For example, in Psalm 19 “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies display the works of his hands.” All of creation knows and speaks of God’s truths. And Psalm 96 tells us, “the heavens rejoice, the earth is glad, the sea resounds, the fields are jubilant, the trees sing for joy” reminding us that everything made by divine hands bears witness to God’s majesty.
 
Although scripture is written by human hands, I believe it carries the divine breath of God, the Spirit who inspired its writers, and continues to guide our understanding today. But here lies the challenge: we can all read the same passage in scripture but interpret it differently. So, we must always be mindful to trust God’s Spirit - allowing the sacred words to inspire our faith into action. And not manipulate scripture to fit a particular narrative or personal agenda.
 
Scripture tells the story of God and we all have a place in it. And this begs the question: How do I bring my unique version of that story to life? Here’s how Paul describes his.
 ​

Many of the Apostle’s letters were written from prison. This isn’t surprising considering he was often arrested for helping people understand and respond to “the boundless riches of Christ.”
 
Believing himself to be “the least of the saints” Paul did not anticipate this calling. He was a Pharisee, a good one at that. One that knew scripture inside-out. He followed the laws and traditions, not challenged them. He was faithful to a fault, even if it meant participating in the stoning of Stephen, who was killed for helping people understand and respond to “the boundless riches of Christ.”
 
Everything changed for Paul on the way to Damascus, where Jesus met him and empowered him to be an Apostle - a person sent to proclaim the good news of God’s redemptive love to the world.
 
While Paul’s letters might seem personal, they are very universal. His message is timeless…and speaks to everyone, everywhere. Paul tells the truth - that God’s love is given to all in Christ.  
 
We are one in Christ - sharing one heart and one gospel story. Some folks in the Ephesus had trouble understanding this. As a major port city Ephesus bustled with Jews and Gentiles who lived and worked side by side. The two did not always get along. Their division was seeping into the church Paul planted. Sound familiar? Today, it’s not Jews and Gentiles, but Republicans and Democrats.
 
Yet Paul’s call for unity still remains. We are the body of Christ, each with a unique purpose but one agenda: “to share the news of the boundless riches of Christ”…the very mysteries of what God has been secretly doing all along.
 
So, the goal of the church is to tell God’s story. Like Jesus showed us, to do so by our words and deeds. This is what Jesus did every time he healed the sick, forgave sins, or reached out to the marginalized. Every meal with sinners or confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus gave the world a glimpse of God’s heart by living out God’s story into the world.
 
This is what Jesus told the Apostles to do in his absence: He said, “go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I commanded you to do” (MT 28:17-20). And what was that command? “Love one another as God has loved you.”
 
Jesus’ mission is our mission. His calling is our calling. Jesus isn’t asking us to memorize scripture. He’s sending us to be the living embodiment of God’s words where love and grace are manifested through acts of kindness, compassion and mercy.

Every time we love God, love others, and serve both, the gospel comes alive - living and breathing the Spirit through everyday, ordinary people like us.
 
This is what we have set out to achieve by building a community of love in the space between. We created Anamesa to be a sacred and holy space where everyone participates in God’s story in real, tangible ways.

According to N.T. Wright, “The church exists primarily for two closely correlated purposes: to worship God and to work for his kingdom in the world.”

Our job is to fill every space with God’s love and justice, “making it known to the rulers and authorities”  - even if it means rejection, betrayal, or death.
 

​
This is what Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C., did last Tuesday at the National Cathedral. Standing before those in power, she gently delivered a plea for mercy and compassion toward the vulnerable and marginalized.

Quoting directly from scripture, Rev. Budde reminded us that our mission, as both the church and nation, is to reflect God’s justice, mercy, and inclusivity. Her words echoed God’s deep concern for the poor, the voiceless, and the foreigner - truths proclaimed throughout scripture.
 
Yet, many people called her message nasty, divisive, and politically motivated.  What hurts me the most is the majority of those criticisms came from people who profess to follow Jesus.

