Proper12A’26
26 July 2026
Rom. 8.26-39
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone
“If God is for us then who can be against us?” Amen
• From Romans 8
In my work as a priest one of my privileges is to be able to work with couples in preparation for marriage and officiating at their wedding. I just got back yesterday from performing one up in Jonesboro. One of the readings from scripture they chose is definitely one of the greatest hits – I Corinthians 13 sometimes referred to as the Great Love Chapter where St. Paul describes the character of true love, Love is patient, Love is kind, etc.
Another privilege of a priest is to journey with individuals and families through the valley of the shadows of death and to help them plan the funeral, and to officiate. One of the greatest hits of scripture that is most often used at funeral is the second reading we heard today from the 8th chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. It contains some great lines that have brought comfort to many who are in grief, like this one:
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Death doesn’t get the last word – God does! This is good news that we can all rejoice in!
In addition to the hope we can have in death, there is more good news that can give us hope for living. One that is often quoted is Romans 8.28:
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Whenever we commit ourselves to Christ and seek to love God however imperfectly, we can claim this promise that in the midst of the things in life that are hard and that we cannot understand, God can and will bring good out of them. So dear friends we should keep offering our imperfect love to the author of perfect love. That imperfect part is important and hasn’t been overlooked by God:
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
When were at our weakest – when we aren’t even able to put our prayers into words – the Holy Spirit offers the perfect prayers on our behalf – how’s that for some good news?! God is praying for us right now! in fact can why don’t we pause just for a moment of silence to acknowledge this: + + + + + + +… Thank you God – thank you! We so need those prayers!
St. Paul goes on with a series of rhetorical questions that center around things that distress us most about life, for example:
“If God is for us, who is against us?” Doesn’t that question hit upon something that can bring about much distress and doubt – with all of our weaknesses and imperfections with all of the mistakes we make on a daily basis is God really for me? To that this question turns into a resounding Yes! God is for us! That is what Christ’s coming to earth living, loving and dying is all about – God is for us!
“He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?”
Next our fears of being judged by others or worse being judged by God are addressed:
Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
WOW! Did you catch that last part, besides the Spirit who is praying for us, Christ intercedes for us! Right now, Christ is praying to the Father for us – giving us, not single, not double, but triple coverage from the Holy Trinity!
Finally, St. Paul addresses some of the fears and worries that occupy us:
The first he deals with is separation, the fear that one day our good deeds won’t outweigh our bad deeds and that somehow through something we did or did not do we will find ourselves separated and in the ordinary day-to-day will God be on a permanent coffee break when it comes to us, and our lives?
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”
He then mentions some of the big things that can be obstacles
• Will hardship?
• or distress?
• or persecution,?
• or famine?
• or nakedness?
• or peril?
• or sword?
St. Paul gives a resounding No to all of these:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
He then comes in for the slam dunk:
For I am convinced that neither:
• death,
• nor life,
• nor angels,
• nor rulers,
• nor things present,
• nor things to come,
• nor powers,
• nor height,
• nor depth,
• nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Dear friends, this is good news indeed! Today and in the days ahead may they bring comfort to our heart and hope to our souls. Amen!