You Are Loved - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

If we pay attention to Jesus fully and we pay attention to the first generation of Jesus followers, we understand that to pick up our cross and to follow Jesus is not to follow Jesus out by ourselves into the wilderness all alone. It is to follow Jesus deep into the heart of community where we are meant to live our lives, building relationships of love. To love one another the way we are loved. To create a space where people can know even an inch, a smidge, just an iota of what it means to be loved unconditionally because we experience it with one another. We have the audacity to think that that's not radical? What is more radical in this world than to create a space for people where they are told and then they are able to experience true belonging, unconditional? You and I are not conditioned to believe that it's true. This life does not train us to believe that we are loved like that. We are over and over again taught the message that our value in this world is based on our performance. That how much we are loved will be based on what we bring to the table. We are told this. by our culture. We are told this by our work. We are told this sometimes even in our families and in our friend circles. We have built communities, many of which are very wonderful, that are based on all sorts of things. Are they based on complete and utter belonging and belovedness?