At what point did Jesus tell us to return God’s call for mercy and unity, with hate and division, as my friend Bob Cooper wrote,  all “because a Christian minister dared to speak the words of Christ in a Christian church.”
 
I wouldn’t surprise me if the American churches receive a letter from Paul today. How have we forgotten God’s grace isn’t just for those who can afford it. God is for everyone. And God’s mercy and grace is  for anyone who wants it or needs it.
 
No matter who you love, where you are from, or which political party you belong to you have “access to God, in boldness and confidence, because of the faith of Christ.” In him, we have been written into God’s story…a divine story of unconditional love and unmerited grace.
 
This story isn’t just to be read or memorized, but shown and shared in all that we do. Love knows no boundaries. It holds no grudges or resentment. Love is not boastful, arrogant or demanding. Love is the good news… it rejoices in truth.
 
Standing before those in power, Martin Luther King proudly professed, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

When a fellow Christian, like Mariann Budde, boldly stands for love, our response should not be to knock them down or attack. But to stand alongside them, encouraging their faithfulness.
 
As the body of Christ, the church is sent to tell the truth of God’s unconditional love, even when it’s difficult or unpopular. When we embrace our calling as vessels of God’s hope and love, sharing the Christ message with our own unique stories, we become part of the living word of God - revealing the truth and beauty of God’s kingdom where there is “no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female” (Galatians 3:28). 
 
That rabbinical school next door to us, practiced their faith with piety and devotion, but the scripture they memorized they used to separate themselves from the world. For years, I greeted their teachers and student only to have them divert their eyes from me. I know they were not trying to be rude, just faithful to their tradition.
 
Again, what’s the point of scripture if it doesn’t pierce your heart and inspire you to make God’s world come alive? Paul’s letter reminds us that we all have access to God, whose Spirit empowers us to participate in God’s extraordinary plan to reconcile all things on earth as it is in heaven.
 
If we believe this scripture to be true - that it is God breathed and Spirit led - then let us embody the words. And embrace our calling with humility and joy.

Let us go out into the world as living testimonies, bearing witness to the hope and beauty of God’s kingdom; where truth, mercy and love reign forever.  Amen.

Sadly, the only remnants of this modernist marvel are those three concrete pillars, standing defiantly above the ashes like the Holy Trinity. A great reminder for us that in moments of crisis, our faith can feel precarious at times. But the thing is, it’s not. Faith is absolutely rational simply because when it comes down to it, it's not about our faith per se, but God’s faith in us.

As we continue our journey through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we learn a few things about God’s faithfulness. So far we’ve discovered grace was given to us from the beginning of time And that out of great love for us, we are no longer dead because of our sin, but we are alive in Christ, the manifestation of God’s love given to the world.
 
This grace and love, according to Paul’s letter, has nothing to do with anything we have accomplished. Instead, it’s all about what God has done for us…in Christ. More than saving us from something, God is rebuilding us for something. At the heart of this rebuilding is God’s radical, unifying love that tears down walls, heals old wounds, and creates a living, breathing community that reflects God’s presence in the world.

Bathing in its light, I thought about how King David wanted to build a temple for God because he felt guilty that he was living in a luxurious palace while the ark of God remained in a tent.
 
In this story, God asks David: “Are you the one to build me a house to live in?” (2 Samuel 7:5). It seems David was blinded by his own desires, and missed a very important point: God doesn’t need a house to dwell in, because God has chosen to dwell in us.
 
Although La Sagrada is truly the most amazing building ever imagined, the Bible teaches us that God doesn’t need more church buildings. God needs us to just be the church, the living Body of Christ. A place where God can dwell. And love can thrive. God invites us to play a part in this construction.
 
And so Paul writes, “You who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). We are not separated from Christ, but in Christ we are drawn into God’s redemptive purpose for creation.
 
I know what it feels like to be disconnected— allowing my wounds, fears, and endless excuses to isolate me from God and others. But this is precisely the space where Christ comes to draw us back to God. And unite us with one another.

