Holy and abiding presence, out of the depths, I cry to you! Like so many before me, I wonder: “How long?” “Why me?” “Why them?” “Why now?” “Where are you?” and “Why have you forsaken us?” If I were to rend my garments each time these thoughts come, I would no longer have any whole clothes. While I am not in despair every moment, every day, I am aware of the grief and pain around me, swelling and ebbing like a tide, like breathing. I remember Romans 8:38, and listen for the whisper, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”
At each baptismal service, we renounce the forces that oppose your Divine Will. We say no to them with our whole hearts, our full selves. We reject them. Yet they remain at work in ways beyond our understanding, sometimes beyond human recognition. Those forces create division, stir up dissension, stamp out curiosity and perpetuate injustice by sustaining the feeling of indignity. Whether they are spiritual forces, powers and principalities or internal struggles with sin, again I renounce them. I cling to this solid rock: Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
I remember a very bleak time when I was nearly persuaded by my own brain that things would be easier for those around me if I weren’t there. In that fog, I was unable to see the fact that if we remove ourselves, the fabric of time and space and experience does not mend itself around the place where we once were. Instead, a hole—shaped like the one who has gone—remains and must be navigated around and lived with forever. God of love, be merciful to those who are having those same thoughts right now. Pour out for them the peace that passes all understanding. Bring people to listen, accompany and hope alongside that chasm. Let the Spirit echo: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”
Lord of Life, grant us wisdom and courage as individuals and communities, as congregations and mission starts, as ministries and care teams. Give us patience to listen to the stories of others, as many times as they need us to. Preserve in us the ability to stand with the vulnerable, especially those needing mental health help. Tend within us gardens of gentle compassion, blooming with faithfulness to Christ alone, rather than our own certainty. May we truly trust that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
In the wake of mental health struggles, war, death and trauma, those of us who are caregivers, loved ones, aid workers and witnesses carry unanswered questions, anger, grief and a sense of inadequacy. Christ, have mercy! In our deep nights of the soul, may someone’s little light shine like a star, helping us to find that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Strengthen our hearts to carry one another in faith.
O Spirit of solace, amid the turmoil of what we cannot explain, at times we’re sure the center cannot hold, let this blessed assurance console: Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Amen.
The Rev. Julia Seymour serves Big Timber Lutheran Church in Big Timber, Montana. She enjoys her flannel- and denim-clad life with her husband, Rob, their two children, Daniel and Victoria, and a dog and a rabbit.
This article appeared in the May/June 2024 issue of Gather. To read more like it, subscribe to Gather.