Two years ago, I married the most wonderful woman in the world. Life has been nothing short of amazing over these two years. In that time, we've hiked through mountains, beaches, cliffs, canyons, and volcanoes together. We've attended baseball, football, basketball, and hockey games. We've seen plays, musicals, and concerts. We've traveled to urban centers of civilization, and escaped into uninhabited landscapes. We've shared the joys of marriage and new birth in the lives of siblings and friends. We've begun a new life together in West Newton. I am amazed at the memories we've made in such a short period of time.
But perhaps the best memories of all are the less spectacular ones. Sitting on the porch swing and listening to the ballgame on the radio. Taking an evening walk through town. Watching old movies. Standoffs about who must do the dishes. Laughing for hours at our ridiculous cats. Staging epic ping-pong battles for the best prize of all: bragging rights. Tripping over each other every night as we brush our teeth in our incredibly small bathroom.
It's been a great 2 years, and I am just as madly in love with Lisa Joy Lindquist Hoeke as I was the day I met her - the freshman girl bold enough to hang a Terrible Towel on her dorm room door in the heart of Cleveland Browns territory. We share an anniversary with two couples in our congregation: one celebrating 35 years of marriage today, the other celebrating 60 years. Here's hoping we make it through another 58 years.
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Anam Cara: Part 1 of Several
An Anam Cara is a soul friend. Join me as I share experiences of soul friends that have walked with me in my continuing journey of faith.
When I was in college, I attended the United Methodist Church in our college town, Ada First UMC. The pastor there is Rev. Wayne Albertson. Wayne is a small man, even smaller than me. In fact, it seemed as though his tousled gray hair and the long, scraggly beard hanging halfway to his chest were a futile effort to keep him from getting swept away in the fierce winds of the Midwest plains. And yet, in that small, aging body lives an ever-growing mind and an unimaginably large heart.
Almost every Sunday morning, I would meet some friends for breakfast at the coffee shop, and we would wander over to the 10:30 service at Ada First. And every Sunday, I walked in with anticipation. I was eager to see what hymns we would be singing – Wayne always had a knack for choosing beautiful music that called us to worship. I’d count down the minutes until the choir would unleash yet another heavenly anthem from the very high choir loft. I was giddy as the sermon began, because I knew Wayne was about to tell some grandfatherly story that would perfectly sum up the call that the scripture had placed on our lives that week. But as wonderful as the worship at Ada First was, the part I always looked forward to most was our departure.
I say this not because I couldn’t wait to get out of the church. And despite what many of you might be thinking, I was not eager to get home so as not to miss the kickoff of the Steelers’ games. No, I couldn’t wait for the service to end because I desperately wanted a hug.
That’s right, a hug. While every other pastor I’ve had has shaken the hands of congregants as they left worship, Wayne clogged the pastoral receiving line with hug…after hug…after hug. But I always waited in line for my hug. Almost everyone waited. Sometimes on crowded Sundays, I had to wait 5 or 10 minutes for my hug. Yet every Sunday, for a sacred moment each week, I shared a loving embrace with a smiling, bearded pastor in a sleepy Midwestern town. It was, without fail, the highlight of my week.
I still remember Wayne hugs. He would hug me with more might than one would expect from such a small body. Somewhat annoyingly, his beard would always scratch up against my face. And after the embrace, he’d always hold his embrace at arm’s length, for just a moment, and look directly into the person’s eyes with total, unconditional, Christian love.
I don’t see Wayne that often anymore, but from time to time our lives cross paths for an hour, an afternoon, or a weekend. And when we see each other, we always begin and end our time with an embrace. He still squeezes pretty hard. His beard still irritates my cheek. And he still locks eyes with me. And in those embraces, nothing else matters. In those times, I am sharing a sacred moment with Wayne, a true anam cara, a soul friend. I am thankful for many things in my life, and today I am especially thankful for “Wayne hugs.”
When I was in college, I attended the United Methodist Church in our college town, Ada First UMC. The pastor there is Rev. Wayne Albertson. Wayne is a small man, even smaller than me. In fact, it seemed as though his tousled gray hair and the long, scraggly beard hanging halfway to his chest were a futile effort to keep him from getting swept away in the fierce winds of the Midwest plains. And yet, in that small, aging body lives an ever-growing mind and an unimaginably large heart.
Almost every Sunday morning, I would meet some friends for breakfast at the coffee shop, and we would wander over to the 10:30 service at Ada First. And every Sunday, I walked in with anticipation. I was eager to see what hymns we would be singing – Wayne always had a knack for choosing beautiful music that called us to worship. I’d count down the minutes until the choir would unleash yet another heavenly anthem from the very high choir loft. I was giddy as the sermon began, because I knew Wayne was about to tell some grandfatherly story that would perfectly sum up the call that the scripture had placed on our lives that week. But as wonderful as the worship at Ada First was, the part I always looked forward to most was our departure.
I say this not because I couldn’t wait to get out of the church. And despite what many of you might be thinking, I was not eager to get home so as not to miss the kickoff of the Steelers’ games. No, I couldn’t wait for the service to end because I desperately wanted a hug.