Christ is the blueprint used to connect and reconstruct us with God, and God with us. Like Paul writes in another letter, “It is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians. 2:20).
 
Most religious people still think God is just somewhere out there. And if we do these rituals and say the right prayers we get access to God. I believe God is out there, because God is everywhere including in here, in you and me.

Richard Rohr reminds us that “True spiritual transformation happens once we realize our union with God right here, right now and it has nothing to do with any performance or achievement on our part.”
 
We are saved, not by what we’ve done but what God has done for us. Remember from last week, “By grace you have been saved, through faith that is not ours” (Ephesians 2:8). God did not send Christ into the world so we could get into heaven. Christ came to get heaven into us.
 
Jesus’ entire ministry was to prepares a place where God’s love could dwell—a everlasting and all-inclusive love that isn’t limited by walls, doctrines, or beliefs. A love that welcomes all as they are - without judgement.
 
Paul emphatically proclaims, Christ smashes down the walls that divide us. He is the master builder, taking a sledgehammer to our old selves, before measuring, cutting, and reframing our hearts and minds to reflect his.

​We are Christ body.  “A temple of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:19). In him, we are built back better. A Holy and sacred space where God’s presence can reside. But there’s more to this than just being a place for God to visit.
 
Years ago, when my parents were remodeling their home, I suggested they tear down the wall that faced the woods and replace the space with windows. While the contractor wasn’t too happy with this suggestion, it was clearly the right thing to do.  No matter where you sit in their living room you get a view of their amazing and beautiful backyard.
 
In the same way, Christ replaces the walls around our hearts with windows—so we can not only see heaven all around us, but so others can see heaven within us.

This should help us better understand our theme is “building a community of love in the space between.” Achieving this requires new construction—not just in you or me, but in us collectively. Paul uses the plural and not the singular tense to speak to this idea. First, he wrote, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10).
 
Now Paul confidently states, “In Christ we are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Again, this isn’t talking about a brick and mortar building. It’s about hearts that are connected and united in the Spirit of God’s love.

In order for this to happen, we must allow God to reshape us as living temples of love where Christ is the cornerstone. We must allow God’s being and essence to take root in us “so the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy.”  (Nouwen)
 
As the living embodiment of God’s love in the flesh, Jesus shows us how humility, compassion and grace become the very things that fill Anamesa the space between us and God;  between you and me.

​By following the way of Jesus, we too can embody God’s love— offering others a foretaste of heaven here on earth.
 
Nouwen writes, “I know that I have to move from speaking about Jesus to letting him speak within me, from thinking about Jesus to letting him think within me, from acting for and with Jesus to letting him act through me. I know the only way for me to see the world is to see it through his eyes.”
 
This is what it means to be the church, the very embodiment of Christ who welcomed others without discrimination or judgement.

Jesus teaches us how it can be accomplished: by listening to others with compassion, forgiving with generosity, and demanding every human is treated justly and fairly. 
 
We all play a role in this sacred work. But we don’t do it alone. Those three pillars rising above the ashes over Sunset Boulevard, remind us that God—our Creator, Savior, and Sustainer—is always at work sifting through the damage; rebuilding us from the inside out.
 
It might take years, even decades, to rebuild the homes and communities that were affected by the LA fires. But God’s restoration is happening now. And every time a neighbor help a neighbor, God’s kingdom comes. God’s will is done, on earth as it is in heaven.

With each act of love, charity, and kindness we show, the walls that have divided us crack and crumble.
 
Through it all, God is with us clearing away the rubble of doubt, fear, and pain. And building new hearts full of hope, peace, and love…where Christ is the cornerstone.

“In him the whole structure is joined together.” And for him may we grow together spiritually as a dwelling place for God.
 

Work Cited
Nouwen, Henri J. M. Finding Our Sacred Center: A Journey to Inner Peace. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2021.
Rohr, Richard. “The Divine in This and in Us.” Daily Meditations. Center for Action and Contemplation, 27 December 2024. Accessed [18 January 2025].

