ISAIAH 55:1-11; PSALM 8; 2 COR 13:11-13; MATT 28:16-20

Covered With Love

Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we may believe and in believing we may obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.

DFIC, GTYAPFGOFATLJX. Amen

Today we are gathered in the name of Christ for a number of reasons, but chief among them is to send off our graduating seniors with: a word of best wishes; a promise of our prayers; and a quilt that was created to be a comfortable and comforting covering of love.

It is time for our graduates to leave the nest, to learn to flap and flip and flop and fly, to spread their wings and soar like eagles, to find their way through all kinds of conditions – clear blue skies and dark stormy nights.

Here at Gloria Dei, we’ve tried to make sure that they are well-equipped with at least one thing that is vital for their flight through life. From their family and loved ones, to their Sunday School teachers and Confirmation guides, to their Youth Director and Pastor, we have worked to assure: that their faith has been nurtured; that their time in the nest has been blessed; that their spirit has been well fed by God’s Spirit; that they have grown good, strong wings and a healthy sense of direction.

As they move out and move on, as they try various flights of fantasy, fancy or fact, as they study and strive, cry and complain, laugh and love, struggle and strain, we will continue to pray that this good beginning translates into a long and meaningful life filled with the blessings of God’s Spirit.

These prayers from our family of faith have been wonderfully and lovingly woven into quilts by Gloria Dei's Piecemakers and their loved ones and friends. At the next service, we will invite them forward to kneel at the altar rail where these comforters will be placed around their shoulders even as we place our hands on them in prayer. It is the best gift that we can offer – a covering of love that was made in love to convey always God’s gift of love.

This heart-felt offering is good news for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s a nice, physical reminder that there are people who love them. When it feels like the rest of the world is out to get them, fail them, prove them wrong, or put them down, our prayer is that they will pull out their quilt, wrap it around their shoulders and let themselves be enfolded in our love and prayers. As Jesus said at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (MT 28:20)

It’s also good news as a reminder of God’s ability to work wonderful things in their lives…even when it may not feel like it. We should never forget the Apostle Peter’s grace-filled teaching that love covers a multitude of sins (I Peter 4:8).

Martin Luther said a similar thing in a different way: Sin boldly… but believe in Christ more boldly! Now, neither of these sayings is a blanket permission to lie, cheat and steal to your heart’s content, trusting that some act of love will somehow wipe the slate clean, make things right between you and your victims, put you in good with God. Far from it.

Instead, to sin boldly simply means that we are to embrace this gift of life that has been placed in our hands by our Creator. It simply means that we should seize the opportunity to live as free and forgiven and beloved children of God. It simply means that we are to stand up for what is right and stand fast in our faith even when everything else feels wrong.

One of the biggest challenges they’ll face is the question: Are there any guarantees that things will turn out well? The answer is…Yes and No. No, there are no guarantees that our dreams for life will come true...but Yes we have the assurance that God will be at our side as Friend and Guide. No, the odds aren’t good that we will discover a cure for cancer, win the lottery or star in a movie…but Yes, we can bet our lives that God has named and claimed us, will never lose or abuse us, will always bless and keep us.

Here is the miracle of faith. Even when we feel our lowest, when we feel certain that we have been forgotten, God still loves us, and works that love in and through us so that the people around us might be blessed. The love of God’s Spirit truly covers a multitude of sins, yours, your neighbor’s and even your enemy’s. As God said through the prophet Isaiah in today’s first lesson, My Word will not return to me empty (Is. 55:11).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor in Germany during the dark days of WWII. He dared to take a stand against Hitler and the Nazis when it was not only unpopular but also very dangerous to do. He ended up sacrificing his life to take that stand, yet he lived and then died under the assurance that the Spirit of Christ was with him and that God’s Word would not return from him empty.

His poem from prison entitled "WHO AM I?" beautifully captures this struggle of fear and love.

Who am I? They often tell me I would step from my cell’s confinement
calmly, cheerfully, firmly, like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They also tell me I would talk to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly, as though they were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me I would bear the days of misfortune
equably, smilingly, proudly, like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which others tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself,
restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,
yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
trembling with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation,
tossing in expectation of great events,
powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at dreaming,
faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

But whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine.

God’s covering of love is meant to be for us a reminder of the faith in which we were raised, by which we are blessed and through which we will be cared for every day of our lives by God: Creator, Savior and Friend. Amen.