That’s right, a hug. While every other pastor I’ve had has shaken the hands of congregants as they left worship, Wayne clogged the pastoral receiving line with hug…after hug…after hug. But I always waited in line for my hug. Almost everyone waited. Sometimes on crowded Sundays, I had to wait 5 or 10 minutes for my hug. Yet every Sunday, for a sacred moment each week, I shared a loving embrace with a smiling, bearded pastor in a sleepy Midwestern town. It was, without fail, the highlight of my week.
I still remember Wayne hugs. He would hug me with more might than one would expect from such a small body. Somewhat annoyingly, his beard would always scratch up against my face. And after the embrace, he’d always hold his embrace at arm’s length, for just a moment, and look directly into the person’s eyes with total, unconditional, Christian love.
I don’t see Wayne that often anymore, but from time to time our lives cross paths for an hour, an afternoon, or a weekend. And when we see each other, we always begin and end our time with an embrace. He still squeezes pretty hard. His beard still irritates my cheek. And he still locks eyes with me. And in those embraces, nothing else matters. In those times, I am sharing a sacred moment with Wayne, a true anam cara, a soul friend. I am thankful for many things in my life, and today I am especially thankful for “Wayne hugs.”
Monday, May 18, 2009
Love One Another
Sermon for Sunday, May 17, 2009
Scripture: John 15:9-17
In listening to the radio this past week, I heard a lot about love. Here’s some of what I heard:
“This one goes out to the one I love.”
“What is love?”
“It’s more than a feeling.”
“What is this thing called love?”
“We’ve got a thing that’s called radar love.”
“I ain’t complaining but I’d sure like to find me a true fine love.”
“Jungle love, it’s driving me mad, it’s making me crazy.”
“That’s the way love is, baby.”
“I can’t help falling in love with you.”
“I ain’t ready, crazy little thing called love.”
“Can anybody find me somebody to love?”
“Can’t buy me love.”
“Let’s fall in love. Why shouldn’t we fall in love?”
“Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, I can’t help myself, I love you and nobody else.”
“I like it, I love it, I want some more of it.”
“‘Cause I love you.”
“I’m just a stubborn kind of fellow, got my mind made up to love you.”
“Do you love me?”
“Love me do.”
“I’ll give you the best of my love.”
“Love is what you need.”
“I will always love you.”
“Some call me the gangster of love.”
“Don’t leave! I think I love you!”
“Don’t take your love from me.”
“Gonna try and love again.”
“She’s in love with a boy.”
“She loves you.”
“Can you feel the love tonight?”
“I feel like makin’ love.”
“You’d be so easy to love.”
“I just called to say I love you.”
“Have I told you lately that I love you?”
“I can’t get enough of your love babe.”
“How sweet it is to be loved by you.”
“Love will keep us alive.”
“You brought a new kind of love to me.”
“That’s how your love makes me feel.”
“That’s love.”
“All you need is love.”
We hear a lot about love. It’s a word used very often. In fact, Jesus uses the word “love” or a variation thereof no less than 9 times in this passage alone – more than once per verse. And that doesn’t count the fact that the word “friends” here really means “loved ones.” Faith, hope, and love abide, and the greatest of these is love. The greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbors. Even the core value of our Western PA Annual Conference is LOVE: “We love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. This value is commanded by Jesus, inspired by our Wesleyan heritage, including to ‘spread scriptural holiness over the land,’ and witnessed through our integrity, accountability, and inclusiveness.”
But do we really know what it means to love God and love one another as Christ has loved us? If we look closely at this morning’s passage from the Gospel of John, then we do know what it means to love. Jesus gives us specific instructions on how to love him and to love one another.
First, we are to abide in Christ. As he invests the time and energy to be with us, we are to do the same. How do we form relationships in the first place? Through time spent together. My closest friends are the ones that I have spent the most time with in my life. We may not spend a lot of time together now because they live so far away, but when we first became friends, we would spend all our time together. The relationship between me and my wife began primarily through 4 hour car trips back home from college. And my relationship with Jesus Christ has grown through abiding in him, spending time with him.
Abide in him, and let him abide in you. The greatest gift you can give another person is the gift of time. We set aside time for our loved ones. We make sure that we connect through the sharing of time. To abide means to remain. So we remain connected to the relationships that are important in our lives. We remain invested in our loved ones. You don’t develop a deep relationship with someone without remaining invested in that relationship. If you don’t abide in that relationship, taking time out for that other person, the relationship dies. So our relationships with God and with one another require a commitment of time and energy – a continual investment to keep the relationship going. To love one another is to give the gift of time to one another.
Secondly, a loving relationship requires opening up to each other. Jesus says, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends [or, loved ones], because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” The servant-master relationship is a business relationship – it might be cordial or even friendly – but nothing more. A servant does not concern his master with any personal information about his life, and neither does a master confide in his servant. However, two friends – two real friends – share everything with one another. They complete each other’s sentences. They open up to one another. They share their hopes and dreams with each other. They share sorrows and fears together. They laugh together. They cry together. Everything is an open book between two people who truly care about each other. This can take the form of a romantic relationship or a platonic relationship. Either way, true love is characterized by opening up to one another, to confiding in one another, to allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to one another. True love among friends is making everything known to one another – no secrets, just relationship.
