Thursday, February 13, 2014

Pastor’s Point: Valentines for God

One childhood tradition which always seemed to bring equal doses of anticipation and disappointment was the classroom ritual of exchanging Valentines with (usually) everyone in the room.  You remember the routine.  On the night before your class Valentines party, you convinced one of your parents to buy one of those bags of 30+ valentine greetings with clever come-ons like “Bee mine,” “You’re Purrrrrrrfect,” and “You mermaid for me.” Then you stayed up late addressing all the envelopes and signing your name to each card.  The real clincher, though, happened on the day of the party…waiting to see the reaction from the one particular girl (guy) you fancied as they read your card. 

Most of us knew, even then, that this activity was not all that consequential in matters of love and the opposite sex.  Still, the ritual continues to this day, and hearts, at least for the very young, are a-flutter or a-broken as this simple exercise plays out.  I did, in fact, come across some interesting observations kids had on the subject of love, as seen through their innocent eyes. Here’s a sampling:  
  1. When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.
  2. Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.
  3. Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.
  4. If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you don't like to play with.
  5. Love is hugging. Love is kissing. Love is saying no sometimes.
  6. When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you're scared they won't love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still love you, they love you even more.
  7. My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.
  8. Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.
  9. You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget, and it's good for them to get reminded.
  10. There are two kinds of love- Our love & God's love. But God makes both kinds of them. Love is important to God.
As adults, we know love is a pretty big deal to God. John, who described himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” wrote this about God’s definition:   “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4: 9, 10)
These two verses show us the origin of true love, but they are not meant to imply that only God can love. When Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?,” He replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”  Jesus later told his followers, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  In other words, there can be no separating of these two relationships.  If we love God, we will love each other.

Practically, what does that look like in a church community? To use musical terminology, I believe the world is looking for unity and harmony in our life together, not unison and conformity.  Church cultures which stress the latter don’t require a lot of love.  In fact, in those kinds of environments, when someone starts “singing” slightly out of tune, or even a different tune, members often withdraw or, worse, begin the dismantling process of the fellowship.  The agape (unconditional, godly) love of the first church was tested early on.  It had to intentionally set aside the need for ethnic (cultural) “purity.” They did, after all, start out “all Jewish—all the time,” remember? (Acts 10).  Agape love also meant stepping out in faith, being willing to be lovingly corrected by their spiritual leaders, and, at times, even risking death.  But the early Church’s true mark on the world, the distinctive which ultimately turned that world upside down, was not their great faith, not their gifts, or creativity, not even their open-mindedness. Rather, it was how they loved each other.

Imagine, if you will, two piles of bricks standing side by side, one with mortar and the other without. Now think of the love of God as the mortar connecting the one stack of stones which He is using to build a beautiful temple of worship.  When viewed side by side, the two stacks neatly piled on top of each other really don’t look all that different.  But let the first quake of adversity or division hit, and one thing becomes clear.  Without that love, without the connective adhesive of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will not stand.  Our mission is lost.  And God moves on.

As our American culture pauses to recognize and even celebrate human love this Valentine’s Day, let’s recommit ourselves to demonstrating to the world a far deeper, more lasting gift that goes beyond our fleeting feelings.  Let our valentine to God and the world be the living out of what the contemporary song writer John Mark McMillan describes as God’s “sloppy wet kiss.” (How He Loves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCe4A7OA_Qw; recorded by Eddie Kirkland).  Like any good valentine, the clearer we make our message, the harder it will be to resist.

tad

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