Staying True to Love
I Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-40
October 26, 2008 Season after Pentecost
When Jesus was asked what law was most important to the life of faith, he lost no time in responding; "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, your soul, and your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment." But then he went on, adding a second and saying that it was just as important as the first; "Love your neighbor as yourself." When I think about taking all of these pieces together as a whole, it creates for me a picture of how a life of faith really needs to be fashioned. Love needs to be at the core of absolutely everything else. Without love, nothing of any substance can happen.
I have seen this to be true many many times in the course of my life, in my work as a pastor and as a chaplain and professor, as a Mom and as a friend. If love is not in the picture, at the center of the picture, actually, then nothing else matters. there is no substitute for love, and no way to get around the need for it. It is really interesting, in a sad sort of way, to notice the difference when something is done with love, and when it is done without love's presence. The outside actions look the same, seem to be the same from every vantage point there is, and yet when love is absent, so is the very heart of the contribution that has been made. Sure, someone got fed, sure the work was accomplished, but something essential is missing. I have noticed a very curious truth, that activity without love at the center of it does not last very long, especially when it is supposedly being done on God's behalf. Projects taken on just because we think we "should" do them, fall apart before too long, usually wearing us out in the process. So it is important that we always take stock of why we are doing what we are doing both as a church and as individuals; to ensure that love is at the center of all the activity.
I recently read a wonderful book about one woman's discovery of Jesus, called Eat This Bread. The author spoke of how she had watched as churches attempted to do the work they felt called to by analyzing the needs in their area and then attempting to build programs in response to those needs. This has actually long been a staple model for the work of the church. But Sara Miles, the author of this fascinating little book suggests instead that people start by first getting in touch with what they absolutely need to do, what their soul is calling out to do. What gets you excited? What brings you joy? What brings a sparkle to your eye? These are some of the questions she suggests posing to yourself in order to sort out what you might have to offer.
I have been working with these questions in some small ways in my own life. As a result I am spending more time writing than I used to. Before this, I assumed that I ought to be out and about, doing things. And of course, these things that I thought I should be doing were rarely clear. Too often we determine how to spend our time by making a lot of assumptions about other people's needs and also about their expectations. It was hard letting go of this practice because if I was busy going here and there I usually felt like I was at least accomplishing something, even though I knew something inside of me was not very happy. Now, when I do the things that I feel my soul calling me to do, it feels different. There is a part of me that is being fed, that hasn't been fed consistently for a good long time. It isn't always easy to follow this plan though, as I found when I set aside four hours in which to write last week. I sat staring at my computer screen, wondering what came next, waiting for some inspiration. Suddenly there were quite a few things around the house that I noticed needing doing - dishes to be washed, laundry to be put away, mail to be sorted through and phone calls to be made. It became obvious that following my bliss was not all it was cracked up to be, or at least it wasn't as blissful as I thought it should be.
How do we keep faith with that sparkle in our eye, with the Love that guides us? There are so many things that get in the way. What does it really look like when we "love the Lord our God with all of our heart and soul and mind"? Well, I like the idea that this love we hold for our Creator is more than just on one level of our being. It is more than just heart-felt love - the warmth that spreads through us when we are in the presence of our beloved. Heart love is wonderful. It is all that is most powerful about our being human. There is no denying the love you hold in your heart, but there is more to our relationship with God than this. Jesus says to add in soul love. When I think of this, I think of the kind of love that extends to our deepest and truest sense of who we are and where we have come from. The soul-level of being is the aspect of us that was with God before we were born and continues on with the divine beyond this lifetime. It is the aspect of us that is spirit - difficult to grasp or define in any certain terms, and yet maybe more of who we are than any other part of ourselves. Finally Jesus speaks of loving God with our minds. This really appeals to our sensibilities in terms of making use of all the wisdom we have gleaned in being a part of the world for as long as we have. We like to think that our years have gained us something, and usually wisdom is what we have to show for it. So, to use all of our wisdom as a resource for knowing how best to express our love of God is a pretty powerful gift.
There is a concept that I have learned about recently called the "Holy Heart." According to this idea, the Holy Heart is at the very center of who we are, each and every one of us. It is also the Love at the very center of the entire world, of everything that was ever created, of everything that exists no matter what its form. No matter where you go, this love is at the center of where you are standing in any given moment. No matter who you are, this love is at your core. The thought goes that if we each live according to this love, this "Holy Heart" at the center of all that is, then we will all be living from the very same love at the very same time. We will each be feeling this love at the center of who we are, tapping into this love to make choices that flow from it, while others are doing the very same thing at the very same time. This idea offers insight into what it might be like to live according to love, and it also brings home the whole notion of the second commandment given to us by Jesus. To love our neighbor as ourselves starts with first figuring out just how we might love ourselves; but it also means that when we know how to love ourselves, then we are able to extend that love directly out to our neighbor. Well, if God's love has a home deep within each one of us, then this whole thing becomes a matter of semantics. Love is love. If you love one, then you automatically love the other. Love God, love neighbor, love self - it is all the same, from the same Source, flowing through all of our lives back into the heart of God. The Holy Heart beats within each and every one of us, but we have to recognize it for what it is. We have to allow the beat to work within us, move us to do the things God needs done here and now, express through the forms that this Love wants to express in and through us. When we love well, we know it. There is no question about it. It becomes the strongest truth of who we are. When we love as Jesus loved, we love from the very center of our being. We love with the Holy Heart beating within us, the love of God, and we allow this love to pulse through us in whatever ways it needs to flow.
May the Holy Heart of your love beat strong and true within me, Lord. May I learn what it is to truly live in love, immersed in love, surrounded by love, breathing love in with every inhalation and breathing love out into the world with every exhalation. May love be my mantra and my identity, the core of my being in every situation. Amen.