving one another as Christ loves us? We saw and heard that about barriers to accessibility and obstacles to mission in our building. We determined to make our spiritual home friendlier, safer, and more comfortable for members and guests of every age, gender identity and gender expression. Our welcome to persons living with mobility issues is, finally, embodied within this space, and soon will be evident at the front door. This is God’s love, made real by your generosity of time, talent, and treasure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
