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This is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent the Son. ~1 John 4

I am a big fan of audio books. It’s a great way for me to get through the many books I want to read and can’t seem to find the time to get through. I love walking or getting in a car and hearing stories, especially biographies. The current biography I am listening to is Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. I like stories because they entertain, but most of all, because stories help us to discover who we are.

From the book Greenlights, McConaughey says, “Life is our resume. It is our story to tell, and the choices we make write the chapters. Can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back?”

The stories we tell and how we tell them give us meaning. The stories of the Bible also tell us who we are and who God is. I hear God repeating over and over: you are loved. I have chosen you. You are mine.

God’s love grows all the greater, because it’s not only God’s love changing the world, but it is God’s love changing us. This doesn’t call us to stay put or play it safe. This love pushes us out, forces us to take risks, demands that we start getting uncomfortable, and sends us into the unknown. Fringes, borders, and grey areas are the places God has always gone and has claimed and loved. And because we live in Christ and Christ in us, that’s where Christ leads us too.

From the book Greenlights, McConaughey prays,

"God, when I cross the truth,
give me the awareness to receive it
the consciousness to recognize it
the presence to personalize it
the patience to preserve it
and the courage to live it."

The story of Bethany Lutheran Church is of prayers, encouragement, generosity, and compassion. God’s not done with us yet, the story of God’s love will keep being told through your words and actions. And for this we say, thanks be to God. Amen.