Okay Jesus, I think I can relate. Spending time with one another? Check. Sharing everything with one another? Check. Yeah, this loving one another thing isn’t so hard. We’re supposed to have a relationship with you characterized by spending time and hiding nothing from each other, and we’re supposed to form relationships with one another in the same way. I can do this. This is good. Anything else?
“No one has greater love than this,” says Jesus, “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends [or, loved ones].” Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus. Now wait just a gosh darn minute! Are you kidding? You’re just using that as a figure of speech, right? Like, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” Like we tell our friends, “Sure, I’d take a bullet for you.” But we say it because we know it probably won’t ever happen. It sounds courageous and caring and like we really love the other person. But we know that it’s not that often that we are literally faced with the prospect of laying down our life for another.
But it does happen. Last month, three Pittsburgh Police officers laid down their life while trying to protect others. We hear heroic stories of people laying down their lives to help others escape harm from natural disasters. And there’s the story from a number of years ago not too far from here, where a man broke into a home with a family of four. After the man killed the father, the mother ran out of the house and into the woods, where she was eventually killed as well. Later, police determined that she intentionally ran from the house to protect her children. She laid down her life for loved ones.
We toss that phrase around casually, as if we’ll never be faced with it. And we may never be faced with it. But I suspect Jesus does not toss this phrase around so casually. Maybe it’s because he actually will lay down his life for his loved ones not too long after this discourse. But I also think it’s because he knows that the example of laying down one’s life embodies love better than any other example we could come up with.
Why? Because when we say we would lay down our life for someone else, we are saying that we value the other person’s life more than our own. Sacrificing our own life for another takes courage, but more than anything, it takes SELFLESSNESS. It is an act of putting others before ourselves. It’s thinking of another’s wellbeing before our own. It’s regarding others as worth the ultimate sacrifice – ourselves.
Everything Jesus calls us to be and do in this morning’s text requires selflessness. We give the gift of time to another, which sometimes means sacrificing our own desires for that of another. Maybe you come home from work and all you want to do is lay on the couch and relax, but your spouse needs help with a chore around the house, or your child needs help with schoolwork. Maybe you had plans to spend Friday night at the movies, but as you’re walking out the door, a friend calls in need of someone to talk to. And you give up your relaxation time, because it’s more important to be there for a friend. Maybe there’s a crucial playoff hockey game you want to watch, but you have to sacrifice watching it so you can help advance God’s kingdom through an important administrative council meeting at church.
Or perhaps you give your time to a complete stranger as an act of love. Just this week I was walking through the parking lot of a hospital, and as I approached the entrance there was an older man who was helping an even older woman out of the car. Both appeared rather weak and frail, and were struggling a bit. A man, presumably a patient at the hospital, was taking a short walk around the entrance, with a portable oxygen tank, no less. He was obviously not the most qualified person to help out this older couple. But he was the only one around. So he stopped by and offered help. Initially, the older couple refused, but the man insisted on helping. So here’s a man in need of an oxygen tank to breathe, giving himself up for another. This man gave the gift of time to another. And in a small way, he was laying his own life, his own self, aside for the life of another.
Most of us will not be called to literally lay our life down for another. But we will be called to put ourselves to the side for another. We are called daily to lay down our life in small ways. Whose needs can you put above your own? Who will you allow yourself to take a backseat to? How can you be more selfless?
I normally hate commercials. However, I really like the Liberty Mutual commercials from the last few years. Have you seen them? They show people doing small, random acts of kindness. It’s a “pay it forward” type of a cycle. Someone picks up a child’s toy. Someone else sees that, and it inspires them to hold an elevator for a stranger. That inspires someone to escape the harm of falling boxes, which inspires someone else to let a stranger pull out in front of them in heavy traffic. And on it goes. Kindness is contagious. Love is contagious. Selflessness is contagious. Laying down one’s life for another is contagious.
We are to lay down our life in the same way Jesus Christ laid down his life – with no complaining, with selflessness, and sometimes, in pain. Jesus’ salvific act on the cross was completely selfless – the ultimate act of love. And guess what? It was done for everyone. Jesus loved every human in the act of laying down his life. So that is our task of love. That is our task of selflessness. Who are we to love? Who are we to “lay down our life” for? Family? Close friends? Co-workers? Those living in our neighborhood? Those sharing the pew with us? Fellow Methodists? Fellow Christians? Mere acquaintances? Strangers on the street? Jesus Christ? The answer is “Yes.” We are to love one another. An important aspect of this passage is that there are no examples, no qualifications, no explanations for who “one another” might be. That ambiguity helps us realize that loving one another is filling in the blank.
