Reflections on the Season Epiphany 2 January 15, 2012

Reflections on the Season    Epiphany 2    January 15, 2012

For the past two weeks I have had a growing sense of profound movements taking place.  In prayer, the sense I get is of massive columns of rock shifting deep in the earth and opening up dangerous crevasses.  Yet there is also cool artesian water flowing through these cracks, upward to the surface.  Friends in Lindisfarne and Living Hope have seen ruptures and separations in relationships: dear friendships and marriages are on the rocks.  Some have recently had to leave jobs and go out on their own, searching for livelihood and meaning.     Some of us have been witness to children or friends being racked with painful illnesses and facing death.  Some of us are in the midst of intense birth-like personal experiences that are hard to put into words.  

So this morning I am laying aside this week’s lectionary readings and choosing instead to reflect on a passage that speaks directly to this time.  It is one that many have learned by heart:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us.  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.”

It is from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:37-39).  It speaks to a community and individuals who are going through all kinds of uncertainty, dislocations, pain, trauma, and serious threats to their very survival.  And the message that permeates these experiences is that no matter what is going on, God’s love is assured.  In the letter, the description of the trials and forces is bracketed by love, surrounded by love; “Christ behind me, Christ before me” as the Celtic prayer goes. No matter what happens, it is the very nature and essence of Jesus to be always self-giving, in a love that is always with us, fused into us, welded to us inseparably. We sing a Taize song with words from Teresa of Avila, in Spanish "nada de turbe, nada de spante, solo Dios basta"  --   Let nothing upset you, let nothing startle you, God alone is enough"   When it seems that bedrock is no longer bedrock, but is shaking beneath our feet, know that God’s love cannot be shaken loose. 

So I invite you, at this very moment, to stop, be still, and soak in this great truth: God’s love is all we really need, and nothing can separate us from God’s love.

John+