Loading...Years ago, on a youth group bike trip in the San Juan Islands,
I crested a hill, huffing and puffing!,
and as I rested at the top,
I looked out over the beautiful expanse of meadow (in the foreground) and water (in the background) and I thought:
THIS is surely God’s country! It’s gorgeous!
“Oh! But wait!” self said to me.
“If this is God’s country,
then the implication is that there are places where God is not.
The implication is that there are ‘godforsaken’ places.
And, you know that’s not true!”
“OK!” I said to self. “Fine!”
How about, this is a really visually pleasing part of God’s creation. It’s lovely.
How’s that? Are you satisfied?!?”
Well, yes.
Because you know that there are no godforsaken places.
There are no places – and no people –
that God has given up on or abandoned.
None.
Period.
Full stop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eddie Enrique Javier
Tevin Akyra Jonathan
Cory Juan Luis
Brenda Lee Kimberly Jean Carlos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Early in the morning a week ago,
just as the evening’s show was wrapped up
and the club was close to closing,
a man came into a bar with an assault weapon
and shot and killed many people.
Some he killed in the main dance area,
others were held hostage first in a bathroom.
In all, 49 died.
At least 53 were injured physically;
numerous others were hurt:
the grief and pain of friends and family members of those killed,
the LGBT communities across the country,
and Latino communities.
Shock, grief, pain, and fear.
Some who wonder where God was,
others hearing that this must have been God’s punishment.
Many wondering if God had abandoned them – if they were godforsaken.
After all, there have been plenty of opinionators, some who even call themselves “Christian” who’ve been making those claims!
But, no.
God has not abandoned.
This was not divine punishment.
There are no godforsaken places, and there are NO godforsaken people.
God was and is present and weeping.
God was and is angry because of what happened.
God has been with each of the beloved as they died.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christopher Omar Oscar
Amanda Eddie Joel
Stanley Shane Franky
Luis Jason Antonio
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and began to cross to the other side.
During the journey, in the middle of the night, a storm came up.
The wind was pushing the boat around.
The waves threatened to swamp them!
The disciples feared for their lives.
And Jesus was asleep in the stern. Asleep!
“Don’t you care about us?” they cried. “How could you sleep?”
Jesus stood up and said, “Be still” to the wind and waves, and to the disciples.
The boat crossed this lake and with the storm
we realize they were crossing more than just a geographic boundary
from Judea (Jewish land, the “known” territory)
to the land of the Geresenes (wilderness, foreigners, the desert).
They were crossing into what was understood to be “godforsaken”.
They crossed a boundary into the wilderness, into the unknown, into chaos where you just don’t know what will happen!
When they reached the other side
they were met by a man who probably looked fearsome to them:
chains were hanging from shackles on his wrists;
his hair was all a mess and he probably had a scraggly beard;
he was naked, and had been living amongst the tombs of the city.
This wild and crazy man said to Jesus:
“What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?!?”
Please note the shock value of this:
Jesus and his disciples have just arrived in this new place,
a non-Jewish place where the stories about Jesus would NOT have been circulated,
and this man recognizes Jesus by name and
knows that he is divine!
No one else seemed to get this this, but the wild man does.
It turns out that the man is possessed by demons
and it was the demons who recognized Jesus for who he is.
The demons, “Legion”, are cast into the pigs (who then drown)
and the man is clothed and in his right mind.
There is healing, wholeness, and shalom!
In a foreign land!
Amongst non-Jews!
A man who has been forsaken and cast out by his own family and community
was healed by Jesus the divine one.
There are no godforsaken people!
There is no one whom God abandons:
even the ones society rejects
or families give up on or throw out;
even the people who cannot understand what’s happening in their own bodies or heads because of mental illness or chemical dependency or something else.
God crosses any and every boundary to be with them.
God crosses any and every boundary to be with you.
God crosses any and every boundary to. be. with. you.
Because God does not forsake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rodolfo Frank Eric
Darryl Christopher Peter
Angel Yilmany Gilberto
Mercedez Juan Simon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A part of our baptismal liturgy that’s rarely used anymore is to dress the newly baptized Christian in a white robe to symbolize, with an outward sign, the new life we have in Christ in baptism.
We only see the vestiges of this practice anymore when infants are clothed in something white or ivory for the day and sacrament, usually a family heirloom baptismal gown of some sort.
Yet, as claimed, reborn, loved, baptized people of God,
we are clothed in new clothes and in our right minds,
sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Even in the darkest of nights,
or in the times we feel most godforsaken,
there is the light and life and love of God breaking over us, washing over us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alejandro Jean Leroy
Anthony Luis Juan
Martin Paul Deonka
Xavier Jerald Miguel Geraldo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beloved of God,
not only is there no such thing as “godforsaken” –
since all creature and creation are loved and claimed by God –
God also crosses the boundaries, the road blocks, the barriers, the walls, the restrictions, the difficulties, the differences, the divisions we put up
in order to be with you.
God crossed all of these walls and divisions to be with the dear ones killed in Orlando, or in the days since because of violence or hatred.
God crosses all barriers and boundaries to fulfill the promise God made at creation and has renewed over and over again each day:
to be with us, to love us, to make us whole and in our right minds.
Not godforsaken,
but God-claimed
God-cherished
God-loved.
Thanks be to God!
Amen
