Sermon – 10-06-24 – Proper 22 – Cycle B
Scriptures: Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12; Psalm 8; Mark 10:2-16
Sermon Title: “Jesus Welcomes Us”

God loves us more than we love ourselves. God loves us beyond measure. As soon as we were conceived God loved us. We are precious to God. When I say God, it means the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. If we have established a relationship with God over the years, we are especially precious to him.

How do we establish a relationship with God? It is through prayer, through conversation, through thankfulness, through breathing from our hearts, that a good relationship happens.

You might be asking yourselves if your kind of prayer is effective in creating a relationship. Reading a prayer is one way to pray. Memorizing a prayer is fine. But, do you find yourselves saying “God help me!” Do you find yourselves saying, “Thank you, God” when something neat happens or something life-changing happens? Do you feel like dancing when God leads you to a lost object? Do you feel like shouting when a broken relationship has been renewed and you know God did this?

When a problem sticks its head through what was a beautiful, joy-filled day, do you find yourselves crying to God to accept this problem in his hands and on his shoulders and before you know it, the problem has been solved? I has happened to me many, many times. I walk around repeating and repeating, “Thank you, God!”

This is a relationship with God. So now one day the issue of divorce is the problem that seems to be the ugly snake popping through the leaves. No matter which one of the couple wants out, it hurts. It hurts everyone involved. Does God get lost or does God stick around to help and to give comfort? Does God point a finger and pass judgment? Or does God say, “Even though I am very disappointed for each and every one of you, I still love you. You are still my precious children. I have plans for you. God says to Jeremiah in chapter 29, verse 11: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” This is when Jeremiah is very depressed about Judah being overcome by the Babylonians. The Israelites had broken their promise to be faithful. Jeremiah is the victim of unfaithfulness by the Israelites. He is a broken person. Still God promises hope for Jeremiah.

I find it very reassuring that our gospel today ends with Jesus welcoming children into His arms. We are God’s children! No matter what we have done or no matter what someone has done to us, we are each a child of God. God will not push us away when we are down. God welcomes us into his arms! This place in God’s mercy, this place in the arms of Jesus, this place where the Spirit fills us with peace, is a holy place. Amen May God’s blessing be upon each of us.