Our God is loving from generation to generation. Our God is faithful and steadfast. Our God sees us. Our God is with us. Or as one commentator put it, “Our God chooses to dwell among us. God’s glory fills us. This is sheer grace. This is impossible possibility. This is living giving hope.” This is what strengthens us. This is what encourages us. This is what lets us know that death and destruction will not be the last word. Because we know our God, our God who loves us more than we could ever imagine, our God who has claimed us and named us, our God who is moving in and among us bringing forth new life!
February 22, 2026
Rooted in the Good News
The Good News is … “the fullness of God”
Ephesians 3:1-21
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
This Sunday, we begin our Lenten journey toward Jerusalem. Our Theme this year is “Rooted in the Good News: Not Just Beliefs, But a Way of Life”. Again, I cannot take full credit for this theme. It is based on something created by Sanctified Art. The premise is that: “Following Jesus leads to a richer, more expansive life, but it’s not necessarily a comfortable life, meaning we often find ourselves acting counter culturally to the wider embraced narrative of the world. That’s because we understand that Jesus came to show us a different way to be in relationship with one another, a different way to be in community with one another. This understanding of how we are called to be people of faith, how we are called to live out our lives as Jesus’ disciples is often called radical, which interestingly enough comes from the Latin word “radicalis,” which means “root” or “ground.”¹
So in reality, as people of faith, as Jesus’ disciples, Jesus’ ministry invites us back to our roots, back to something beyond a set of beliefs into a way of life which shapes all we do and say. These roots are loving our neighbor, caring for the vulnerable, pursuing justice and mercy, and resting in God’s unending grace. These roots are what ground us in our faith. These roots are what strengthen us to become the person God created and calls us to be. These roots which shape how we live out our faith are in essence the Gospel message! otherwise known as the Good News.
What our faith story teaches us is that the Good News is extravagant, untamed, illogical, and persistent. The Good News roots us in the goodness of God, the fullness of God which reminds us that there is more than enough, that we are enough, that we are created in the image of God. The Good News reminds us that no matter what, death and destruction will not have the last word. For us as people of faith, the Good News is not just a set of beliefs. It is a way of life grounded in hope, love, justice and peace.
That’s why this Lent, we are exploring how the good news takes root in our hearts, minds and very beings, how it reminds us day in and day out, that “in our hoping, in our searching, one thing remains true. Jesus Christ was, is now and will forever be the Good News for us as people of faith!” So to start our Lenten journey, we turn to the letter which Paul wrote to the Ephesians. I invite you to hear these words: (Common English Version)
Ephesians 3:1-21
This is why I, Paul, am a prisoner of Christ for you Gentiles. You’ve heard, of course, about the responsibility to distribute God’s grace, which God gave to me for you, right? God showed me his secret plan in a revelation, as I mentioned briefly before (when you read this, you’ll understand my insight into the secret plan about Christ). Earlier generations didn’t know this hidden plan that God has now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets through the Spirit. This plan is that the Gentiles would be coheirs and parts of the same body, and that they would share with the Jews in the promises of God in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I became a servant of the gospel because of the grace that God showed me through the exercise of his power. God gave his grace to me, the least of all God’s people, to preach the good news about the immeasurable riches of Christ to the Gentiles. God sent me to reveal the secret plan that had been hidden since the beginning of time by God, who created everything.
God’s purpose is now to show the rulers and powers in the heavens the many different varieties of his wisdom through the church. This was consistent with the plan he had from the beginning of time that he accomplished through Christ Jesus our Lord. In Christ we have bold and confident access to God through faith in Jesus. So then, I ask you not to become discouraged by what I’m suffering for you, which is your glory. This is why I kneel before the Father. Every ethnic group in heaven or on earth is recognized by him. I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit. I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love, I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen.
The Good News is … the fullness of God Ephesians 3:1-21
“… that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love, as you are being rooted in God’s grace, as you are being rooted in the Good News which has transformed you into the person God created you to be.”
These words come from a prayer which Paul offers up on behalf of the community of faith at Ephesus. He is praying that they would remember this, that they would grow in this understanding, that they would experience all this so that they dwell in the fullness, in the goodness of God which is all around them.
Paul understands that this rootedness, this being rooted in God’s love, this being rooted in God’s grace, this being rooted in the Good News is what makes all the difference for them, for us as people of faith. Not only because it reminds them, it reminds us who we are as people of faith. More importantly, it reminds us whose we are…we are named and claimed by a God who loves us more than we will ever know. We are surrounded by the goodness of God. We have the promises of God to strengthen us, to encourage us, to remind us that no matter what, that love and light will always overcome.
Paul is praying that this understanding takes root in their hearts, in our hearts because once this wisdom, this knowledge is a part of us, everything changes. Once we realize that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell nor any power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord, once we realize this, everything changes for us. From the words that we say, to how we interact with one another, to the very narrative we chose to shape our lives. Once this wisdom takes root in our hearts, in our very beings, we move from simply practicing a set of beliefs to a way of life which is grounded in justice, mercy and grace.
You see, Paul reminds the Ephesians that everything we do, everything we say as people of faith is for the glory of God. Not because we are trying to show, trying to prove we are better than anyone else, that we know the Bible more than anyone else, or that we have racked up more points in this game called life. Everything we do, everything we say as people of faith is for the glory of God because of what God has done in our lives, because of the many, many times God has showered us with grace, because God has made a way through with no way seemed possible. We give glory to God in all things, through all things because of who God is. We know. We have experienced in our lives the fact that our God is loving from generation to generation. We know, we have experienced that our God is faithful and steadfast. We know that our God sees us, that our God is with us. Or as one commentator put it, “Our God chooses to dwell among us. Not in some far-off distance heaven but here among us, here with us. This is sheer grace. This is an impossible possibility. This is a life-giving hope.” This is the Good News for us as people of faith.
Now please don’t hear me say that the good news fills us with a naive hope or one that calls us to put blinders on and pretend that it is just me and Jesus and nothing and no one else matters. In fact that’s the opposite of the Good News. The Good News turns our world upside down. It shows us that we are connected. It invites us to pay attention. It lets us know that no matter what death and destruction will not have the final say. For us as people of faith, the Good News calls us to see things differently, to choose love and grace over fear and hate every single time.
Or in the words of one of my favorite theologians Nadia Boltz Weber…rooting ourselves in the good news breaks us out of the pattern of believing that what we read and see on the internet is the complete and accurate depiction of the world. Rooting ourselves in the good news instead invites us to actively look for how beautiful it can be. Because surrounding ourselves in the fullness, in the goodness of God is not about ignoring the world. Rather it is about paying attention to it – in real time and real life. Because the doom will be there, but so will the crocus and this is just not the year to miss the good stuff, the fullness of God, the goodness of God which is all around us. No, this year, in fact always, as people of faith, we are called to pay attention to how God is moving in and among us, bringing forth new life, reminding us that love and light will always have the last word. May it be so.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, February 22, 2026 – The Good News is … the fullness of God Ephesians 3:1-21.
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