I want to tell you a story .  I tell stories because, as you know, I’m not a pastor.. and don’t pretend to be one…. But this story is about a minor event in my life that still speaks to me about love… about the love of a mother… but really about how that love is so very much like the love our God has for us.

My parents spent a good part of the last 30 years living 12 hours away.. so our visits were both rare and special.

But 2 summers ago.. they moved to NC… and so I was thrilled to be able to go see them when the kids were on a break from school.  But when we got there.. I found that I had gotten a stomach bug and I felt pretty crummy. (for the most part I just laid around and went to the ‘little boys’ room a lot!)

So one afternoon while everyone else was out having fun.. it was just me and my mom.  And I decided to sit back in my dad’s recliner and take a little nap.

My mom asked me if I needed a blanket.. and because I’m a man, I of course said ‘no.’

So I pulled back on the lever.. and back went the chair.. and down went my eyelids.. and off I went into nap-land.  I wasn’t completely asleep.. but just in that in-between kind of world where you’re kinda sleeping and kind of awake.

I remember getting a little chill.. but I was too comfy to get up and get a blanket. And that’s when I sensed it.

My eyes were still closed.. but I sensed some movement in the room.  And I listened and I could hear the rustle of some fabric.  And then I heard the slightest sound of a foot stepping along the carpet.  And I knew what it was.  I felt a blanket gently draped on my legs… and then moved ever so softly up my body… and around my shoulders.   And then I could almost feel her breath.. as the very same hands that held me as a baby… tucked that blanket around me.  She never said a word… and I never opened my eyes.  But inside i was taking it all in.  and I thought to myself…. Here I am.. almost 50 years old.. and my mom still knows what I need.. even when I say I don’t.. and she still loves me just like she has my whole life. 

And I stopped and just reveled in that moment… thinking… this may be the last time I ever feel like a little boy again.   Completely loved… unconditionally loved.. by the one who’s body created my own.

And in that moment… I knew exactly what this sermon would be about!

Remember our scripture today… Isaiah writes:  “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne?”

You see…. My mom would tell you that what she did that day was no big deal. She was only doing what came naturally to her.  The same thing many parents do.

She saw her son… and she loved him.  And because she loved him.. she did what was best for him.. even though he’d already said he didn’t need her help.

Wouldn’t it be great for us all to feel that kind of love... all the time?

I think you know where I’m going with this.  I think that’s the very kind of love God offers us.  A love that is unconditional.. and complete.  A love that finds us in our need and even when we say we don’t need  it… hugs us close anyway.

You see…. I did nothing to deserve that act of kindness from my mother.  And it’s not the things that any of us do, or don’t do, that make us worthy of God’s love.

The bible says ‘for it is by Grace that we are saved.’  And thank God for that.

Still,  I don’t know about you.. but I struggle with that too often.  I know the words.. and I believe them.  But there’s this little voice in the back of my mind saying.. “well, I know I screwed up … but maybe I can get my act back together and THEN come back to God and pray to him.. and praise him..”

Almost like I think he doesn’t already know that I screwed up.  Almost like I can hide myself from him.  Almost like the little boy who closes HIS eyes… convinced that if he does… YOU can’t see him.

But that’s not how it works.  Thank God for that.

The good news is that God not only knows who we really are…. He loves who we really are. (now I know some of you are thinking… well, I know a few people who aren’t very lovable at all!)  And the truth is… God may not want us to stay like we are… but He does love us.   And I believe he loves everyone in this room… exactly as you are… right now.  And if we slip again tomorrow….he’ll love us there too.

It’s kind of like one of those GPS units.  My friend alan got one for Christmas and showed me how it works.   Say you’re here at church and want to go downtown.  It’ll calculate a route.. and tell you exactly how to get to where you want to go.   But what happens if you take a wrong turn?  That’s the cool part.  If you go left instead of right.. and end up going the wrong way… the GPS unit will say  ‘ recalculating route.’ 

You see .. it doesn’t give up on you.. it doesn’t say ‘I told you how to get there.. and you didn’t listen to me… so now you’re on your own.’  (that would be what ruby says to me!!)

But the GPS just keeps on figuring out exactly where you are.. and keeps on telling you how to get to where you know you want to be. And it does it without judging you… or condemning you… it just keeps on ‘recalculating” that route.  And you know why?  Because that’s what’s written on the directions.. that’s what’s inscribed on it’s circuitry.  Meeting you where you are.. and offering you the ‘right’ directions… is all it knows how to do.

And all we have to do… even when we make wrong turns… is trust those directions.

In his Gospel… John writes this about us… and Jesus:

…. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give eternal life, and they shall never perish; NO ONE CAN SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND.’

They are words of hope and promise from a God who loves you so much that He will NEVER allow you to be snatched from his embrace.

And yet, as the bible often calls us… we are sheep.  And sheep get lost.. and we get lost.

I wonder, does anyone feel lost right now?  Does anybody need directions?

Is there someone here who is struggling to find their way around the stumbling blocks and obstacles and pitfalls that life brings?

For you there is hope.. and for all of us.. there is hope… because God is better than any  GPS unit.  He knows who we are… what we’re really about… what we’ve done.. and where we are………and he offers us a way home.  Not many of us follow the route exactly as He lays it out the first time.  We should .. but we often don’t.   but God is there… over and over again recalculating the route that will bring us back to Him.

So whether you’re here for the first time… or you’re a charter member….. if you aren’t yet a Christian…. or if you’re one of the saints of the church…. God is here for you… offering you the very same special love.  Not a better love for the better among us…but the same love… that pursues us no matter where we go.  A love that never gives up on us.. no matter where we’ve come from.. no matter what we’ve gone through… no matter how much baggage we think we have to carry.

And you know why?   Because that’s just what God does.  He doesn’t know how to do it any other way.  God doesn’t  know how NOT to love us.

That day, as I laid back in my dad’s lazy boy recliner… and felt that blanket tucked in around me… I felt God’s hands loving me.   And that same love is available to all of us in this room today.

There may be some of us here today who have sins that none of the rest of us know about.  In fact, I’ll bet there are a lot of us like that.  And if thinking of those sins – if seeing your life as it really is… gives you a cold chill  - that’s ok.  Because God is right beside you this morning… holding a blanket.  Close your eyes, if you’d like… and see if you can sense it.

He’s creeping up… drawing that blanket slowly out… so that it fits YOU perfectly.  And he’s draping it over your feet.. and legs.  Now it’s snug around your shoulders.  And things aren’t quite so cold anymore.

What’s draped around you is God’s love.  His absolute.. unconditional love for you.  Tucking you in.  his loving hands caressing YOU.   Because in the end… that’s all He knows how to do. 

Just like my mom loved me that day because that’s all she knew how to do… God loves us – right where we are… right here… right now..

God loves us all… not some of us.. or most of us… but every one of us. 

That’s all He knows.   And thank GOD… for that.