It’s hard to tell an anxious or grief-ridden person that God is not absent in our suffering. It’s hard to hear, much less believe, that God meet us in our deepest grief, our most shattered places, to redeem us and restore us.
 
Like the prophet Isaiah wrote - God gives us "a crown of beauty instead of ashes." Although fire can destroy what is tangible, it cannot consume God’s promise to make all things new from the ashes of our lives.
 
For the next few weeks I want to sit with Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, that speaks of some of the best qualities of God. And teaches us how to build a community of love in Christ.
 
Last week we learned God’s grace wasn’t given to fix a problem, it was a part of the plan from the very beginning. Today, we’ll see how God’s love, which is great in mercy, is not only sufficient to save and redeem us, it’s also powerful enough to brings life out of death, beauty out of brokenness, and hope out of despair.

Death comes in many forms. More than just the end of one’s physical life, death also marks the end of one’s past – like a career, a relationship, a home. In his letter, Paul boldly  declares, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins.” He doesn’t say you’re sick or struggling, but dead. Cut off from God because of the brokenness that pervades our world – a.k.a. sin.
 
In our discussion last week, Aurora described sin as “anything that is not love.” If we believe God is love, then sin happens whenever we’re not honoring God with our whole heart. According to Paul, this is what killed the human condition – our inability to truly love.
 
This is true for us as individuals and as a church. How quickly we Christians have forgotten the last command Jesus gives us “Love one another as God first love you.” God is love. Without it, we are nothing (1 Cor. 13:2).
 
Although we have died to our sin, Paul doesn’t leave us there. He pivots with two of the most hope-filled words in Scripture: “But God.” In fact, he writes “But God, who is rich in mercy, has made us alive in Christ.” This is resurrection language. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, we too are raised from the ashes of our sin … to new life in Him. This gift of God’s love made manifest for us in Christ Jesus, is a complete re-creation—a divine rescue from death to life.
 
This doesn’t mean we won’t suffer. We will. You can’t have love and suffer or feel pain. I should know, Kathleen and I just celebrate 26 years of marriage on Thursday. As Jesus’ own suffering revealed, death doesn’t have the final word. But God…does.
 
This is hard for some to hear; including my friend John whose life was upended by the fire.
He lost everything. I’m not surprise he expressed to me his anger with God – to put it nicely. You might be feeling the same way right now. Maybe you’ve been praying, like I have, but the fires in your life are still raging.
 
In an angry text to me, John declared, “Praying was a waste of time. There’s no God.” And yet, immediately after that bold statement, John told me how his son saved an elderly lady stranded in her home. I suspect that woman might have a different opinion about God, who was there, in the flesh of a young man rushing to her rescue.
 
I get what John is feeling. I have felt loss before. Just not on that scale. It’s easy to pray and pretend everything is going to be okay from afar. It’s difficult to believe anything is real when your reality is altered like this. It’s hard to see God’s presence when you’re in shock. It’s hard to have faith when your life is being taken from you. But that’s when you need it the most.

 
God meets us where we are, offering love that is rich in mercy, and grace that was built into the foundation life. To put it in perspective, both John and the woman lost their homes. Between the two, only her life was in mortal danger. Yet, God was, and still is, there for both of them –
at the ready - to offer a new life from the ashes of their past.
 
God is there for you too, doing the same sacred work: resurrecting us from death and giving us new life in Christ. Writing from prison, Paul knows we’re unable to save ourselves. But God … can. Because God is always with us in Christ, we can always count on God to reach into the flames of our burning life and save us. This saving grace has nothing to do with anything we’ve done. Instead, it’s all about what God chooses to do for us.
 
We live in a world that measures worth by achievement. We’re taught to believe that success, love, and even acceptance must be earned. But God’s salvation is not a reward for good behavior, or a prize for our efforts. It’s already been given to us freely in Christ - the divine stamp of approval God etched into each one of us.
 
