Turning Point

Turning Point

O Lord!

When someone lets go of decades of pain and suffering and begins to move toward wholeness –

We turn to you and give thanks that healing is possible through you.

When our young people, despite our best efforts, lose their way and find themselves in all kinds of prisons –

We turn to you for the keys and the strength to believe in tomorrow.

When our young people are faced with temptations at school, on the Internet – virtually everywhere they go –

We turn to you and remember that they are your children first.

When marriages reach the point where it seems like there is no hope –

We turn to you for patience and strength.

When marriages overcome obstacles of infidelity, neglect and the interference of others –

We turn to you and praise you for your faithfulness and grace.

When we become so tired and exhausted that we feel like we can’t go on –

We turn to you for strength and endurance.

When people become so isolated that they barely exist –

We turn to you and thank you for seeing us when we are invisible.

When people come out from years of hiding in the shadows –

We turn to you and thank you for your persistence and steadfast love.

When we see that our sins have caused immeasurable damage throughout our lives –

We turn to you for second, third, fourth (and so on) chances; and know we have them in Jesus.

When we feel like we are unworthy and no longer acceptable to you –

We turn to you and feel the embrace of your grace and unconditional love in Christ.

When this whole world seems to be on the brink of falling apart –

We turn to you with whatever we have left.

When we see things falling apart and new things emerging like people coming together like never before –

We turn to you and praise you for being a God that restores and renews.

When our brothers, sisters and friends are diagnosed with terrible diseases –

We turn to you and cry out “Why?!”

When our ill brothers, sisters and friends are strengthened and sometimes even cured –

We turn to you and thank you for your mercy and providence.

When we have tried everything and it still doesn’t work –

We turn to you and throw our hands up in the air.

When other voices discourage and bring us down –

We turn to you to hear the voice of truth.

When we are disoriented and feel lost –

We turn to you to be directed and found.

When we have surrendered all of our hopes and dreams to you –

We turn to you and watch them materialize in ways we never expected.

When we see our nation drowning in violence, idols, self-indulgence and greed –

We turn to you for the life preserver of peace and satisfaction.

When we see our nation rich with compassion, abundance and hope –

We turn to you and thank you for the gift of being here.

When our loved ones die and we can’t hear their voice anymore –

We turn to you and say, “We wanted just one more time…”

When we leave this earth and enter in your presence –

We will turn to you and our loved ones and smile at that glorious reunion.

We turn to you in all of these days and times and remember your words and promises –

“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.” Romans 8:39

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. What can make the difference in how we view what is happening in our world?
2. How can we keep in mind that God is in control despite what it may look like?
3. What can we do about evil in this world? What is our response?
4. From where does our help and hope come? How can we keep that in mind during times like this?

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No Separation

Romans 8:38-39

No Separation  

38 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.” Romans 8:38-39

 

The word “separation” has a lot of meaning. As you know it carries the connotation for marriage of a husband and wife no longer living together. There is “separation anxiety,” a state in which children and adults suffer severe emotional reactions to be being apart from loved ones. It is also the subject of a lot of songs and literature.

 

When I think of separation, real separation, it has an uncomfortable quiet to it. The voices we miss. The faces it hurts to not see as we once did. At the same it has a desire to it. You want to be with certain people or places but can’t. To be separated from love (from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (39)) though is something else. Phone calls and emails in the end aren’t enough. There is no substitute for presence and love and affection and care. I think of widows and widowers who lose their loved one after 40 to 50 years of marriage and they can’t feel that love anymore. Not only them, anytime there is separation of a cherished relationship. This is the heartbreak of separation. We can barely feel the love anymore.

 

 

In other words, it is on our minds a lot.

 

In a spiritual sense there is separation as well. Listen to this list from Paul in the letter to the Romans, of all the things that could conceivably keep us from God: death, life, other spiritual powers, time (present or future), distance, and then “anything else in all creation (38-39).”

 

What is it about these? They are all things that we as humans could either find as separating from God or use as excuses for remaining separate from God. Sometimes it seems easy for us to say, “I am so far away from God, and I can’t get back (spiritual distance).” Or we say, “It has been too long or I am too busy (time).”

 

The one thing they all have in common is all of them are created. Nothing that is created can have power over its creator. So that “anything else in all creation (39)” does not compare to and has no power over the Creator, God. No other person, no institution, no amount of time, no distance can, “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (39).”

 

And this is what Jesus accomplishes through His life, death and resurrection. Through and thanks to Him, the separation was bridged – eternally. The love of God in Christ Jesus can be ours – ours to experience and to be healed through and to share with others. It only takes faith in Jesus as Savior. That is the confidence on which Paul stands with his claim of “nothing…will be able to separate us…” (39-39). It is the confidence we can also stand on today.

 

And when Jesus bridges our separation from God’s love, it can give us the ability to close the distance, years and history between others and us in this life and the life to come.

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. What are some ways we can feel separated from God?
2. What are some things you are allowing to separate yourself from God?
3. How are you experiencing separation in your life and faith?
4. Today’s passage is a bold claim. Can you believe it? Do you see Paul’s logic?
5.  What does it mean for our lives, if there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?

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