4 Lent: John 3:16 For God so LOVED the world.

John 3:16                     The Rev. Julia W. Messer
4 Lent on March 18, 2012
(Sermon was mostly extemporaneous here is the outline of the sermon.)

~~~

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[Hold up a sign saying “John 3:16.”] We see this everywhere, don’t we?  On bumper stickers, billboard, or on signs people hold on street corner streets (or in church).   We see it so often that it could be perceived as almost trite.  But it isn’t.  It is powerful.  This passage alone seems to summarize the Christian faith into one sentence and has been called “The Gospel in a nutshell.”

But have you actually ever given thought to this passage, examined what it really says?

For God so loved...    What is love? Can you define it? Can you hold it in your hand and say this is love? Not really. We can express how love makes us feel. We can act upon our feelings, such as when we show our love to someone by giving them a flower. The flower is not love but it is a tangible way we can represent our love.  It is something that we can participate in:   we can hold the flower, we can see it, and we know what it means. Sacraments are like the flowers; they are something we can hold in our hand, see, smell, and share with others.  The sacraments are the body of Christ, the Church, reacting to, and participating in God’s love and grace that are freely offered, in tangible forms and also remain intangible.

A Sacrament is an outward sign of an inward and visible grace.

So what are Sacraments? They are a sacred act that can celebrate the holy and pivotal moments of importance in our lives. Sacraments are relational, just as love is.  It is between God and us.

For God so loved the world.   We believe in a God that not only loved the world then but loves the world now. We believe in a God that is actively present in the world, in us, in these holy acts, and through us. These Sacraments are recognizing God’s grace that is freely given to us by God, where our sins are forgiven, our hearts are lightened, and our wills strengthened.

Sacraments make God’s grace and love visible and tangible in this world.

In the Episcopal Church we believe there are 7 sacraments but 2 of them are the great sacraments.

*Can you name the two Christ commanded us to do? (Baptism and Holy Eucharist).
*Can you name the other 5? (Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination, Confession/Reconciliation, and Last Rites/Unction).

 In and of themselves, these Sacraments are important, but what is more important is that we participate in them. And once we take these sacraments, they are a part of us and cannot be separated from us. Just as we can never be separated from Christ’s love for us. We become a part of Christ’s body, and therefore become the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son    God did not send his Son to save only those who fit a certain stereotype or mode. He did not come to save us because of our nationality, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.  He did not come to save us for whatever reason we may think makes us worthy or unworthy.  God came to save the world, not just humans, not just those in a first world nation. 

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.    And what does he ask of us?  He asks us to believe in Him and His only begotten Son.  And for that, He promises us eternal life.  When we die we just are drawn closer to the love of God. Even though our bodies fail us and the world may abandon us, Christ is with us in the midst of our struggles.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him….   When we were baptized we were adopted into a family of God that loves us beyond comprehension, so strong that nothing we do can separate us from that love. When we participate in Communion, we participate in Christ’s act of love with his friends.

That Christ so loved the world that he gave himself, so that all those who believe in his Father and in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Just as God loves us, we are called to love our neighbors as Christ loved us.

For we so loved the world, that we give of ourselves to help others, not because someone is deemed worthy by us but becomes they are worthy because of Christ. We are called to be sacraments in life.

We are called to be a tangible, visible, and outward signs of the inward and spiritual grace that is within each of us.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.