"Not Even Death, Not Even Us" - Sermon for Pentecost Sunday

Not Even Death, Not Even Us
Pentecost – Narrative Lectionary 1
June 9, 2016
Grace, Mankato, MN
Acts 2.1-4; Romans 8.26-39

We all have our faith biographies and you’ve heard some of mine in previous sermons. I’ve told you about leaving the church after Confirmation and returning as a young adult. I came by the “leaving” part honestly. My mom grew up in a strong Christian family. My grandfather was a very strong Christian and would do evening devotions with us when he visited, which wasn’t very often since he lived so far away. Evening devotions was not part of our practice. Even so, my mom had drifted, attending church maybe once a month.

My dad’s mom toyed with Christian Science of which there is very little Christian or Science. But there must have been some Lutheran in his heritage because somewhere along the line when we tried to join a church he was rejected for being the “wrong” kind of Lutheran. So he left, although he would come on Christmas and Easter. Even so, both of them would make sure my siblings and I would go to church, even though they rarely attended.

When my mom died in 1983 at age 57, I had already been back in the church for five years and her pastor, the one who married Cindy and me, told me that my mom had recently taken Communion. He knew that would be a comfort to me. Maybe it was my mom’s early death or maybe it was a deep concern for my dad’s soul, but although it took me almost six years, I wrote a letter to my dad, hoping he’d make peace with Christ. I’d tried to talk to my dad over the years, but that wasn’t something you talked with Dad about. So, it was around Easter and I sent him a card with at letter. Unfortunately, he never read it because he was hospitalized for pneumonia and died soon after.

For years I anguished over my dad’s soul, even when I became a pastor, wondering if I could have done anything more. But, as I did countless funerals that included these words from Romans 8 and reading Rob Bell’s book, Love Wins, I was struck by this incredible claim. Paul says …“nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Apostle Paul has spent almost eight chapters laying out our need for Jesus Christ. He has reminded us that we are a fallen humanity, that we fall short of what God has created us to be and we can’t make it good on our own. All of us, including the whole of creation, depend on Jesus’ healing work to bring new life.

As an end to this theological tour de force, Paul finishes with some of the most powerful words found anywhere is scripture. “What are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Now, as a side note, the word “if” should be translated “since.” Paul’s statement is not as much conditional as declaratory. (We see this in the temptation story when Satan tests Jesus by saying, “If you are the Son of God…” It should be translated, “Since you are the Son of God…”) “Since God is for us, who will be against us?” Then he piles up all sorts of things that might keep us from God’s love but don’t. Mot even death. I’ve come to realize that this “deadline” we place on ourselves, that we have to accept Christ before we die or we go to hell, is an artificial deadline that Jesus nowhere places upon us. There is no place where God’s love cannot reach, not even the grave. God will never, ever give up on any of us.

I’ve said before that I occasionally get asked by someone who is dying if they are good enough to get into heaven. I hear that as a need for assurance, but I’ve also realized they may be asking a different question. I think they might be asking is, “Is it possible that I have done something so bad God won’t love me?” If I have my wits about me, I’ll share with them these words of Paul’s, that nothing in all of creation will separate us from God’s love. Furthermore, I’ll add, not even death, not even us.


I am convinced that anybody is ever outside of God’s love. I believe that God will keep after us until all of us are safe and secure in God’s loving embrace. Frankly, if that makes me a Universalist, so be it. But perhaps I’m in good company. Today is Pentecost, when we remember the Holy Spirit being poured out on the new church, resulting in the gospel being heard by everyone in their own language. It’s a good reminder that God is a God of inclusion, not exclusion.

It is a day to remember that everyone needs to hear that nothing separates us from God’s love. But it’s also a day to ask ourselves this: “What languages are we to use to tell this good news?” Is it the language of Service? Is it the language of Inclusion? What about the language of Acceptance? Can we speak “Single Parent,” “Mentally Ill,” “Immigrant” or “Hipster?” Maybe it’s just the language of “Worried Grandparent” or “Concerned Son.” Whatever the language we must speak the message is the same: nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, “Not even death, not even us.” Thanks be to God! Amen.