"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully know. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." [1 Corinthians 13:12-13]
In the end, there is only love. When other things have been left behind, or broken, or failed, love is what goes on. Yes, that's it: love goes on.
The Beatles had it half-right, then--not merely that "love is all you need," but that ultimately, "love is all there is." At the end of not just my life's story, but the whole Story we call the universe, all there will be that lasts... is love. If we have been imagining the Christian life as a voyage on a sailboat together, then love is both, in some sense, the country at which we will arrive, and it is also the course by which we get there along the way. In the end, all that is not love will have been left behind like so much excess baggage.
If that sounds too esoteric or "out there," let me zoom back to the nitty-gritty, day-to-day circumstances of this life. I was thinking the other day about people who visit our churches on Sunday morning... and the people who you cross paths with at work... or the people you have a chance encounter with in line at the store. And I was wondering to myself, what is it that we really think we have to offer anybody, we Christians? What is it that really would draw anybody, or would be of lasting value for people that Christians I know can give? I mean, there are plenty of places where you can get pithy little inspirational thoughts, or self-help suggestions. There are plenty of places to get social interaction or get a decent cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup, other than the local church social hall. And there are plenty of motivational speakers, plaques, or wall-posters out there to give you a boost of encouragement to "follow your dreams" or "pursue your goals" or "hang in there." None of those are the exclusive property of the Christian community.
All we can honestly ever offer anybody... is love. Sometimes ours--sometimes we do a passable job at loving others. But always, the love of the living God... who then pulls us deeper into that love until it becomes our own for others. The whole "movement" we have been talking about so far this year--it is really just another way of thinking about organized, intentional, unapologetically and unashamedly unconditional love. Love, not in the sense in which our culture uses the word--a sort of mushy, maudlin emotion that comes and goes with the breeze, but love as the conscious, chosen, action of the heart and the hands to show up for people, to stand with people, to sit with people, to do good to people, regardless of whether we "feel" like or we think they "deserve" it. That kind of love is where God is leading us, and so along the way, that is what we aim for and practice day by day.
What we can offer people--not only people we already know and sing "Amazing Grace" beside on Sundays, but people we haven't met yet, people who are being drawn now, people to whom God is sending you--what we offer people is the promise of such love, first from the living God, and then, in a second sense, from the people of God who dare to reflect what we have first been given. What we offer to people is that even if everything else falls apart, love goes on, and they will not be alone. We will go through their struggles with them. We, bringing the promise of the presence of Christ himself, will sit with them when life feels like it's all coming unglued. That is what this whole voyage of life together boils down to.
The neat life-organization principles proferred in so-called "Christian living books" will fail from time to time--you can be the most "mindfulness"-practicing, "don't-sweat-the-small-stuff"-living, "minimalism"-following, de-cluttering, person in the world, and still have everything get thrown up in the air when someone you love overdoses... or winds up in a car wreck... or loses a job... or survives abuse and tells you about it after a long silence. The warm-and-fuzzy inspirational quotes will not offer comfort when you have to face the realities of an aging parent, a struggling child, or a deep betrayal from someone close to your soul. The self-help books, day-planners, and life-coaches cannot offer the strength to keep going when you are overwhelmed by guilt or fear or deep sadness over the mess of the world. All of those other things that people sometimes think "faith" or "religion" or "spirituality" offers will at some point flake and crumble like old paint on old wood.
What remains is genuine love--the promise that we will not abandon one another... because God will not abandon anyone. What will carry people through is love--not as an abstract idea, or as fake niceness, or as romantic gobbledygook--but as the unrelenting promise of the living God to hold us, by the nape of the neck like a mama cat if necessary, and keep on moving with us. We bring that message to one another... and then we embody it for each other, carrying one another as long as we need it, and never leaving someone else behind. All of the other stuff that gets offered as "Christian living" stuff will at some point crack--the "Bible-inspired diet" won't work, and the "Ten helpful hints for raising wholesome children" will prove ineffective. But love will remain genuine even when everything else fails.
That is the movement we are a part of. That is why it is worth giving our whole selves into such a movement--because it is a movement choreographed by none other than the living Jesus himself.
I was reading an article the other day that really depressed me the more I read it--it was about how modern politicians make slogans and market themselves. The article was tracing the history of past successful political slogans, and it was looking at how often successful slogans don't mean anything--they just sound good. Put enough words together that sound positive, and we'll chant it by the millions. And as I read this article, I was wondering, very truly, whether that's all we have to offer...whether that's all I have been ultimately offering, in all of this talk about joining Jesus "movement of mercy." Is it just a slogan? Is Christianity just a handful of catchy phrases that people latch onto? Is there really substance beneath all the layers of marketing that churches find themselves doing in our time and place?
For a while, there was a deathly silence in my heart while I let the question sink in.