While Jesus offers a specific example of HOW to love, he does not offer an example of WHO to love. He just says, “love one another.” So, this love of “laying down our lives” for another is all-inclusive, just as it was for Christ on the cross. Christ is calling us to set our own motives and desires aside whenever we can, living selfless rather than selfish lives.
Friends, this is what Christ calls us to this morning. Christ calls us to love one another through acts of selflessness. Christ calls us to love everyone – no exceptions – by laying our lives down for them. And let me tell you: I haven’t even been here a full year, but I know there are many people in this room right now that are experienced in loving as Christ loved. There are many people in this congregation that daily lay their lives down for others, be it family, friends, fellow church members, or strangers. As a congregation, I have already seen that you have so much love to give that you’re practically bursting at the seams.
But no matter how loving we may be, we can always do better. No matter how selfless we are, we can always be more selfless. And just because we laid down our life for another today does not mean we have a free pass for tomorrow. Loving one another through selfless acts is a task we must take up daily. It is a never-ending proposition, because we know that the world could always use more love. There’s no such thing as too much love in the world. So I invite you this morning: love one another. Lay down your lives for one another. Love others as Jesus loves us. For there is no greater love than selflessness. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Scripture: John 15:9-17
In listening to the radio this past week, I heard a lot about love. Here’s some of what I heard:
“This one goes out to the one I love.”
“What is love?”
“It’s more than a feeling.”
“What is this thing called love?”
“We’ve got a thing that’s called radar love.”
“I ain’t complaining but I’d sure like to find me a true fine love.”
“Jungle love, it’s driving me mad, it’s making me crazy.”
“That’s the way love is, baby.”
“I can’t help falling in love with you.”
“I ain’t ready, crazy little thing called love.”
“Can anybody find me somebody to love?”
“Can’t buy me love.”
“Let’s fall in love. Why shouldn’t we fall in love?”
“Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, I can’t help myself, I love you and nobody else.”
“I like it, I love it, I want some more of it.”
“‘Cause I love you.”
“I’m just a stubborn kind of fellow, got my mind made up to love you.”
“Do you love me?”
“Love me do.”
“I’ll give you the best of my love.”
“Love is what you need.”
“I will always love you.”
“Some call me the gangster of love.”
“Don’t leave! I think I love you!”
“Don’t take your love from me.”
“Gonna try and love again.”
“She’s in love with a boy.”
“She loves you.”
“Can you feel the love tonight?”
“I feel like makin’ love.”
“You’d be so easy to love.”
“I just called to say I love you.”
“Have I told you lately that I love you?”
“I can’t get enough of your love babe.”
“How sweet it is to be loved by you.”
“Love will keep us alive.”
“You brought a new kind of love to me.”
“That’s how your love makes me feel.”
“That’s love.”
“All you need is love.”
We hear a lot about love. It’s a word used very often. In fact, Jesus uses the word “love” or a variation thereof no less than 9 times in this passage alone – more than once per verse. And that doesn’t count the fact that the word “friends” here really means “loved ones.” Faith, hope, and love abide, and the greatest of these is love. The greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbors. Even the core value of our Western PA Annual Conference is LOVE: “We love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. This value is commanded by Jesus, inspired by our Wesleyan heritage, including to ‘spread scriptural holiness over the land,’ and witnessed through our integrity, accountability, and inclusiveness.”
But do we really know what it means to love God and love one another as Christ has loved us? If we look closely at this morning’s passage from the Gospel of John, then we do know what it means to love. Jesus gives us specific instructions on how to love him and to love one another.
First, we are to abide in Christ. As he invests the time and energy to be with us, we are to do the same. How do we form relationships in the first place? Through time spent together. My closest friends are the ones that I have spent the most time with in my life. We may not spend a lot of time together now because they live so far away, but when we first became friends, we would spend all our time together. The relationship between me and my wife began primarily through 4 hour car trips back home from college. And my relationship with Jesus Christ has grown through abiding in him, spending time with him.
Abide in him, and let him abide in you. The greatest gift you can give another person is the gift of time. We set aside time for our loved ones. We make sure that we connect through the sharing of time. To abide means to remain. So we remain connected to the relationships that are important in our lives. We remain invested in our loved ones. You don’t develop a deep relationship with someone without remaining invested in that relationship. If you don’t abide in that relationship, taking time out for that other person, the relationship dies. So our relationships with God and with one another require a commitment of time and energy – a continual investment to keep the relationship going. To love one another is to give the gift of time to one another.
Secondly, a loving relationship requires opening up to each other. Jesus says, “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends [or, loved ones], because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” The servant-master relationship is a business relationship – it might be cordial or even friendly – but nothing more. A servant does not concern his master with any personal information about his life, and neither does a master confide in his servant. However, two friends – two real friends – share everything with one another. They complete each other’s sentences. They open up to one another. They share their hopes and dreams with each other. They share sorrows and fears together. They laugh together. They cry together. Everything is an open book between two people who truly care about each other. This can take the form of a romantic relationship or a platonic relationship. Either way, true love is characterized by opening up to one another, to confiding in one another, to allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to one another. True love among friends is making everything known to one another – no secrets, just relationship.
