The Truth in Love

Aslan (the Christ figure in the Chronicles of Narnia), has just raised up from the dead. Lucy and Susan are asking him how that is possible. He states that though the Witch who killed him knew that that law (magic) said a traitor's life must be paid by death, the deep law (magic) said that when one who is innocent of any sin dies for the life of a traitor even death itself is overturned. That's what Jesus did! He overturned the Laws of Sin by the deeper law of Love.
We sometimes argue scriptures as if the Old Testament laws (those we choose to follow) are the deepest foundations of our theological truth... The Old Testament is not the deepest foundation. It certainly is a foundation, full of the stories of humanities struggle to find God and be a people of God. But every theologian knows that the deeper truth, and deeper foundation is the very existence of God who is first and foremost united in LOVE. Paul states that you can be holy, prophecy like an prophet, speak with the language of angels, cast out demons...but it is nothing .... absolutely NOTHING without LOVE. Jesus said that all the commandments of the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in LOVE, and against LOVE there is no law.
So why is that so many times we argue out of a lesser truth of Law and ignore the greater truth of Love? The Old and New Testaments are filled with laws and rules we haphazardly and inconsistently follow (if at all). Too often we beat each other over the heads for the ones we think others should still follow. In some cases we get on our soap boxes and preach hell and damnation to those who don't agree with our "truths." We might feel that the "truth" is in danger if we don't proclaim it, or qualify our "love." We are angry, self righteous and divisive--we are hurtful. We kill in the name of love, and Aslan's blood is shed again. At that point perhaps we have forgotten the deeper truth of Love. The litmus test of our communication one with another is "is what I am saying of the deeper LOVE?" if it is not of the deeper Love... perhaps it's best unsaid and should be overturned in your thoughts.

When is it Enough?

(mirrored from 2nd Congregation "Advance")

Have you ever wondered, “Does it ever stop?” or cried out, “Make it stop.”My son Jeremy made a picture of himself surrounded by images of those loved ones who had recently died with a large slash through the picture and the words expressing the idea of “NO MORE.” He was feeling overwhelmed by the sorrows of life, sorrows usually felt by those much older than he. But the world is not always fair, hardship doesn’t discriminate according to age, and life’s trials can come all at once. We have to trust that God will not give us more than we can bear – but at times one wonders if one can bear anymore!

Jeremy asked me how I deal with so much strife and sorrow, how do I live through it. My automatic answer was “God,” but that wasn’t quite clear enough, so I elaborated. I remembered what my Grandpa Miller would say to me, “count your blessings.” This is to repeat something the Apostle Paul said, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” This tells me that I should remember all the blessings I do have and count them with joy. My family, my friends, my health (or relative health), my loves and gifts, my successes, the good things I have and have shared. When pondering the good things in my life, my sorrows seem to diminish a bit and become more bearable. I also remember that sorrow might endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning!

I remember my coach telling me “no pain, no gain.” I wonder if that is like passing through David’s “valley of the shadow of death” to get to the “Lord’s House” (Ps 23), or Israel ’s wandering for forty years in a wilderness before passing into the Promised Land (boy, I don’t want 40 years of it!) Perhaps, we all have to pass through some desert wildernesses. You might feel as if we have been wandering around in a wilderness for the last decade! Perhaps you’re tired and don’t want to have to face another problem, or another set of controversial discussions and the options that rage around them. Are you tired of the journey and have sore feet? Are you at the point where you want to cry out, “can’t we just enter the promised land?”

Yet, something wonderful happens in the desert of our lives, the old passes away and the new is found. Egyptis burned out of us, and we become a new people of the Promise. In the desert, we learn to hear from God and trust God. In the desert, we are changed from a slave nation to a mighty people. In the desert, we will face the walled cities of our fears and see them tumble. In the desert, we learn to count our blessings and not take them for granted. When is it “Enough”? When we become the people of God we are called to be…people who don’t simply exist as they bemoan the past, but a people who fully live in the hope of a better future.

I love God!!! .... liar.

(copied from a church newsletter and repeating a topic from an earlier discussion)

1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

The scripture time and time against tells us similar truths, about Love and how it is the completion of the Law, law's fulfillment (Luke 10:27-28). Scripture tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Law would have us punish the transgressor, Love tells us to forgive. But who is my Brother or Sister, who is my neighbor, who is the transgressor? Is my neighbor that irritating funnily dressed Hara Krishna following me in the airport, or the Mormon knocking at my door? Can I love those country hicks who teased me as a little hippy boy from Hawaii? Can I love a person who molested me? Can I love those who try to destroy my life? Can I love my step-dad who got my brother addicted to drugs and put my brother in a life style that would lead to his brutal death? Can I love those friends who have said they love me but betrayed me and abandoned me? How can I love those that judge me? Hum... I'll have to think about that.

You see, we want to be "good" Christians so we say, "I love you but hate your sin..." to the betrayer, the deviant, the drug addict, the prostitute, the murder-- somehow we feel safer when we add a statement that denounces their sin--lest they think you approve of it. We say, "I love you but hate your beliefs [aka sin]" to those who's faith confronts my own; the Mormon, the Muslim, the Heretic, or the Hara Krishna. We say, "I loved you but hate your lifestyle [aka sin]" to those who lifestyle is different; the transvestite, the transsexual, or other sexual "deviants." Perhaps "hate" is too strong, we should just say "disapprove." Can I love without qualification, or is qualification needed to "protect" truth...is LOVE conditional or unconditional? Did Jesus "protect" himself from those others called "sinner" and "unclean" ?

"For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not die but have everlasting life." I know many who would like to rewrite John 3:16 to be safer and to fit a more conservative religious approach to Love, "for God so loved the world [and hated sin], that he gave his only begotten son [please note he is male], that whosoever [is chosen and] believeth in him [by confessing their sins] shall not die [unless they deserve to die] but have everlasting life [in heaven unless they are unrepentant sinners then they go to an everlasting hell]."

So in the name of love and truth we Christians have fought religious wars, burnt heretics, drove our gay children to suicide, bombed abortion clinics, shunned "sinners," and in the pursuit of "truth" divided churches and started new denominations... all the while preaching a "Gospel of Love." Is it any wonder that the world thinks we are fools and "liars" for our "love" is very weak, though still strong enough to hurt.

God help me to truly love...