Love is My Birthright

Romans 8. 28 - 39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here we are on March 19th remembering where we were this time a year ago. The lockdown had begun, the pandemic was raging, political folk were arguing about how to deal with it and whose fault it was. Where were you and how did you feel, what did you think, what were your plans?

How can that have been a year ago? A part of me feels as though it were a lifetime ago and yet another part feels as though it were just a wrinkle in time.

Today many of us are vaccinated, many of us survived relatively unscathed, and many of us are returning back to normal. But not so for many others. At a time like this, these words from Paul to the Romans ring so very true. But how do we claim them, how do we live them, how do we know they are true?

What does it mean to be one with the "love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?" Perhaps a visual image of perfection in Creation helps to answer that question. (see below) As some of us face anniversaries of the death of loved ones and some face impending death, some of us face financial woes and fear of how to go forward, we must claim this truth that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the Greatest of all Love, the Love of Creator for the Created. We are living in a fragile world right now, and we must remind ourselves and each other that the Love of God stands as a barrier, a protection against the darkness of life's frailties.

How can I be that reminder for others? How can I remind myself? Maybe a good way to begin is to tell yourself, "You are God's beloved in whom God is well pleased." Love is my birthright, as Nan Merrill says in her interpretation of Psalm 51 in Praying the Psalms. No one can take that away from you.