Yes, if you love you will suffer. The gift of Christ eases our pain and saves us by moving us closer to God. As Paul points out, or as my friend’s son inadvertently taught us, we’re not just saved from something. God has saved us for something. Salvation is less about rescue and more about participating in God’s ongoing work of restoration.
 
Barbra Brown Taylor beautifully describes salvation as something that happens “every time someone with a key uses it to open a door he could have locked.” Like Paul reminds the church, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”
 
The Greek word for “workmanship” is “poema,” where we get the word “poem.” Each of us is God’s poem - a unique expression of Divine artistry, crafted with intention and purpose. Salvation is not just rescue, it’s an invitation to live differently – to die to our old self and become something new.
 
At the center of this new life is our love for God, our love for one another, and our service to both. It is a call to love with “God-intoxication and compassion for others that knows no limits.…” (McFague).
 
While I have been intentional to stay away from news, there are so many heartwarming stories I’m hearing of people helping one another – opening their homes, donating goods, paying for gas and hotel rooms. Many of these were people had lost everything themselves, but were still compelled to help.
 
There’s a story of a women who met a family, like herself, that had escaped with only the clothes they were wearing. She knew she couldn’t fix their situation. But she could take the family to Target with her and buy them the basic essentials needed to begin the long journey ahead. In that one act of compassion, God’s grace and glory was revealed in human suffering and grief.
 
The Buddhist have a saying, Life is a thousand joys. And a thousand sorrows. Our job, as Christ followers, is to use our joy to reduce the sorrow around us. This doesn’t erase our losses. But can minimize it for others. Through us, our merciful and abundant God meets us in the ashes, and transforms our pain into a testimony of love.
 
As we look ahead to what is next, to the long journey of rebuilding our city and the neighborhoods that help us thrive, let us not forget that homes can be rebuilt. But God wants to rebuild your heart by making you alive in Christ.
 
Yes, the road to redemption is paved with pain and suffering. But God’s love remains steadfast - always with us. When John unleashed his fury to God - by directing at me I realized what it truly meant to be the face of Christ - to be a safe place for him to unload his pain. I don’t know how God can hold so much of our suffering. But God…can. “With God, all things are possible.” (Mt. 19:26)
 
As we go out this week, may we live as resurrected people, walking in the good works God has prepared for us. May your live proclaim the truth that God’s grace is enough to endure the growing pains of life.
 
In Christ’s name let us continue to build a community of love, in the space between where God meets us in the ashes and makes us new again- everyday, everywhere, and always. Amen
 
 
 
 
Work Cited
McFague, Sallie. Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Fortress Press, 2001), 175, 176. 
Taylor, Barbara Brown. Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2006.

There’s a story in the Hebrew Testament where the Hebrew people, having been released from captivity in Egypt, find themselves wandering in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. Here’s a small part of their story:
 
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” (Numbers 21:4-5)
 
It’s been a struggle for these people, to say the least. For one thing, it’s all new to them. They’ve been in captivity for so long that they know nothing about freedom, let alone how to navigate it.Their entire lives—culture, rules, and norms—have been shaped by a cruel and demanding Pharaoh. But the God of their ancestors heard their cries and liberated them. Now they’re on their own. Feeling like they’ve lost their way, they begin to crumble and complain, even longing to return to the hell they know.
 
Ernest Hemingway, in A Farewell to Arms, wrote: “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Such a strong statement from a man whose own strength became his crippling weakness. Hemingway’s tragic suicide is a reminder that life is hard. It’s damn near impossible to get through it without suffering cracks along the way. But, as we see in the ancient Japanese art form of kintsugi, there is beauty to be found in these cracks.
 
Kintsugi a way to repair broken pottery using a special lacquer mixed with gold. The goal for the artist is not to hide the cracks but to transform the piece into something new. Each golden line tells a new story, making the object more beautiful and valuable because of its imperfections.
 
