Pastor's Corner: I love you

How many times do you hear the words, "I love you"? For some, maybe those with exuberant and affectionate kiddos in their life, they hear it all the time. For others, perhaps they hear those words rarely, if ever. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, the Old Testament reading this Sunday from the Revised Common Lectionary has a gift for you: the only place in Scripture where God says the words, "I love you." To quote a little more from Isaiah 43:4: "You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you."

"I love you." This expression of love has been crafted with care. It's not sentimentalized or random. The people God was speaking to needed to hear this message. Most of Israel and Judah had been forcibly removed from their homeland and exiled to Babylon by Persia's imperialist forces. God's people, in exile in Babylon, were scared, angry, and hurt. I can imagine them muttering, "Should we give up on the God who didn't save us from the time of trial?"

God answers their mutters. "Do not fear," God says, "because I have created you, formed you, redeemed you ... Do not fear, because I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." These titles - Creator, Lord, Holy One, Redeemer, Savior - these are all one-word summaries of how God has acted and continues to act in history. These names for God each tell us a story and promise.

The God of Israel is the god who created and formed you. God promises that our lives have a purpose bigger than what we see as we look at our weekly calendars, bigger than bills and schedules and the daily grind. Knowing that we are created by God reminds us that our existence is part of the divine plan.

God as the Lord, or Yahweh, reminds us that God heard the cries of the slaves in Egypt and was moved to liberating action. Yahweh saved his people from oppression, and Yahweh invited them into a covenant of justice and mercy. Yahweh promised, "I will be your God, and you shall be my people."

God as Holy One reminds us that God alone is holy. The Babylonian gods who seemed to be making the Babylonians so freaking successful? Nope, they weren't the Holy One. The gods who promise wealth and prosperity and the elimination of your enemies? Nope, they're not the Holy One either. The god who looks just like you and thinks just like you and never challenges you but only makes you feel comfortable and smug? Nope, still not the Holy One. The Holy One is the one who is powerful enough to be worthy of praise, the one who is good enough to be worthy of obedience, the one who is tender enough to be worthy of devotion.

God as redeemer and savior reminds us that God has worked for the good for every generation. God is the one who brings the Israelites home. God is the one who offers hope to a suffering people. As Christians, we hear in these titles a foretaste of the feast to come: God is the scruffy savior whose death and resurrection set us free.

God is also Immanuel, God-with-us. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you ... when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned." Immanuel does not overlook the broken parts of our world. Immanuel does not pretend that hard times never come. God knows that trials bend our backs. Immanuel promises to be with us through the fire and flood, the divorce and the hospital stay, the recession and the shut down. Immanuel promises to stay with us through it all.

God, Creator, the Holy One of Israel, Redeemer, Savior, Immanuel, this is the God who says, "I love you." And yes, that 'you' means you. Because of God's great love, God created you, redeemed you, calls you by name, confronts you with uncomfortable truths, forgives you, and loves you. As we sally forth into all of the unknowns of 2022, may we hold fast to God's enduring promise: I love you.

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Pastor Megan Hoewisch

First Lutheran Church