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| Comments for Sandy
This morning’s text, for whatever reasons, was not what I wanted to hear. This particular portion of John’s gospel is seemingly one cliché after another. The testimony of John, speaking for Jesus, is profound. The message of love bears repeating, even memorizing, which we have. “As God has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. … This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this – that one lay down one’s own life for a friend. …No longer do I call you servants, but I call you friends. …You did not choose me, but I chose you. …This I command you, to love one another.” I have heaved heavy sighs over what God might be asking me to do with this gospel reading. What do people need to hear? That God loves them? That God needs us, even commands us to love one another? Do people need to listen to yet one more Jesus loves everyone, go and do the same? Love, love, love. All we need is – love? As we hear in preaching class, don’t feed congregations pabulum, give them something to chew on. What can I say that might stir us out of nodding in agreement, “Yes, love one another? Good idea. The gospel in one word is love. Yeah man, more people should try it.” There may not be much here to chew on but hopefully it’s a step beyond pabulum. I can’t think of anything to say that hasn’t already been said, and said much more eloquently. God’s love is not sappy. It could care less about appearances. God’s love is more stubborn and demanding than any tyrant we might know. God’s love propelled Jesus into situations and responses that no rational or even religious man would consider. Love. I’m going to try something different. In diary style, I am going to share snippets of my week through the lens of today’s Hebrew and Christian scripture. It is my attempt to model for you the notion that scripture is relevant. Scripture, for good and ill, can engage us with the holy – God. We live our days with the stuff included in scripture. Sometimes, when we read the Bible, we can even connect a few dots. Sunday night, Mother’s Day. The senior high youth group watched the first half of the Godspell video. Not the movie but the musical produced here at CCC 10 years ago. We are going to do the musical again this fall. I’ve always enjoyed the Godspell score. My high school choir sang portions of it back in the ’70’s. It took me back to that era, where peace, joy, love hung from banners and I believed that love would truly transform the world…in my lifetime. I haven’t given up on love, God. I have let go of world peace, of people across the planet choosing to tolerate one another. Love one another? Fat chance. Me of little faith? Guilty Monday. I have no clue what the theme for Sunday’s service will be. Coming up with a bulletin draft feels daunting. Why does the text trigger my cynicism? It sounds so basic, this charge to love one another. Why do you make it sound so simple, Jesus? Or why does the gospel writer make it sound simple? Why am I so angry that it is not simple?! A phone call came last week from someone trying to organize a response to a Focus on the Family conference coming to Silver Spring. The gist of the conference is that people choose to be gay and people, with prayer and therapy, can choose to be straight. I think this may be part of my anger, God. I never get over not being hurt by Christians telling me you want me to be different. “They,” these people I am commanded to love, believe that I am choosing to be someone contrary to your will. Of course we know that is not true. We’ve been over that topic zillions of times. “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” And in Deuteronomy, “God did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth.” Now there is a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered empowerment sermon! Maybe this is the sermon to preach. No. It was too much preaching to the choir. Tuesday. I finished a flyer for the June 10 vigil. I agreed to be the contact person even though I cannot be there. It is the same weekend as the UCC Conference Annual Meeting. June 10 is also the weekend of Gay Pride in DC. That’s a bummer. I turned in the Sunday bulletin draft today. Thanks for your help. I still have little idea where we are going. Wednesday. I’ve been working on Covenant Class things. Confirmation Sunday is coming up. What I want more than anything for these kids, all the kids at CCC, is for them to experience a sense of welcome and acceptance. I want that welcome to be associated with the Christian church. I want them to have a significant memory of this place and people being an exception to the many negative stereotypes and realities of organized religion. When life, as it already has for some, is unfair and cruel, I’d like them to be open to faith, to you God as a stubborn companion. Will you please be there for these kids? Will you hold them like you do me? One of the things I tried to teach in class was the fact that just about everything is a spiritual question. We all believe something. Whatever it is we believe, in some way shapes our decisions and attitude. Rabbi Marc Gillman writes an article for the current issue of Newsweek on this topic. He is talking about spiritual issues in the immigration debate. I resonate with the first sentence: “All the really big political issues are primarily spiritual.” He goes on to name abortion and capital punishment as examples. The questions are, just who is a person and whether we violate the commandments when we execute a convicted murderer. If we only loved one another, would these questions be easily answered? If we all believed in the same God would the world be less divided? The election year season is building up steam. Cringe. So goes my outlook regarding one God spelling unity. How do you tolerate all this name calling, especially yours, God? Lotsa practice, huh? Thursday. I got an idea just in time for Markus to practice with the choir. How about singing the folk anthem Get Together by Chet Powers as our final hymn? The baby boomers will know it and if we have youth in the sanctuary, maybe it will get there attention. “Love is but a song we sing, fear’s the way we die. … We hold the key to love and fear in our trembling hands. Just one key unlocks them both; it’s there at our command. …” Jesus commands us to love. He doesn’t say, “If you feel like it.” It’s an order, an expectation. The lyrics speak of one key that unlocks both love and fear. Which one we unlock, love or fear, it is at our command. We are in charge, mostly. The chorus is schmaltzy. But it does encapsulate today’s gospel. “C’mon people now, smile on each other. Everybody get together, try to love one another right now.” The word “Now” is used in both sentences. There is a sense of urgency. We can turn the tide of distrust and war. We can indeed change the world through love. Love changes people and situations. Not unlike the days of Moses or Jesus or the times of the gospel writers or the reformation or the new millennium – there was and is a sense of doing something in the present. Loving God, self and neighbor are not actions to be postponed. Love one another right now. Begin with yourself and family. That may be plenty. But we can’t stop there. Saturday. What are you asking, God, when you command us to love? I think it has to do with putting you first. Meister Eckhart says it well. “When I am thirsty, the drink commands me; when I am hungry, the food commands me. And God does the same [when God commands love.]” There is an inner longing and urgency to be one with the Ground of our Being. The psalmist writes, “As a deer longs for water, so I thirst for you O Lord.” We need to love because that is how we know you more fully. How do we love, God? Perhaps part of the answer is in the question I earlier dismissed. “Do people need to hear that God loves them?” Yes. I think so. You first love us – boldly, gently, and unconditionally. When that fact takes root in our soul, we can begin to risk loving one another. Amen. |
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