Okay Jesus, I think I can relate. Spending time with one another? Check. Sharing everything with one another? Check. Yeah, this loving one another thing isn’t so hard. We’re supposed to have a relationship with you characterized by spending time and hiding nothing from each other, and we’re supposed to form relationships with one another in the same way. I can do this. This is good. Anything else?
“No one has greater love than this,” says Jesus, “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends [or, loved ones].” Whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus. Now wait just a gosh darn minute! Are you kidding? You’re just using that as a figure of speech, right? Like, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” Like we tell our friends, “Sure, I’d take a bullet for you.” But we say it because we know it probably won’t ever happen. It sounds courageous and caring and like we really love the other person. But we know that it’s not that often that we are literally faced with the prospect of laying down our life for another.
But it does happen. Last month, three Pittsburgh Police officers laid down their life while trying to protect others. We hear heroic stories of people laying down their lives to help others escape harm from natural disasters. And there’s the story from a number of years ago not too far from here, where a man broke into a home with a family of four. After the man killed the father, the mother ran out of the house and into the woods, where she was eventually killed as well. Later, police determined that she intentionally ran from the house to protect her children. She laid down her life for loved ones.
We toss that phrase around casually, as if we’ll never be faced with it. And we may never be faced with it. But I suspect Jesus does not toss this phrase around so casually. Maybe it’s because he actually will lay down his life for his loved ones not too long after this discourse. But I also think it’s because he knows that the example of laying down one’s life embodies love better than any other example we could come up with.
Why? Because when we say we would lay down our life for someone else, we are saying that we value the other person’s life more than our own. Sacrificing our own life for another takes courage, but more than anything, it takes SELFLESSNESS. It is an act of putting others before ourselves. It’s thinking of another’s wellbeing before our own. It’s regarding others as worth the ultimate sacrifice – ourselves.
Everything Jesus calls us to be and do in this morning’s text requires selflessness. We give the gift of time to another, which sometimes means sacrificing our own desires for that of another. Maybe you come home from work and all you want to do is lay on the couch and relax, but your spouse needs help with a chore around the house, or your child needs help with schoolwork. Maybe you had plans to spend Friday night at the movies, but as you’re walking out the door, a friend calls in need of someone to talk to. And you give up your relaxation time, because it’s more important to be there for a friend. Maybe there’s a crucial playoff hockey game you want to watch, but you have to sacrifice watching it so you can help advance God’s kingdom through an important administrative council meeting at church.
Or perhaps you give your time to a complete stranger as an act of love. Just this week I was walking through the parking lot of a hospital, and as I approached the entrance there was an older man who was helping an even older woman out of the car. Both appeared rather weak and frail, and were struggling a bit. A man, presumably a patient at the hospital, was taking a short walk around the entrance, with a portable oxygen tank, no less. He was obviously not the most qualified person to help out this older couple. But he was the only one around. So he stopped by and offered help. Initially, the older couple refused, but the man insisted on helping. So here’s a man in need of an oxygen tank to breathe, giving himself up for another. This man gave the gift of time to another. And in a small way, he was laying his own life, his own self, aside for the life of another.
Most of us will not be called to literally lay our life down for another. But we will be called to put ourselves to the side for another. We are called daily to lay down our life in small ways. Whose needs can you put above your own? Who will you allow yourself to take a backseat to? How can you be more selfless?
I normally hate commercials. However, I really like the Liberty Mutual commercials from the last few years. Have you seen them? They show people doing small, random acts of kindness. It’s a “pay it forward” type of a cycle. Someone picks up a child’s toy. Someone else sees that, and it inspires them to hold an elevator for a stranger. That inspires someone to escape the harm of falling boxes, which inspires someone else to let a stranger pull out in front of them in heavy traffic. And on it goes. Kindness is contagious. Love is contagious. Selflessness is contagious. Laying down one’s life for another is contagious.
We are to lay down our life in the same way Jesus Christ laid down his life – with no complaining, with selflessness, and sometimes, in pain. Jesus’ salvific act on the cross was completely selfless – the ultimate act of love. And guess what? It was done for everyone. Jesus loved every human in the act of laying down his life. So that is our task of love. That is our task of selflessness. Who are we to love? Who are we to “lay down our life” for? Family? Close friends? Co-workers? Those living in our neighborhood? Those sharing the pew with us? Fellow Methodists? Fellow Christians? Mere acquaintances? Strangers on the street? Jesus Christ? The answer is “Yes.” We are to love one another. An important aspect of this passage is that there are no examples, no qualifications, no explanations for who “one another” might be. That ambiguity helps us realize that loving one another is filling in the blank.
While Jesus offers a specific example of HOW to love, he does not offer an example of WHO to love. He just says, “love one another.” So, this love of “laying down our lives” for another is all-inclusive, just as it was for Christ on the cross. Christ is calling us to set our own motives and desires aside whenever we can, living selfless rather than selfish lives.
