Very, Very Much [Proper 10B]

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The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
Ephesians 1:3-14 

Very, Very Much

Christian, there is something I need you to know: God loves you very, very much.  I know you have heard that before – maybe so many times that it can sound trite.  But I need you to hear it today.  And I need you to really let it sink in; soak it up.  God loves you very, very much.

I need you to hear it because I need you to believe it.  See, there will be times in this life, Christian, when that love is all you will have in the whole world.  Really hard times, sad times, lonely times.  Times when you will feel lost.  Days when you will feel like no one cares.  Days when it will seem like the world is against you.  I wish it was not so, but those days happen.  And so I need you to know that God loves you very, very much.

See, before the foundations of the world, before God ordered the chaos, before your parents ever imagined the possibility of you, God chose you.  You were on God's heart and in God's thoughts before there was even time.  It’s hard to imagine that.  But God's love is like that: so big, so inconceivable, that it is impossible to fathom.

This is just one of the amazing things the writer of Ephesians tells us in today's Epistle reading. Our passage from Ephesians, chapter one verses three through fourteen is actually the longest sentence in the Greek New Testament – a sentence of over two hundred words in the original language. The readers today had no idea how lucky they were to have so many periods. Even broken into multiple sentences, however, it is still pretty packed with big ideas about God – a God who chose you before the foundation of the world. You see, big ideas.

And that is how much God loves you.  God loved before you ever had the opportunity to make a good decision or a bad decision.  Before you were born, God already loved you.  And now that it has been confirmed that you do in fact make plenty of bad decisions and do many things that hurt other people, God never once regretted the decision to choose you.  Because God loves you very, very much.

The comparison is in many ways quite inadequate, but if it helps, God loves you like a parent loves a child.  I am a parent; I have two boys.  I'm not sure what lies ahead of us, in the future.  I suspect they will at times make poor decisions.  They will at times distract me as I try to write my sermons.  They will at times embarrass me and their mother.  They will at times fail to live up to their potential and their ideals.  And I will be disappointed.  But I will still love them very, very much.  I always have and I always will.  And still God will love them more.

Because while they live in my home, they are members of God's household.  They belong to God.  They were born again in the waters of baptism, born into a new life in Christ – new creatures with a new family.  Their sisters and brothers: the saints.  God: their true parent.  I am simply a caretaker of what I can never own.  God adopts us as God's own children through JesusChrist.  Our reading from Ephesians tell us that too.  Chosen before time; adopted as God's own children. 

You are a child of God.  God made you a member of a family.  That happened in your baptism.  It will happen here again today.  And that means, Christian, that you will never be alone.  You will always belong.  You will always be loved – by your brothers and sisters, but even more so by your Heavenly Parent. 

When that mystical water splashed on your head, your life changed forever. You were adopted by God.  You belong to God.  You bear the family name; you are now called “Christian.”  And because you bear the family name, you represent the One who adopted you. 

And there will be times, I am sure, when you will be a poor representative.  There will be times when your light is too dim.  There will be times when you let off no light at all.  You will be petty when you should forgive.  And you will make war when God calls for peace.  And you will stay silent when you should speak the Truth.  There will be times when you choose not to love.  And God will be disappointed.  But still God will love you very, very much.  God always has and God always will.

No matter how profound your failure, God will never let you go.  No matter much you soil the family name, God will never disown you.  You are God's child.  God will love you forever.

Now, it should be said, even though God's grace is infinitely deep, and even though God's mercy endures forever, and even though those adopted into the household of God will never, ever be disowned, God still has big expectations for you.  After all, you are a member of God's family; after all, you are now a part of the Body of Christ.  You are called to represent God in this big, wild world.  You are an icon.  The world sees God in your face, in your words, in your actions.  It is your job to carry the light of Christ into even the darkest corners of this world.

That is a lot of pressure – even for someone like you.  It is a hugely important calling.  And that is why it is important that you know that God loves you very, very much.  The God who chose you and adopted you and loves you will also help you do the work God has given you to do.  So get on with your work.  And don't be afraid.  Sure, you might fail.  That is true.  But God will love you no less if you do.  So don't hold back.  Love big.  Be bold.  Throw your heart into it.

And never forget, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ's own forever.  God has branded you with a divine seal.  You belong.  Ephesians says that too.  Chosen.  Adopted.  And marked forever.

You are God's child.  You always have been and you always will be.  And nothing can change that.  Sometimes life will be hard.  And sometimes it will will easy.  Life will hurt sometimes and sometimes it will fill you with the most unspeakable joy.  In the good times and in the bad times, in the ups and in the downs, God's love will be the one constant in your life.  It will never change. It will never shrink or fade or go away. God loves you very, very much. 

Share that love.  Give it away.  You will never run out.  Let others know that they are loved.  Everybody needs to know that they are loved – loved before the foundations of the world, loved until the end of time.  Loved with a love that cannot be earned and cannot be scared off.  Loved by God.

I once heard a priest offer this blessing and it stuck with me:

“Life is short,
And we do not have much time
to gladden the hearts of those who
make the journey with us.
So… be swift to love,
and make haste to be kind.”[1]

And I would add: never, ever forget this one thing – it may sound trite, but, trust me, it is not.  It is the most important thing you will ever hear; and I need you to hear it, Christian, because I need you to believe it: God loves you very, very much.  



[1]   http://www.episcopalcafe.com/be_swift_to_love/

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