What will ultimately allow us to move forward? As a nation, as a community, as families, as individuals? What’s the key? What’s the way? What’s the truth?
We all know the answers that have been presented to us in our lives. Nationally, you know what we’ve been hearing for months, even years. It’s all about power. We cloth it in righteous language, justice language, prosperity language, equality language, but in the end it’s about who is in control. And we are afraid of what might happen if the other side is in control. And so we want to make sure that there are enough Supreme Court justices that are on our side, or that we can turn the tide and gain control of the House or Senate, or that the White House is “ours.” Or locally, if we can be sure who controls the tax rate, or the right people are on Council to focus on the goals of the community that we want. All will be well if the “right side” can win. For others, the answer is discipline, and law. Whether we’re talking about the gym, or your weight, or learning a trade or a sport; or what your neighbor can do on her property, or what you do on yours; or law and order, or law and justice, even equality and our rights; it’s all about if/then; if you do this, then this will happen, if we have this law, then that will happen, or won’t happen. If you don’t do this or that, then there is a consequence. It’s important to set conditions, limits, and with the right laws and discipline, all will be well. You certainly can find the exercise of power and the importance of law and discipline in the Bible. Take a look at the story of the rise of King Solomon, for example, in I Kings 1-2. It is an exercise in a blood bath battle for power. Or a look at the book of Deuteronomy seems, at first glance, to be a textbook of Law – if you do this, then God will be with you. If not, there will be consequences. You shall, you shall not. I love the Bible, God’s Word, because it is so honest, and reveals so much about ourselves, and about God. And yet in all the stories of the Bible, in all the ways God is revealed in the Bible, power and law and discipline are never the starting points, or the end point, of God’s story. How is God most frequently described in the Old Testament? “Gracious, Merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in Steadfast Love.” There’s actually two “love words” in this description, because Grace is “undeserved love.” Love given whether we earn it or not. And the Hebrew Word “steadfast love” means a love that is loyal and will never go away, not matter what. In the New Testament, many of us know “the gospel in a nutshell,” John 3:16: “for God so loved the world…” and the important following verse that God sent his Son Jesus not to condemn, but to save the world. John’s letters go further. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” God is love. So, if God created this world, sent his Son into the world to save it, and now guides this world in the power of the Holy Spirit, Love is key to the way forward in our world. It is the truth of where our hope is for our future, of this world, of our nation, our community and our families and selves. Is this true? Not if we think of love as “some weak and sentimental response…” instead of “the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality,” to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Love that is practiced where we live for others and ourselves, for the sake of everyone. So often, our hopes and dreams for this world, for the community, even for our families or your life and mine are tied up with fear: what we do not know, what might happen, what we cannot control, who we have been taught to mistrust or be afraid of. Us and them. God’s Word teaches us something profound about love; that its opposite is not necessarily hate; its opposite is fear. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in him…There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear,” John’s first letter tells us. If you think of some of the most important times in the story of God, or perhaps more importantly, in the stories of our world, the way forward becomes clear after the words, “Do not be afraid” are spoken. Because when we are able to move past what we are afraid of, the love of God, the love that IS God, enables things to happen that cannot otherwise happen. But this requires an understanding of love far beyond that described on a top 40 hit on the radio, or the love we describe when there is mutual benefit to make us feel good, or those who are easy to love. This is the love for enemies (Matthew 5:43-45), the love that results in goodwill for all people – remember the angels’ song? The love that – so many times in God’s Word and real life – puts us places, and with people who we might otherwise avoid, because of fear. And instead, we find life that we would not otherwise experience, because love has gotten us there. Yes, globally, nationally, as well as in our community, our churches and in our own families. If Jesus is Lord of all of life, what other way forward could there be?
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AuthorPastor Paul came to Grace to serve as our Pastor in October 2012. After a first career in product and graphic design, he was ordained in 1993, and has served as a parish pastor in Virginia and South Carolina. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, one at Roanoke College and one at James Madison University. Archives
December 2021
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