you were loved into existance

Tod Bolsinger of It Takes a Church... has just returned from a sabbitical. In a reflection on that time away we writes about the best sermon he heard during that time.

It didn’t occur in the middle of a worship service, but at the Ironman Pre-Race dinner. And it didn’t come from an eloquent preacher, but from a humble Catholic sister.

Sister Madonna Buder was the oldest participant in Ironman Canada. She is 76 years old and has raced in several Ironman events, even though she didn’t first pull on a pair of running shoes until she was 48 years old. She was invited to the podium and after saying some brief gracious remarks, said simply, “When you are out there tomorrow and you hit a dark moment—and everyone hits a dark moment—remember, that you are loved. You were loved into existence.”

You were loved into existence.

He goes on to say:

Do they know, O Lord, that you loved them into existence?

And once again, I realized how love—when truly experienced—becomes mission. How the experience of knowing something so profound leads you to the desire to share that good news with others.

My prayer as this sabbatical season comes to an end is that I can so communicate to my church the presence of the Father who loved us into existence, that we, anchored in that confidence, will become more and more a part of the Father’s mission to make right the world that he "so loved into existence."