Friends, this is what Christ calls us to this morning. Christ calls us to love one another through acts of selflessness. Christ calls us to love everyone – no exceptions – by laying our lives down for them. And let me tell you: I haven’t even been here a full year, but I know there are many people in this room right now that are experienced in loving as Christ loved. There are many people in this congregation that daily lay their lives down for others, be it family, friends, fellow church members, or strangers. As a congregation, I have already seen that you have so much love to give that you’re practically bursting at the seams.
But no matter how loving we may be, we can always do better. No matter how selfless we are, we can always be more selfless. And just because we laid down our life for another today does not mean we have a free pass for tomorrow. Loving one another through selfless acts is a task we must take up daily. It is a never-ending proposition, because we know that the world could always use more love. There’s no such thing as too much love in the world. So I invite you this morning: love one another. Lay down your lives for one another. Love others as Jesus loves us. For there is no greater love than selflessness. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, October 27, 2008
A New Kind of Love
In Jesus’ day, there were two political camps within the church. You may have heard of them: the Pharisees vs. the Sadducees. Both had strong followings; both knew they were right and the other group was wrong. It was red state vs. blue state, first century style. And as the rebellion heats up, they want to cut down the leader of this new ideology being spread. The Sadducees and Pharisees agree on at least one thing: Jesus must be taken care of. We need to turn his supporters on each other. We need to trap him and get him to say something that will divide his followers. Both try, and fail. And then, as the sun is fading on “Stump Jesus Day” at the temple, the Pharisees take one last shot at Jesus.
A hot-shot lawyer speaks up. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? You see, this lawyer knew that he had Jesus trapped. He was forced to choose from 613 laws: some were deemed moral laws, and others were deemed ritual laws. If he chose one type of law over another, he’d lose half of his support. But he had to choose: ritual law, or moral law?
Well, as he does time and time again in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus does not take the bait. He outplays, outwits, and outlasts these religious leaders. He says that there are not one, but two commandments that are equally the greatest. First, we must love God – ritual law. Second, we must love neighbor – moral law. The love commandments, as they are often called, are Jesus’ way of preaching a bipartisan message, one that satisfies everyone. But he does bend the rules, doesn’t he? After all, one of these things must be more important than the other.
But Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, does not cheat. In fact, what is often called the love commandments is actually but one commandment for Jesus. He yokes these two commandments together when he says the second one is like it. Here the words he uses mean that the second one is the same as the first, is equal to the first. Loving neighbor does not merely follow loving God, or turn out as the second best commandment. No, loving God and loving neighbor are one in the same commandment.
Why are these two commandments yoked together by Jesus? Why are they equal? How are they equal? Are they separate but equal? Does one take precedence over another based on the situation?
In bringing these two commandments together in this teaching moment, Jesus shows us that loving God and loving neighbor are intricately related to each other. Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, knows that neither of these commandments are possible without the presence of the other. One cannot love God unless one loves their neighbor. And one cannot love their neighbor unless they love God. Loving God and loving neighbor are woven together so tight that it often is hard to distinguish one from the other. And it is impossible to have one without the other.
Retired United Methodist Bishop and a former professor of mine, Woodie White, once said, “Without personal holiness, there can be no social holiness. And without social holiness, there can be no personal holiness.” A profound statement by a very wise man – one of the wisest people I know. You see, Bishop White realizes that you can’t love God unless you love your neighbor. And you can’t love your neighbor unless you love God.
In order to love other people, we have to love God. Spending time in a relationship with God prepares us for loving others. It provides both purpose and foundation from which we can love our neighbors. It’s as if we are empty vessels. We love God by coming to worship on Sunday morning, by spending time in devotion and in prayer, by absorbing God’s love through all that is beautiful and true in the world, by experiencing a connection with the one who creates. We spend time loving God because it reminds us that God first loved us. Let me say that again: We spend time loving God because it reminds us that God first loved us. And when we remember this truth, we the empty vessels become filled with God’s love. We become so full that we can’t help but let love overflow with us. We can’t help but flow from our place of personal holiness – flow out into a world desperately in need of acts of love. My friends, this is why we must love God before we love other people – because we need God’s love of us to be the foundation and purpose for loving others. We need God to fill us up so that we can spread that love among our neighbors.
“Pastor,” you may ask, “how is this true? Aren’t there kind, loving people out there who have no relationship with God?” Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean that loving other people is wholly separate from loving God. In fact, when you love someone else, you love God. The very first chapter of Scripture teaches us that we humans are made in God’s image. And if we and our neighbors are made in God’s image – and we and our neighbors are – then to love our neighbor is to love God. By loving God’s creation, God’s beloved children – that is, our neighbors – we love God. We cannot help but love God when we love others. Loving others is intricately tied up with loving God. Without personal holiness, there is no social holiness.
