Immeasurable Riches

One of the texts of today is Ephesians 2: 1-10 which includes:

 ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us  even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ^[a]—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus


I have always loved the phrase - immeasurable riches.  It conveys the limitless gift of continuing on this journey of seeking to follow Jesus. 

What I am finding is that my life is better when I focus my attention there - on my faith - than on the turmoil and dread that is all around us.  It reminds me of the story of Peter trying to walk on water and the fact that the wind and the waves distracted him from keeping his eyes on Jesus.  When I spend too much time with the wind and the waves - the news reports, Trump press briefings, even Governor Dewine and Amy - I find myself becoming more and more anxious.

Our church seeks always to be a place of love and for the past 2 weeks we working hard at keeping people connected to each other and to our faith.  That work and being around these loving people are for me - immeasurable riches.  More and more I am becoming aware of those who are feeling isolated and finding ways to reach out to them - both at church and in my personal life. 

It is in searching for  ways to express  love that I feel most alive and it is in concentrating on self protection and worry about the unknown future - that I get frozen and paralyzed.

So, this feels like a sermon this morning, but my truth of this morning is there are - even in the midst of a pandemic - immeasurable riches in living out my faith.

I will end with a Blessing by Maxine Shonk

May God receive you in your vulnerability,
in times of limitation may you become susceptible to God's care for you and overcome with God's power in you.
May you open yourself totally to the unconditional love of the God who created you and knows you perfectly in this moment.
In your own needy places may you learn how to be in communion with the vulnerable ones around you.
May the God of Unconditional Love bless you.