“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 (NRSV)
What I love about Paul is the moment he falls into his mystical heart and comes out with a staggering truth that opens my own heart in such a way that everything changes.
Nothing can separate us from Love.
Nothing.
No thing.
Not one thing.
In this longest letter, with its full and detailed explanation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and into the midst of deep theological pondering of the Law and Justification by Faith, Paul bursts into certainty that there is nowhere Love is not. Using poetically paired opposites, he scans the whole of creation, everywhere and everywhen, only to find that the New Reality involves God who loves so much.
Who loves so much
that love spills from the Maker, to Son, to Spirit,
Love spills and spilling still.
Love spilling over into hate,
Peace into judgement,
Hope into misery,
Joy into grief,
Wonder into indifference,
Memory into loss
Until …
Until, we are caught up in an overflowing of Love
and there is nothing separating us from Love.
Nothing can separate us from the Heart of God.
Is it any wonder when we want to celebrate life at funerals,
and hold together the mixture that is our earthed experience
and proclaim with Paul’s certainty
there is nothing that can separate us from Love?
Feel the sensation of this in your heart.