Similarly, we cannot love God unless we love our neighbors. There’s a story of two monks traveling along a dirt road. As they came upon a large, muddy puddle stretching across the entire road, they met a woman there also traveling the road. She had stopped because she was trying to figure out a way to get across the puddle without getting her dress dirty. The two monks, as part of their religious order, were not permitted to touch women at all. It was a good rule, a rule that kept them from being tempted to be led astray from their vow of celibacy. Well, when they heard the woman’s dilemma, one of the monks picked the woman up, carried her across the puddle, dirtying his own robe, and set her down. She thanked him, and the two monks went on their way ahead of the woman.
After several hours of silence, the monk who had watched his companion break one of their sacred rules finally spoke. He said, “Brother, you know that we are not allowed to touch women. Why then did you carry that woman across the puddle back there?” He replied, “Brother, I saw a need and I met it. Back at the puddle I broke our rule of faith, but when I walked through the puddle, for the first time I truly knew what it meant to love as God loves.”
What people with puddles to cross have you encountered recently? What did you do in response? Did you hold fast to the notion that our love of God is not related to loving puddle people? Or did you let love rule the situation, finding that in loving another, you encountered God? You see, loving our neighbors, loving puddle people, is one of many ways that God provides for us to connect with God. Loving our neighbors allows us to connect with the God who breathes life into all people through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Just as God created everyone in God’s image, so too God breathes life into all beings. When we make real, loving connections with our brothers and sisters of the world, we experience the breath of the Holy Spirit afresh and anew.
I’ve had several people tell me that they think they don’t have to join a church to be a Christian. And you know, to an extent, that’s true. But saying that you can be a Christian without joining a community of faith is like saying I can eat 3 meals a day without using anything but my microwave. Technically, I could eat TV dinners all the time – just nuke them in my microwave. Who needs an oven? But do I really want to give up my stove or oven in favor of a microwave-only lifestyle? By giving that up, I’m giving up things I really love to eat. I’m giving up scrambled eggs and pancakes on the stove. I’m giving up cookies and cakes from the oven. I’m giving up casseroles, stir fry, pasta, and chicken – not to mention giving up all the wonderful things I could cook on the grill! The point is, I could live on only one mode of cooking rather than the full arsenal of culinary tools. But it wouldn’t give me variety, and it would limit the types of things I eat. It wouldn’t be that enjoyable. And I suppose one could live on only one mode of connecting with God – personal prayer or devotions in the comfort of one’s own home. But being a Christian without spending time loving one’s neighbors is like making all your meals with only a microwave – limited in scope and variety, and not very enjoyable. Over time, the microwaved meals feel pretty unfulfilling, pretty empty inside. Without social holiness, there can be no personal holiness.
Personal and social holiness act in a cyclical manner. Love of God and love of neighbor act in a cyclical manner. When we draw into a deeper love with God, we become transformed into people who can’t help but spread love among our neighbors. And when we act out in love, we draw closer to the God who dwells in every living thing. As we draw closer in love to God, we then become equipped to love neighbor even more. And on it goes, these two commandments mutually supporting each other in an intricate relationship.
On this interplay hangs all the law and prophets, Jesus says. The lawyer wants to know which commandment, which rule, is most important to follow. And Jesus tells him that the value of love far exceeds and far surpasses any law that we try to follow. You see, sometimes we get so caught up in our rules and regulations that we forget the greatest commandment: Love God, and love one another. We know this, but it comes up so often in Scripture because we’re in constant need of reminding. Love God, love one another. This is more important than any other thing. Love God, love one another. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A hot-shot lawyer speaks up. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? You see, this lawyer knew that he had Jesus trapped. He was forced to choose from 613 laws: some were deemed moral laws, and others were deemed ritual laws. If he chose one type of law over another, he’d lose half of his support. But he had to choose: ritual law, or moral law?
Well, as he does time and time again in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus does not take the bait. He outplays, outwits, and outlasts these religious leaders. He says that there are not one, but two commandments that are equally the greatest. First, we must love God – ritual law. Second, we must love neighbor – moral law. The love commandments, as they are often called, are Jesus’ way of preaching a bipartisan message, one that satisfies everyone. But he does bend the rules, doesn’t he? After all, one of these things must be more important than the other.
But Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, does not cheat. In fact, what is often called the love commandments is actually but one commandment for Jesus. He yokes these two commandments together when he says the second one is like it. Here the words he uses mean that the second one is the same as the first, is equal to the first. Loving neighbor does not merely follow loving God, or turn out as the second best commandment. No, loving God and loving neighbor are one in the same commandment.
Why are these two commandments yoked together by Jesus? Why are they equal? How are they equal? Are they separate but equal? Does one take precedence over another based on the situation?
In bringing these two commandments together in this teaching moment, Jesus shows us that loving God and loving neighbor are intricately related to each other. Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, knows that neither of these commandments are possible without the presence of the other. One cannot love God unless one loves their neighbor. And one cannot love their neighbor unless they love God. Loving God and loving neighbor are woven together so tight that it often is hard to distinguish one from the other. And it is impossible to have one without the other.
Retired United Methodist Bishop and a former professor of mine, Woodie White, once said, “Without personal holiness, there can be no social holiness. And without social holiness, there can be no personal holiness.” A profound statement by a very wise man – one of the wisest people I know. You see, Bishop White realizes that you can’t love God unless you love your neighbor. And you can’t love your neighbor unless you love God.
