Sherry Sterling

Dear friends,

Last weekend at a wedding, I enjoyed the love emanating from the young couple getting married and witnessed their promises of service to one another and steadfastness in their commitment. The ceremony was a reminder of the hope of love. Some have experienced the other end, too, when the promise of love has changed to distance and endings.

In the New Testament reading for today, Paul shares his understanding of God’s love—in addition to the qualities of love that he shared in 1 Corinthians 13, in his letter to the church in Rome, he shares his knowledge of the pure presence of God’s love, a love that we can’t lose or escape.

While human love can disappoint, God’s love is dependably constant.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8: 35, 37-39

Nothing can separate us from God’s love. Nothing. Not even ourselves.

An image came to me while pondering this scripture reading, of God’s love being like the qualities of light—both wave and particle, like I learned in physics class. Maybe God’s love is like a beam that cuts through everything in its path, and like air currents flowing all around us. Ever-present, impactful, and inescapable.

As I meditate on God’s presence, I find myself relaxing into God’s permeating, all-encompassing love. We are invited to return to this extravagant belonging.

Peace and love,

—Sherry