And then I realized again what Paul had been shouting to us from the New Testament all along. There is love. That is what gives the followers of Jesus substance. There is love--the love of God which fills us, and the love of God which then flows through us. Love is what makes the movement real, and love is how we practice the movement in the mean time. The slogans and self-help schemes will fail, but the love of God will go on. And such love will pick us up, too, and carry us through this day, through whatever waves and storms are ahead of us.
Love is where we are aiming, and love is with us along the journey. Like T.S. Eliot says, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Love is the destination, and love is the trip to get there. Love is what we have to offer anybody and everybody. Love is what lasts. Love is what goes on. Love is what carries us.
That's why I am a part of this movement.
All we can honestly ever offer anybody... is love. Sometimes ours--sometimes we do a passable job at loving others. But always, the love of the living God... who then pulls us deeper into that love until it becomes our own for others. The whole "movement" we have been talking about so far this year--it is really just another way of thinking about organized, intentional, unapologetically and unashamedly unconditional love. Love, not in the sense in which our culture uses the word--a sort of mushy, maudlin emotion that comes and goes with the breeze, but love as the conscious, chosen, action of the heart and the hands to show up for people, to stand with people, to sit with people, to do good to people, regardless of whether we "feel" like or we think they "deserve" it. That kind of love is where God is leading us, and so along the way, that is what we aim for and practice day by day.
What we can offer people--not only people we already know and sing "Amazing Grace" beside on Sundays, but people we haven't met yet, people who are being drawn now, people to whom God is sending you--what we offer people is the promise of such love, first from the living God, and then, in a second sense, from the people of God who dare to reflect what we have first been given. What we offer to people is that even if everything else falls apart, love goes on, and they will not be alone. We will go through their struggles with them. We, bringing the promise of the presence of Christ himself, will sit with them when life feels like it's all coming unglued. That is what this whole voyage of life together boils down to.
The neat life-organization principles proferred in so-called "Christian living books" will fail from time to time--you can be the most "mindfulness"-practicing, "don't-sweat-the-small-stuff"-living, "minimalism"-following, de-cluttering, person in the world, and still have everything get thrown up in the air when someone you love overdoses... or winds up in a car wreck... or loses a job... or survives abuse and tells you about it after a long silence. The warm-and-fuzzy inspirational quotes will not offer comfort when you have to face the realities of an aging parent, a struggling child, or a deep betrayal from someone close to your soul. The self-help books, day-planners, and life-coaches cannot offer the strength to keep going when you are overwhelmed by guilt or fear or deep sadness over the mess of the world. All of those other things that people sometimes think "faith" or "religion" or "spirituality" offers will at some point flake and crumble like old paint on old wood.
What remains is genuine love--the promise that we will not abandon one another... because God will not abandon anyone. What will carry people through is love--not as an abstract idea, or as fake niceness, or as romantic gobbledygook--but as the unrelenting promise of the living God to hold us, by the nape of the neck like a mama cat if necessary, and keep on moving with us. We bring that message to one another... and then we embody it for each other, carrying one another as long as we need it, and never leaving someone else behind. All of the other stuff that gets offered as "Christian living" stuff will at some point crack--the "Bible-inspired diet" won't work, and the "Ten helpful hints for raising wholesome children" will prove ineffective. But love will remain genuine even when everything else fails.
That is the movement we are a part of. That is why it is worth giving our whole selves into such a movement--because it is a movement choreographed by none other than the living Jesus himself.
I was reading an article the other day that really depressed me the more I read it--it was about how modern politicians make slogans and market themselves. The article was tracing the history of past successful political slogans, and it was looking at how often successful slogans don't mean anything--they just sound good. Put enough words together that sound positive, and we'll chant it by the millions. And as I read this article, I was wondering, very truly, whether that's all we have to offer...whether that's all I have been ultimately offering, in all of this talk about joining Jesus "movement of mercy." Is it just a slogan? Is Christianity just a handful of catchy phrases that people latch onto? Is there really substance beneath all the layers of marketing that churches find themselves doing in our time and place?
For a while, there was a deathly silence in my heart while I let the question sink in.
And then I realized again what Paul had been shouting to us from the New Testament all along. There is love. That is what gives the followers of Jesus substance. There is love--the love of God which fills us, and the love of God which then flows through us. Love is what makes the movement real, and love is how we practice the movement in the mean time. The slogans and self-help schemes will fail, but the love of God will go on. And such love will pick us up, too, and carry us through this day, through whatever waves and storms are ahead of us.
Love is where we are aiming, and love is with us along the journey. Like T.S. Eliot says, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Love is the destination, and love is the trip to get there. Love is what we have to offer anybody and everybody. Love is what lasts. Love is what goes on. Love is what carries us.
That's why I am a part of this movement.
Dear Jesus, let your love carry us and fill us, today and always.
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