I offered this on Palm Sunday as a reflection on God’s love.  I use the word “for” to mean “on behalf or benefit of” rather than “in place of.”  The cross means freedom, healing, hope, courage, meaning, transformation and the list can go on.  Of course, the cross means, most of all, that God loves you deeply.  And, of course, this eternal reality no words, however lovely, can adequately convey.  God. Loves. YOU!!!   -Ram

A Palm Sunday Reflection

Jesus died for you sister;

That you’d be free from your compulsions to be perfectly put together for the world to see while you deny the emptiness of your own heart.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for you brother;

That you’d be free from the bondage of your addictions which numb the inner pain of daily existence that churns in the depth of your being.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for you child;

That you’d find healing from the wounds of losing your truest self striving to meet the rigorous standards of achievement heaped upon you by well-meaning, but demanding, parents and other adults in the classroom, in athletic competitions, in your hobbies and activities making you feel that WHAT you do is more important than WHO you are.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for you my suffering friend;

That you’d find meaning in the midst of your chronic illness and find strength in God’s grace to face and to embrace your coming death with dignity; in hope of finding wholeness and eternal renewal in the nearer presence of God.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for you lost traveller;

That you’d discover that your life and time on earth has been neither lost nor wasted in the wilderness of life through which the Hand of God has guided you, shielding you from all enemies, gently leading you to this moment.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for you, bitter soul;

That you’d begin to see this world as abundant, full of God’s good gifts for you and all of us who share this planet; that you’d know deeply that all political thinking, all divisions, all violence, all walls, all anger, all fear, all greed and all that brings us anxiety and despair has been nailed to the cross and burned away in the fire of Jesus’ self-sacrificing love.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for you Seeker;

That you’d recognize that you are a beloved child of God and find a restored sense of self that seeks not only your own good but the common good of all humanity whom God created in love, for love, and to love.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for you, my enemy;

That our hearts would awaken in peace and hope to resolutely face the truth that, while missiles can change the landscape, only God’s love in Christ can change our violent hearts.

God. Loves. You.

Jesus died for us, fellow pilgrims on the Way;

That as we journeyed we would be bound together in ever-strengthening bonds of love, discovering our interconnectedness and interdependence, discovering that sharing in each other’s lives is how we share in God’s life.

God. Loves. You.