I don’t often write about really personal things but I figured I would this week.  I mentioned once in a sermon over a year ago that I have a transgender niece.  She is my sister’s child and came out a couple of years ago when she was 18.  She left for New York City today to have gender reassignment surgery; Stephanie will be joining them this weekend to support them.  It’s a huge deal and it hasn’t been without confusion and struggle within the extended family.  I was caught by surprise when she came out, but quickly came around to the simple fact that I love her and God loves her.  I can’t say I understand, but neither can I imagine what she must feel or has gone through.  And she has struggled a lot.  No matter what though, I will continue to love and support her—and I do.  I know that transgender issues have become a political hot-button issue; I understand the concerns.  But I know my niece, and she is loved by us.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  This is the gospel for this Sunday; it’s probably the most famous verse in the entire Bible.  For God so loved me.  For God so loved my sister.  For God so loved my niece.  For God so loved the cosmos (that’s the word in the original Greek of the New Testament).  Everything rests on God’s LOVE for us in Jesus Christ.  Everything.  “Love one another as I have loved you,” Jesus says on the eve of his death (John 15:12).  “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to appease for our sins” (I John 4:10).  Paul also writes in Romans, “Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another (14:13)… Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (15:7).”

Jesus didn’t come to judge but to love.  You, me, the cosmos.  I know some will say, “But what about…?”  I’ll still cling to the sure promise that “For God so Loved…” 

Peace, Pr. Christian