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Once upon a time, a very long time ago, people gathered at night around fires telling stories and dreaming dreams. Before the internet and smartphones, before electricity and mass transit, people comforted one another in the dark with singing, and with prayer, and with story.
If a family was awash with grief over the death of a loved one or a young adult was uncertain what their future might bring, the community offered companionship and comfort.
Imagine this scene with me… an extended family gathered around a flickering fire, the grandmother hunched over with a blanket to keep her warm, a young man tending the fire, a child gathering branches in the flickering light, and a young mother nursing her child.
Imagine you are gazing upon this scene from above at the small fire pushing back the darkness. What kind of God meets them here?
Every time I read through the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, I wonder how they experienced God. With our modern lens, we are quick to pronounce the “God of the Old Testament” to be judgmental, harsh, or quick to anger. But that is deeply misguided. There is no Old Testament God as differentiated from the New Testament God. There is simply God. What if we’ve been reading these stories without noticing something essential?
Tonight, we heard four readings from the Old Testament, beginning with the story of creation from Genesis. Seven times it says, “And God saw that it was good.” God delights in creation. Our origin story is about wonder and love.
The Exodus story is about love that liberates. God sees suffering.
This story isn’t about random power. It is purposeful rescue because God cares for those who are enduring pain and oppression. While the waters of the Red Sea might be seen as dangerous, here, they become a pathway to freedom. Instead of drowning, they walk right through, reminding us that love makes a way where there is no way.
“Come, everyone who thirsts,” says the prophet Isaiah. This is a message of abundance. If you are thirsty, come and drink. It is not for sale and need not be earned, just come. What kind of God invites like this?
And finally, in Ezekiel, we see love that transforms. “A new heart I will give you,” the text says. Don’t discard the heart you have, for it will be renewed. This isn’t punishment. It is restoration because God’s love refuses to give up on us.
The through-line in these stories is a God of many chances, not judgement and anger. Stay with me.
The Old Testament pattern goes like this:
• humanity falters
• God responds
• Humanity falters again
• God…stays.
If God were truly vengeful, this story would have ended a long time ago! But it doesn’t
What we see in these Old Testament stories, passed down by oral tradition around campfires from generation to generation are the stories of God who is not persistent in anger, but a God who is persistent in love.
Consider a time when you were persistent in love. Maybe it was when a loved one was making bad choices or a friend took you for granted. Judgement doesn’t equal rejection. Judgement is sometimes love that refuses to abandon us to harm. When your teenager lies and you hold them accountable, that isn’t rejection, it is love.
In these stories, what I see is a God who intervenes when there is oppression. When there is injustice, God confronts. And when we have hardened hearts, God reshapes them. Sometimes, God’s “no” is simply in service of a deeper “yes.”
Just before this sermon, we sang one of my all time favorite hymns. The hymn text reinforces this idea of a God who really loves us. It isn’t a God who waits or a God who gives up. It is a God who saves.
The hymn text says, “Surely it is God who saves me, trusting him I shall not fear.” In other words, trust replaces fear. It continues, “So rejoice as you draw water from salvation’s living spring…” This is baptism which we also celebrate this night.
In just a few minutes, Samuel will be baptized. Samuel happens to be a baby. But even if he weren’t, the criteria for baptism is the same. He doesn’t have to prove himself worthy. He didn’t have to earn this baptism. The sacrament of holy baptism is a gift, one that goes all the way back to the beginning.
Once upon a time, “God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”
Once upon a time, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.”
Once upon a time, “God gave us the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are reborn by the Holy Spirit.”
Tonight, we gather around a fire, telling stories by candlelight. We sing and we pray because we know something good is coming. We know the bad thing is never the last thing. And God meets us here. God meets us in the water of Baptism.
For months now, we have been ending every eucharist with the same words. We end it with a blessing as the presider says, “the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit —the God who loves you, who really, really loves you— be upon you and remain with you for ever.”
Do you believe it? Do you believe that God really, really loves you?
Whether you believe it or not, God keeps showing up. Look at the flickering candle in your hands. The pitiful little light is pushing back the darkness whether you believe it or not. And that’s what God is doing too. God keeps showing up in creation, in liberation, in invitation, and in transformation. God keeps showing up because God really, really loves you.
“the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit —the God who loves you, who really, really loves you— be upon you and remain with you for ever.”
Before you earned it. God loves you. Before you even understood it. God loves you. Until eternity. God loves you.