Unconditional by Rev. Mark Pettis, June 18, 2017

Transcription

1 Unconditional by Rev. Mark Pettis, June 18, 2017 It was about four months after we had brought Thomas home from the hospital that I was taking him into his room. You see, my nose had detected the need for a visit to the ol changing table, and being the attentive parent that I strive to be, I did not hesitate (after looking around to see if there were anyone else who might otherwise take care of it). If you are a parent, or have, at one time or another, taken care of an infant, you will not be surprised when I tell you that I discovered, after I had removed the soiled diaper, that young Thomas was not finished. It was without rival, his most epic such experience. So much so that my wife heard me yelling all the way in the back of the house, Oh my gosh! It just keeps coming! And to top it off when I had finally cleaned it all up he peed on me. I remember thinking to myself after the insanity had passed, as I cleaned myself up, I must really love that kid. How many of us have seen the movie Parenthood? If not, much like the television show that followed, it is the story of a single family, but it follows the lives of multiple branches of that family. Jason Robards plays the patriarch of the family, Frank, and Steve Martin plays the role of his eldest son, Gil. The cast also includes Mary Steenburgen, Dianne Wiest, Rick Moranis, and Martha Plimpton. It is an impressive cast and a wonderful film. 1

2 Tom Hulce, best known for his portrayal of Mozart in Amadeus plays Gil s younger brother Larry, the family screw-up. Larry has a gambling problem, and is often involved in failed get-rich-quick schemes. Needless to say, his father, Frank, had bailed him out on more than one occasion. Later in the film, after Larry had arrived at the family home unannounced with a young child (his own son) whom none of the family knew existed, he approaches his father Frank asking for yet another loan to pay off the dangerous men to whom he is indebted. Frank is not sure what to do. In a poignant conversation, Frank goes to Gil, who he sees as a good father to ask his advice. Frank explains that it will be a stretch financially to help Larry, but he explains, But he s my son. As fathers, as parents I think we get a glimpse into what it means to have unconditional love for someone. Sometimes it is someone we hardly know, and sometimes it is for someone who we hardly see. Perhaps it is someone who can offer little in return, or perhaps it is someone who only knows how to take. And yet, we love them anyway no matter what unconditionally. Such closeness and connection is not limited to only the parent-child relationship of course. There are, for all of us I imagine, people who are not our parents or our children or even our siblings, for whom we carry a deep and unflinching love. Just as there are likely people who fall into those blood-relative categories for whom we do not. It is a gift to know such closeness, to experience such love. And it can be a burden too just ask Frank. 2

3 Or just ask anyone who has had to watch their child or friend do something selfdestructive, knowing that they had to let it happen, but feeling the pain that comes when someone you love is hurting. Similarly, it is an amazing feeling to know that someone loves you unconditionally. And it can be devastating, when you know you have done something wrong, to know the pain that you have brought into their life. Love is rarely easy, and unconditional love, well that brings with it a level of vulnerability and as a result, a whole new set of highs and lows. This, my friends, is the kind of love that Paul attributes to God in the final line of our Scriptural passage this morning. Or, at least, it is our closest approximation to that love. Let me remind you of the line But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ gave his life for us. Paul is writing to the early church in Rome attempting to explain to them that God, who tradition tells us, sent God s own son to be among the people of God, and that this son gave his life for them, for us. This incredible act of devotion and love by God is a demonstration of God s unconditional love, for, as Paul describes it, we were not worthy of the gift. But God, being God, gave the gift nonetheless. The unconditional love of God. It cannot be earned. It cannot be bought. It cannot be lost. It can only be freely given and received. 3

4 In the Gospels, there are several stories through which Jesus attempts to convey how God relates to God s people. Many of these stories are parables describing the relationship between parent and child, since that is, generally speaking, the closest approximation we have with which we can identify. Of course, the most famous of them is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In that parable, Jesus describes a father who demonstrates unconditional love for his son, and we are to understand this to represent, or at least point to the love that God has for the people of God. The Bible is, among other things, a series of attempts by people to convey a sense of God to the following generations, to describe who God is and what God is like. In our own time we hear and share statements like God is just. God is all-forgiving. God is ever-present. God is love. Each of these, and the chapters in the Bible dedicated to their explanation, not to mention the volumes written throughout the 2000 plus years of Christian tradition, are but attempts to describe what is truly indescribable. And yet, we continue to make the effort, we continue to seek an understanding of God in our world and in our lives. 4

5 One of the key ways we attempt to describe God s relationship to humanity is through the parent-child analogy. It is that analogy that lies at the foundation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and it is that analogy that we often employ in our faith today. And for most people that works, for they can identify with this from one side or the other (as parent or child). But for others, who may not have had a positive relationship with their parents, who may have experienced conditions placed on their love, such an analogy simply falls short. And that can be a painful experience. Pope Francis described this well in a piece describing the link between God s love and the hope it brings, Happiness comes from the experience of knowing love, freely given and received. So much unhappiness in our world is born of the feeling of not being loved for our own sake. Essentially, the experience of true, unconditional love, feeds our spirit, and offers us a sense of true hope. When we have experienced it with others, we may have a sense of what it means to be loved unconditionally by God. But if we have not, then words like unconditional love, threaten to come off as hollow, as the experience is something with which we cannot identify. And that may lead to circumstances where people are incapable of knowing or experiencing God s love. 5

6 Living in a community and world where some find themselves in just that place, it becomes incumbent upon us as the church to demonstrate, to embody that kind of unconditional love for others. For we may demonstrate this love in how we offer our welcome, and how we seek to embody Christ s love through our words and our deeds. It may be these examples that point to God s love which we are called to emulate, and in that way we invite those who would otherwise be unable to understand, into that expansive circle of God s love. And it is that love that affirms us for who we are, and reminds us of whose we are. For we are God s, and God loves us without condition. The Scriptures, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, spend a great deal of time describing how human beings have the capacity to come up short. Despite the constant presence of God we discussed last week, and regardless of how many times we have been reminded of how we are meant to live in community with one another, humanity has time and again shown that there is much room for improvement. Today we can look around our communities and see prejudice and preference. We can look around our nation and observe division and deceit. We can look around our world and witness violence and victimization. Considering the call of our faith to love our neighbor as our self, we must admit that we come up sort far too often. And yet God s promise of love is not somehow broken. God s promise of love is not somehow withheld. 6

7 God s promise of love is not in any way limited. God s promise of love is not in any way altered. Like the love of a parent with their child, it is a love that is perhaps unexplainable, but none-the-less deep and abiding and unwavering. For even in the face of what we have done and what we continue to do to others and to ourselves, even though, in Paul s words and understanding, we still were sinners, God s promise of love remains intact for God s love is for all people, and God s love is unconditional. Amen. 7