( Rom 8:31b-39 ) - [ Deutsch ]
"I stand by you", "I stand by you, come what may". How wonderful are these words when God promises them to me. We hear the following sentences in the Epistle to the Romans, today on the last evening of the year 2022
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These words of the Apostle Paul want to carry us over the threshold into the New Year this evening. And it seems to me that Paul wants to tell us one thing in the name of God: I stand by you. Wonderful. Just so that we don't have to justify ourselves for the past year. But in such a way that it is easy for us to open up. Under these words, we can honestly look at the old. We can marvel at what was and give thanks. We can admit the wrong things, admit reckless and wrong things. We can reveal confusing things we can't cope with.
God is for us. Perhaps we become even more aware of what this means when we imagine for a moment that it would be different. God would be against us. For example, he would say, "I know you; also the things you want to hide. I know what to think of you. Watch how you get along. Without me. I am against you." It makes your heart tighten when you hear something like that. At least that's how I feel. Normal, because with such words we close ourselves. We are likely to react defiantly or desperately try to justify ourselves. But we fail because we also have the dark sides in us. Each of us.
No. God is for us. "I stand by you." That's true. Those who speak in this way do not like everything we do, talk and think. But he wants us to be well. And he does his part for it. With Jesus Christ, God relies on love as a force under which good flourishes and endures, limits and overcomes evil. At times, the "I stand by you" becomes a comforting "I still stand by you". In Paul's words, this means:
33Who will blame God's elect? God is here who justifies.
34Who will condemn? Christ Jesus is here, who died, even more, who is also raised, who is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
Old Year's Eve. The hours on the threshold of the new year.
Let's look back to 2022.
This year we finally took a deep breath after the corona pandemic, although it is not over yet and people are getting sick again and again. But how many happy faces we could see on Christmas Eve because families could be together again. And everyone was allowed to come to church – without a mask.
Otherwise, 2022 was marked by the Ukraine war and the associated price jumps and supply bottlenecks: especially in Kenya, Somalia and other East African countries. The historic high in wheat prices threatens millions of people. The questionable World Cup took place in Qatar. After heavy rainfall in April, floods occurred which, together with landslides, claimed at least 448 lives. Loadshedding worried us again this year. And the never-ending corruption in our country. People continue to flee their countries because of wars, but also due to extreme weather events such as droughts, storms and floods. They are rising rapidly due to climate change. Queen Elizabeth II died this year.
And personally? What has this year brought for me? What has remained? What has changed? Who did you lose, who did you find, who won? What did you cry about? Where did your heart beat? Where did your eyes shine? What are you grateful for? what worries you?
Today I wish everyone an hour of remembrance. And I wish everyone, but especially those for whom the threshold this year is particularly painful, that they may feel how God carries them over the threshold through this word in his arms. "I'm for you. I stand by you." "I am certain," Paul says. And it sounds like his certainty is enough for you and me. In case we lack such certainty. "I am certain," he confesses, hoping that his certainty will be transmitted to all who hear this word. "I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor powers nor principalities, neither present nor future, neither high nor low, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
So much is divorced and separated among us. But this love remains. It stays because it is founded solely on God's passion for us. In nothing else. Not in our beauty, not in our health, not in our ability, not in our good behavior. It's all fragile. Solely because love is founded in God, it is reliable. That is why nothing can separate us from her. If God's love were grounded in anything else—even if it is our faith—it would not be reliable. After all, who can guarantee his or her faith? If we are only half as honest as Paul, we sense how much the things he lists here can afflict our faith: tribulation, fear, persecution, hunger, violence. We are welcome to continue the list.
If God's love depended on us, we could pack up. Then much could indeed separate us from it. Then they would not be reliable. At the latest in death, when no one is more powerful of it, we would lose it. But no, Paul insists, neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God.
Tonight we celebrate because nothing can separate us from the love of God. Neither present nor future. We don't know if it's going to be a good new year. Maybe it will be a difficult one. But even the difficult, even the bitter, will not be without blessing. Through no grief we go alone. In every personal catastrophe, we remain God's beloved. Those who do not walk alone need not be afraid, especially not in the company of the Christ who conquered hell and death. We celebrate tonight that we are not alone. God relies on love. He knows we need them. Through them he wants to right, refresh, renew us and this world. It should envelop us when we look back. It should color our gaze as we look ahead to what may come in the new year. And when we practice changing or changing something, guide us.
It remains the same: God says: "I stand by you." Amen
