Love Is Not Partial

Remembrance of Baptism

Written by: Pastor Paul Andrew Johnson - Pastor of Lutheran Church of the Wilderness, Stockbridge Munsee (he/him)

When asked if I believe in God’s grace for others, my answer has always been an easy and emphatic “YES!” But, like so many fellow christians I’ve come to know, when asked if I believe in God’s grace for MYSELF, the answer has been less certain. “...Yes? I mean, I hope so…Maybe? Hopefully…”

Thankfully, I’ve been fortunate to hear affirmations of God’s love from many beloved friends, colleagues, and mentors. The first time I truly heard those words were at Imago Dei Village at summer camp. I had always been an awkward (fat and nerdy) kid, so it was normal to expect a certain level of teasing from others. It therefore confused me when my camp counselor that year didn’t follow suit. Eventually I confronted him “Why are you being nice to me?!” His response literally saved and forever changed my life. “Why wouldn’t I be nice to you? God loves you, and I do too.” Hearing that unconditional love from someone else? And from an adult? Who I MAY have also had a crush on… Made me question if it might actually be true. 

Another instance was at a Proclaim retreat in Trego, WI by the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. We had been invited to go down to the waterfront in pairs, and make the sign of the cross on one another’s foreheads, reminding each other that we have been claimed as beloved children of God in the waters of baptism. I somehow managed to get paired up with Rev. Jeffrey R. Johnson, currently serving as Bishop to the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA, and one of the first openly gay ministers in the ELCA. 

It was humbling. 

But a conversation with him later on in the retreat was even more so. We were discussing our hopes and fears, lamenting the systems within the church that all too often excluded queer pastors, or only permitted them so long as they conformed to what the church deemed an acceptable (closeted or limited) presentation. Pastor Jeff knew that struggle far more than I did, or ever will, thanks to courageous leaders like him. But the words that hit me to my core was a reminder that God knows everything about me. Everything that I ever have, or ever will do. And loves me. Not for who I think I should, or could be. But who I am right now. All of me.

And the same goes for each of us. God’s love isn’t partial. As much as we may fall short of other’s expectations (or our own,) Jesus died for us regardless. Not because we deserved it, but because as Paul reminds us in Romans, “[nothing] in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Thanks be to God!

Read

Romans 8:31-39 | New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

God’s Love in Christ Jesus

31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. 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.

Reflect

What limits do we (knowingly or unknowingly) place on God’s love for ourselves or for others?

What might the world look like, if we saw it through the lens of God’s loving grace? How would that change the way we interact with others? With ourselves? 

Prayer

Gracious and loving God, help us to see the world (and all that is in it) through your eyes. Help us to accept your grace, both for others and for ourselves without unnecessary terms and conditions. Thank you for demonstrating your sacrificial love in the life, death, and resurrection of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. May our lives better reflect your love. Amen

Pastor Paul Andrew Johnson - Lutheran Church of the Wilderness