In order to love other people, we have to love God. Spending time in a relationship with God prepares us for loving others. It provides both purpose and foundation from which we can love our neighbors. It’s as if we are empty vessels. We love God by coming to worship on Sunday morning, by spending time in devotion and in prayer, by absorbing God’s love through all that is beautiful and true in the world, by experiencing a connection with the one who creates. We spend time loving God because it reminds us that God first loved us. Let me say that again: We spend time loving God because it reminds us that God first loved us. And when we remember this truth, we the empty vessels become filled with God’s love. We become so full that we can’t help but let love overflow with us. We can’t help but flow from our place of personal holiness – flow out into a world desperately in need of acts of love. My friends, this is why we must love God before we love other people – because we need God’s love of us to be the foundation and purpose for loving others. We need God to fill us up so that we can spread that love among our neighbors.
“Pastor,” you may ask, “how is this true? Aren’t there kind, loving people out there who have no relationship with God?” Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean that loving other people is wholly separate from loving God. In fact, when you love someone else, you love God. The very first chapter of Scripture teaches us that we humans are made in God’s image. And if we and our neighbors are made in God’s image – and we and our neighbors are – then to love our neighbor is to love God. By loving God’s creation, God’s beloved children – that is, our neighbors – we love God. We cannot help but love God when we love others. Loving others is intricately tied up with loving God. Without personal holiness, there is no social holiness.
Similarly, we cannot love God unless we love our neighbors. There’s a story of two monks traveling along a dirt road. As they came upon a large, muddy puddle stretching across the entire road, they met a woman there also traveling the road. She had stopped because she was trying to figure out a way to get across the puddle without getting her dress dirty. The two monks, as part of their religious order, were not permitted to touch women at all. It was a good rule, a rule that kept them from being tempted to be led astray from their vow of celibacy. Well, when they heard the woman’s dilemma, one of the monks picked the woman up, carried her across the puddle, dirtying his own robe, and set her down. She thanked him, and the two monks went on their way ahead of the woman.
After several hours of silence, the monk who had watched his companion break one of their sacred rules finally spoke. He said, “Brother, you know that we are not allowed to touch women. Why then did you carry that woman across the puddle back there?” He replied, “Brother, I saw a need and I met it. Back at the puddle I broke our rule of faith, but when I walked through the puddle, for the first time I truly knew what it meant to love as God loves.”
What people with puddles to cross have you encountered recently? What did you do in response? Did you hold fast to the notion that our love of God is not related to loving puddle people? Or did you let love rule the situation, finding that in loving another, you encountered God? You see, loving our neighbors, loving puddle people, is one of many ways that God provides for us to connect with God. Loving our neighbors allows us to connect with the God who breathes life into all people through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Just as God created everyone in God’s image, so too God breathes life into all beings. When we make real, loving connections with our brothers and sisters of the world, we experience the breath of the Holy Spirit afresh and anew.
I’ve had several people tell me that they think they don’t have to join a church to be a Christian. And you know, to an extent, that’s true. But saying that you can be a Christian without joining a community of faith is like saying I can eat 3 meals a day without using anything but my microwave. Technically, I could eat TV dinners all the time – just nuke them in my microwave. Who needs an oven? But do I really want to give up my stove or oven in favor of a microwave-only lifestyle? By giving that up, I’m giving up things I really love to eat. I’m giving up scrambled eggs and pancakes on the stove. I’m giving up cookies and cakes from the oven. I’m giving up casseroles, stir fry, pasta, and chicken – not to mention giving up all the wonderful things I could cook on the grill! The point is, I could live on only one mode of cooking rather than the full arsenal of culinary tools. But it wouldn’t give me variety, and it would limit the types of things I eat. It wouldn’t be that enjoyable. And I suppose one could live on only one mode of connecting with God – personal prayer or devotions in the comfort of one’s own home. But being a Christian without spending time loving one’s neighbors is like making all your meals with only a microwave – limited in scope and variety, and not very enjoyable. Over time, the microwaved meals feel pretty unfulfilling, pretty empty inside. Without social holiness, there can be no personal holiness.
Personal and social holiness act in a cyclical manner. Love of God and love of neighbor act in a cyclical manner. When we draw into a deeper love with God, we become transformed into people who can’t help but spread love among our neighbors. And when we act out in love, we draw closer to the God who dwells in every living thing. As we draw closer in love to God, we then become equipped to love neighbor even more. And on it goes, these two commandments mutually supporting each other in an intricate relationship.
On this interplay hangs all the law and prophets, Jesus says. The lawyer wants to know which commandment, which rule, is most important to follow. And Jesus tells him that the value of love far exceeds and far surpasses any law that we try to follow. You see, sometimes we get so caught up in our rules and regulations that we forget the greatest commandment: Love God, and love one another. We know this, but it comes up so often in Scripture because we’re in constant need of reminding. Love God, love one another. This is more important than any other thing. Love God, love one another. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)