I suspect you know what it feels like to be lost and broken. For me, it took a broken marriage to come home to God. The truth is, most of us only seek God when something in our lives is broken, when we’re in need of healing. Kintsugi has reminded me of what God’s redemption looks like. God sees our brokenness and believes we are worth fixing. Still, as both Hemingway and the Hebrew people realized – the path to redemption is often paved with pain and suffering.
 
Yet scripture constantly reminds us that God is always with us – always healing and redeeming us with unconditional love and grace. That love and grace has a name: Christ. He is the bond that puts us back together. He is the gold that fills our scars, giving them new meaning and beauty. Through Him, we become more valuable because of our brokenness.
 
We all carry the scars of our past. But instead of hiding them or pretending they don’t exist, we are called to wear them proudly, knowing they are a living testimony of God’s love and grace. Each golden scar lets the world know we’re worth more to God precisely because of our cracks.

When I see my own scars, I am reminded, not of my brokenness but of God’s goodness. I see them and know that it’s God’s love for me that I’m alive today to tell this story. As we fill in the chips and cracks, the dents and dings, and all the broken and shattered pieces of our lives with the gold that is God's love, let us not forget that we become more beautiful and more valuable than ever.
 

It’s 2025. Can you believe it? When 2000 rolled around, and Y2K was our greatest threat, I never thought I would be where I am today. I’m sure you’re probably thinking the same.

I was a Creative Director in an advertising agency, selling new cars. Or whatever product was given to me. I had no children. And no desire to be a minister, even though I secretly knew I was destined to be both. My life was a bit wild and reckless to say the least.

Looking back at that wild period in our history, I wonder how any of us made it this far. The best answer simply would be to quote Paul, who said it was by the grace of “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us.”
 
Paul tells us, before the foundations of the world, God set this blessing in motion, so we’d be holy and blameless before God in love.

Before all the messes we’ve made or the trouble we found ourselves mixed up in, before our parents conceived us or their parents conceived them, Paul declares, “God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.” And God did this simply for “the good pleasure of his will.” 
 
Before the first flower bloomed, or the first human cried, God sowed all “the riches of grace” into the blueprint of creation. Grace was God’s plan all along. And that grace has a name – Christ. 
 
Paul writes, God “has blessed us in Christ.” The Apostle uses this term, “en Christo,” or “in Christ” over 216 times in his epistles. He most often uses it to reveal our union with God, teaching us that our identity, actions, and being are all rooted in God’s love and grace because we are in Christ.
 
Richard Rohr understands the term en Christo as “a codeword for the gracious, participatory experience of salvation.” He argues because we’re made in Christ, we are never separated from God. Christ is the proof that God chose us long before we chose God.
 
Which means Christ wasn’t sent into the world to save us from something we did, but to draw us closer to the source of our being. “We are all in Christ, willingly or unwillingly, happily were unhappy, consciously or unconsciously.”  Because God initiated this, we can live holy and rightly before God “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.”
 
It might seem obvious, but spiritual blessings are different than material ones. A person can have great material wealth and be deficient in love, joy, peace, goodness, or any other Spiritual fruit. When our focus is on material wealth, we lose sight of what God abundantly offers. How many times last year did you utter the phrase, “If only I had”? If only I had more money. If only I had a better job. If only I had someone to love.
 
There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big dreams or achieving big goals, as long as we don’t lose sight of the fact that we already have all that we need to obtain those things. In Christ, we are heirs to all the blessings of God’s eternal love. Our job isn’t to keep up with the Jones, but to follow the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us.
 
Yet we still choose to chase after meaningless things – selling ourselves short to belong to some team or tribe. We seek more likes, more followers, we live and die by other people’s opinion. Being a part of things and enjoying a good life is fine, but God has greater goals for you and me. Goals that were set in motion before the earth’s foundations, when God made us “the focus of his love.” ​

 
We belong to God. We are holy and beloved. I believe this is what Paul means when he writes, “In Christ, we have obtained our inheritance.” Adopted by God because that’s God’s will for us.
​
Our greatest blessing is that God loves us no matter who we are or what we’ve done. For that to happen, God sowed grace into creation itself. That grace is the gift of Christ within us, who draws us closer to the One who calls us his beloved.
 
