Easter Sunday - 2009

A sermon from this past Resurrection day.

I am forever indebted to my childhood pastor--Pastor Jim McCammon for the phrase "There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less." Without him, I would not know this phrase, and it would not be ingrained so deeply in my core. May he be the invaluable footnote to every usage. All right...

Easter Sunday 2009
1st Lutheran Church of the Trinity, Chicago 60616
Pr. Tom Gaulke

+++

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!


The Religious Truths found in our Sacred Stories, our stories of faith
(Stories of Passover and of Redemption,
Stories of Good Fridays and Easter Sundays),
Say some wise theologians,

Are found not as much
in scrutinizing and arguing about and debating over,
the details of the actual historical events,

But the truths of the stories are found more in the fact that these Sacred Stories,
of faith and of hope, of liberation and of resurrection,
happen, in our lives, over and over and over again.

The Gospel writers understood this Truth,

And they embraced it.

And they told today's story.

the story of Easter.

& Of Resurrection.

In countless ways, Gospels, and languages, over and over and over again.

The story they told is the story

Of Love so strong and so unrelenting
And love so persistent
that it overcomes even the bonds of Death.

The story they told was the story of a God who shows no partiality,

The story of a God who would go through Hell and back to reassure people of faith that there is absolutely NOTHING that can separate us from the love God (Romans 8).

They told the story of Easter.

The story of resurrection & Redemption.

They told the story that we, as the Church, are called to tell and retell,
again and again.

Because it's true.

...That there's nothing you can do to make God love you more.
And there's nothing you can do to make God love you less.

God loves you.

Period.

And there's NOTHING that can separate you from the love of God.

Regardless of what society says.

Regardless of what your family says.

Regardless of what your religion has said.

God loves you. Period.

This is the message of Easter: Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Regardless of stupid things you’ve said,

Regardless of stupid things you’re still doing,
(and we've all done stupid things).

Regardless of your Academic Record,

Or your criminal record,

God loves you. Period.

This is the story of Easter: Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

God loves your soul.

God loves you body:

God loves the color of your skin.

God loves your hair and your eyes and your nose.
God loves your belly.
God loves your fat and God loves your skinny.

God loves you. This is the story of Easter.
God shows no partiality.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

God loves your age:

God loves your puberty.

God loves you in your awkward transitions.

God loves you in you quarter-life, mid-life, and end-of-life crises.

God loves your wrinkles.

God loves that you are alive.
& God's love will embrace you even when you are dead.

God loves the way you sing.

God loves the way you create.

God loves the way you do math...

God loves you.

Period.

This is the story of Easter: Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

No one has done anything too horrible.

No one had done anything too un-Christian.

No one is too sinful

Or too eccentric

Or too addicted

Or too crazy

Or too far taken by dementia. Or too mentally ill.

Or too suicidal.

Or too stooped in doubt.

No one is too "born again."

No one is too catholic

Or too Lutheran or too Jewish.

No one is too religious but not very spiritual.

No one is too spiritual but not really religious.

No one is too feeble minded, or too unpleasant,

Or too depressed or too exhausted or too without hope.

No one is too disillusioned by religion.

No one is too much of a bitch.

No one is too gay or too straight or too something else.

No one is too full of guilt.
No one is too full of insecurity or regret or shame.

No one is outside the all-embracing reach of God’s relentless love.

No one.

God loves you.

Period.

There's nothing you can do to make God love you more.
& there's nothing you can do to make God love you less.

Regardless of what society says.
Regardless of what your family says.
Regardless of what your religion has said.

This is the Gospel.
This is the Gospel story.
This is the Story of Easter,
& the story of Resurrection.

And there's nothing that can separate you from the love of God.

Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!

May the peace...AMEN
Amen.