Nothing can separate us.........

It was the Spirit.  Now certainly it didn't hurt that the Romans 8 passage is a particular favorite of mine and that I have heard countless sermons on the text.  It just needed to be said. Nothing.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing.  Nothing.  Can I have an AMEN to that?

The sermon I had prepared faded away as I listened to this powerful statement of God's continuing and constant presence in this passage from Paul.  It was Confirmation Sunday and these 3 young people are searching for themselves, a future, a calling and a faith.  They certainly weren't alone.  Family and friends showed their support by being present for the worship service, even though many of them had not been in a church in a long time.  They too were searching - even if it was unconsciously - for some message that would ring true in their lives , provide comfort or strength, and at the very least, just not lie about the truth that they lived each day.

They were not all that different from lots of our friends and neighbors who are exposed to hell fire and brimstone preaching, fundamentalist anti-science silliness, hateful speech about any number of people, and ridiculous claims about  everything from healing to wealth.  In the meantime they are working hard and watching as life takes its toll on them and those around them: finances, jobs, health, accidents, evil.  What word did God have for them on this day?

Nothing.  It was a word about the constancy, power, persistence of God's love - a love so strong that nothing can separate us from it.  The world can bring it all:  peril, famine, violence, financial ruin....none of that will make God let us go.  We can bring  it all:  nastiness, hurt, evil, rejection....and none of that will make God let us go.  God's love is there and is always: neither height nor depth or angels or principalities nor things present nor things to come nor anything else in all creation .....can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  Nothing.  Nothing.

This amazing promise does not negate the toughness of our lives.  It doesn't promise us rose gardens (which BTW have thorns!) nor does it promise smooth sailing.  It promises that in all situations and circumstances we are and we shall ever be loved and held by the Creator of the Universe.

I expect there will be a day when that is the only thing we have left to cling to.  That promise.  That God.  That Jesus.

So I preached that sermon.  Because someone out there needed to here it, and it just might have been me.