I Like big Buts: Reflections on Paul's Letter to the Romans
Jason Micheli; Taylor Mertins; Teer Hardy; Dr. Johanna Hartelius
Synopsis "I Like big Buts: Reflections on Paul's Letter to the Romans "
It is in Romans that Paul reveals that he is convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons nor the present or future—really not anything or any power in all of creation—can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (8:38). And even pithier—I love this one especially—Paul assures us in Romans that, if God is for us, who could be against us? (8:31). In this collection of sermons, you’ll find three United Methodist pastors doing what pastors do, sharing the good news. And trying to help us members of the laity get a healthy dose of some blessed catechism. As you start reading, you’ll discover that, like any good letter-writer, Paul starts out talking about himself. He does that a lot, explaining where he is in the region and what’s next on his agenda. Then he pats the Roman Christians on the back for doing an ok job at life. And then—and this is a big deal in Jason’s first sermon, where he explains how the gospel reveals the active rectifying that God does—he announces that despite who he is and his family’s heritage, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. The gospel, he explains, is powerful; and because he uses the word dúnamis, we might paraphrase Paul as saying that he’s not ashamed to love the gospel of Jesus Christ because the gospel’s got good juice in it. The way someone might say that the Hadron particle collider of the CERN laboratories has good juice in it. Then think about that, and what it feels like to be enveloped and restored to God by that power. That all-exceeding force and intensity of love.