Henri Nouwen taught, “If you dare to believe that you are beloved before you are born, you may suddenly realize that your life is very, very special.” God didn’t choose you for the team because of some ritual you did or prayer you said. God built the team around you – redeeming you and consecrating you from the get-go.

We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. Which means we can live and glorify God in love, without guilt or shame. Talk about a great epiphany!
 
To think God’s love for us reveals not only God’s greatest power made manifest in Christ but it also reveals God’s greatest vulnerability.

What do I mean by that? In order for God’s love to be unconditional like scripture declares, God has to be gracious with God’s own self. Despite whatever we divinely created creatures can do, God’s love must be greater than God’s disappointment, anger, or wrath.
 
Of course, this goes against a lot of fundamentalist Christian teachings that state Christ was sent to fix the problem of sin that snuck in and shook-up God’s plan.

​Personally, I don’t think God’s original design was flawed. Or that God made some kind of mistake that needed correcting. Instead, God made Christ manifest in us so the idea of sin wouldn’t even be an issue. God came to us in human form to show us a way to live rightly and blameless before God.
 
Jesus understood this. He knew he was blessed and consecrated by God, and lived that blessing fully and faithfully. At his baptism, when the heavens opened and God declared “This is my beloved son” Jesus reacted by dedicating the rest of his life to love us, and to reveal to us our own belovedness. 
 
God’s grace isn’t about correcting a divine mistake. It’s given to us, in Christ, to make us aware of our true, divine selves, and to move us forward towards God’s heart, to dwell in God’s eternal love. 
 
This should be a great epiphany for anyone who was told they’re going to burn in hell for all eternity because of who they are or who they love. The mysteries of God’s will, according to Paul, have been “made known to us, according to God’s good pleasure set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather all things in heaven and on earth.” 
 
In Christ, are united together with God. In Christ, we receive the blessings of God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness And in Christ, we stand before God in love. 
 
In Christ we are made, and in Christ we are sent into Anamesa bearing the fruits of the Spirit, in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both. 
 
This is where our faith in Christ helps us to achieve the faith of Christ who sees others as God does. And loves them all the same. Let us enter this new year, with a new focus on being like him living in loving awareness to all that God has given to us.
 
Let us take our spiritual blessings to awaken the world to God’s glory. And become the epiphany for others to discover who they are - God’s beloved.

 
 
Work Cited:
Nouwen, Henri. You Are The Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living. Convergent Books: 2017.
Rohr, Richard. The Universal Christ: How A Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe. Convergent Books: 2019.
 

Comedian Pete Holmes once asked an audience if they were New Year’s celebrators—the kind of people who go all out at midnight, ringing in the new year with wild enthusiasm. When the crowd erupted in applause, Holmes made an intriguing point: “You know it’s been a year since it was today, right? And no one is excited.”
 
It’s a funny observation that begs the question: why don’t we celebrate like this every day?
 
Sure, the idea of throwing a nightly party with noise-makers and confetti cannons might seem over-the-top (and let’s face it, most of us couldn’t stay up until midnight every night even if we tried). But what if we approached each morning with the same sense of fresh possibility that the new year brings? What if we saw every day as a new beginning, brimming with opportunities to serve and build up God’s kingdom?  ​

I thought about this as I watched my three-year-old nephew, Neil, celebrate New Year’s Eve. He was the life of the party—greeting everyone with boundless enthusiasm, as if each person were the best gift ever.

​According to his parents, Neil consistently wakes up and goes to sleep happy, filling the hours in between with his infectious laughter and joy.
 
Henri Nouwen reminded us to welcome all of life with such unbridled delight. He wrote, “We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new.”
 
Although we officially celebrate the New Year on January 1, perhaps we can take a note from Neil’s playbook—welcoming each day with joyful exuberance, knowing it’s pregnant with possibilities to make God’s kingdom come alive in our lives with celebratory joy.