What if God’s love and redeeming grace was our repeated refrain, our way of life, our way of understanding who we are, our way of seeing the world, our way of seeing every single person? Just imagine if we lived our lives in response to God’s love and redeeming grace instead of trying to earn it.
March 30, 2025
Again & Again: A Lenten Refrain
“God Loves First”
Ephesians 2: 1-10
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Ephesians 2: 1-10
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else, but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.
God Loves First Ephesians 2: 1-10
A poem written in the 1940s shaped and transformed a people and a culture. This poem was revolutionary in its words. It captured a movement and inspired a generation. The poem tells the readers, (I am paraphrasing here), the poem tells readers that “I am somebody…I am a poet in Langston Hughes. I am a creator of rhyme in Paul Lawrence Dunbar. I am a Christian statesman in J.R.E Lee. I am a diplomat in Frederick Douglass. I am a scientist in George Washington Carver. I am a lover of education in Charlotte Hawkins Brown. I am a breaker of world records in Jesse Owens. I am a beautician in Madame Walker. I am somebody.
Despite this poem being written in a time of Jim Crow and segregation, this poem, which gives a resume of history and accomplishments of African Americans, transcended culture, race, and ethnicity AND became a classic in American history and literature. In 1972, this poem was adapted by a young preacher and shared with a new generation.
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I must be respected, protected, never rejected. I am God’s child! Let me say that again…I must be respected, protected, never rejected. I am God’s child.
I can’t help but think this young preacher must have drawn on this text from Ephesians as he adapted this poem. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.” In other words,…I am Somebody. I am a Beloved Child of God, saved by God’s grace. I do not have to earn it. I do not have to beg for it. It is freely given to me. It is freely given to all of us because we are Somebody…we are God’s child, named and claimed and loved more than we will ever know.
I shared earlier this week that I never knew or understood how revolutionary this text from Ephesians really was for us, is for us as people of faith. I thought everyone knew that they were a Beloved Child of God, saved by God’s grace. I thought everyone understood that they were created in the image of God, immersed in God’s love. I thought that this was just a given fact of faith, that we were somebody, not because of what we have accomplished but because of whose we are…God’s child, named and claimed. I thought this foundational faith identity statement was taught to churches. Except…to my dismay, I am discovering that is not true, that is not the case. That instead, more often than not, the Church has proclaimed the exact opposite. That the Church has for generations taught, preached, and practiced how bad, how sinful, how unworthy people are, how undeserving of God’s grace we really are…And we wonder why no one wants to come on Sunday mornings.
Now don’t get me wrong. I know faith is not all sunshine and roses. And I know that for us to have a faithful and authentic conversation, we do need to talk about the evil we see and experience in the world. We do need to talk about what separates us from fully living into God’s Beloved Community. I’m not denying that. But I’m not sure that is the first thing we say when we are creating relationships with others, when we are creating opportunities which invite people to draw closer to Jesus. Berating people, telling them how awful they are, telling them that they have to earn God’s grace, earn God’s love, I’m not sure that is what we need to be practicing or preaching to a people who are constantly told they are not enough by everything and everyone in this world. Life is too hard, too complicated, too bitter to simply only focus on the awful part. The work of growing spiritually is too difficult if we don’t also hold ourselves and others in compassion. We cannot do the work of becoming the people of love and grace God created us to be if we don’t constantly remind ourselves that we are beloved children of God. Again, as my spiritual director said to me over and over again, we are God’s Beloved, perfect in every way AND we have some work to do to become the people God created us to be. Both things can and are true at the same time.
You see, some two thousand years ago, this idea that we as people of faith cannot earn God’s love or God’s grace captured a movement and inspired a generation. This idea that we are God’s Beloved child, named and claimed, and loved more than we will ever know, is revolutionary. It has the power to transform our world. It has the power to send ripple effects of healing and wholeness throughout our world and culture. Simply because it goes against everything, we understand about how the world operates. There is no quid pro quo. It is not only limited to those who have the resources, i.e., power and money. No, what the author of Ephesians tells us is that God’s grace, God’s love is freely given to each and everyone.
In fact, the author goes one step farther and tells us not only are we somebody, we as people of faith are God’s accomplishments, created into a way of life which includes purpose, courage and hope.
Sit with that for a moment…that person you see in the mirror, the one we judge more harshly than anyone else, that person we see in the mirror, and only see all their faults, only see all their imperfections, only see all the stuff we wish we could change, that person whom we see every morning in the mirror is somebody. They are a Beloved Child of God. They are God’s accomplishment, created into a way of life which includes purpose, courage and hope.
Sit with that for a moment…Again and again, God’s grace surrounds us. Again and again, God’s love fills us. Again and again, we are told God loved us first.
Sit with that for a moment. Let these words soak in. Let these words become a part of our being and just imagine…just imagine if that was our repeated refrain, that again and again, God loves us, that again and again, God loved us first. That again and again, we are somebody. Imagine if that was our repeated refrain, not only for ourselves but for all the people around us, for all of Creation all around us…What if God’s love and redeeming grace was our repeated refrain, our way of life, our way of understanding who we are, our way of seeing the world, our way of seeing every single person? What if we shared the good news that we are all somebody, someone who must be respected, protected, never rejected, that we may be poor, we may be young, we may be old, we may make mistakes, we may be black, white or brown, we may speak a different language, but we are somebody. We are God’s child.
Just imagine if we lived our lives centered in this repeated refrain, if we lived our lives in response to God’s love and redeeming grace. Just imagine if we proclaimed, taught and practiced as the Church, as people of faith, that we are all somebody, somebody who must be respected, protected, never rejected, that we are all God’s child. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, March 30, 2025 – God Loves First Ephesians 2: 1-10.
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