Love and Courage

Due to traveling and illness, I haven’t been able to post for over a week, causing me to be unable comment at all during Holy Week, though I had a lot of thoughts and emotions relating to Holy Week. I haven’t been able to read much either, or follow events other than those in my personal life.

What was important this past week was the marriage of my brother and his long time girlfriend, which caused the traveling. During my brother’s speech after the ceremony, he commented he and his bride had just thought of going to the justice of the peace and city hall, only doing the things necessary to legalize the marriage. He said he told one of his close friends of the upcoming marriage, and the friend asked when the ceremony was, he wanted to come. Then another friend asked the same thing, and my brother realized that marriage isn’t just about the two being married, but it’s also about everyone that knows the couple.

Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon, went up during the toast to the couple, and said he was moved during the ceremony, the vows, because these were two people that had years of life experience (both are in their 50’s), and were fully aware of the importance of this event and marriage; unlike young people full of idealism and dreams that may have an unrealistic view of what marriage entails, which is okay but shortsighted. That got me to thinking these past days of what mature love is.

We have the romantic of course, which set these thoughts in motion, of Altruistic, Eros and Agape love, of all the levels of intensity of these with all the layers of love. Doing some catching up reading this morning, I came across this idea of love as being courageous.

Fr. Scott Hurd, writing about the Resurrection, about Mary Magdalene’s love for Jesus, said she so missed her beloved, Jesus, she was the first to visit His tomb, and the first to see Him resurrected. The disciples had closed up in fear, discouragement and doubt; Mary searched out her beloved, and was rewarded. Her reaching out took courage. Love takes courage.

Fr Hurd writes:

“• We need courage to trust God, when we can’t see the road ahead of us;
 • We need courage to confess our sins when our shame would hold us back;
 • We need courage to witness to our faith in the face of injustice and ridicule;
 • We need courage to love others when we risk being rejected by them;
 • We need courage to forgive, when we’re afraid of appearing weak;
 • And we need courage to grow in holiness, when we fear the change that growth requires.   

 Mary Magdalene serves to remind us that perfect love casts out fear, because we love a Lord whose love for us conquered not only fear, but even death itself."

 I think this applies to our personal relationships too; our romantic relationships, family and friends. Love takes courage. We need to trust each other that we love, we need to be open to those we love, we need to be a witness to the power of love, we need to offer love even when there’s the possibility of rejection, we need to be forgiving in love, and we need to grow in love.

What my brother, Kevin, and Fr. Hurd had to say is so important, that love for one another isn’t limited to the lovers or people that love each other, love should be mature and meaningful, and that it takes courage.

  

Not Your Regular Song of Love and Prayer (funny vid)

Character of the New Man- Some Thoughts Entering the New Year

Looking to the coming year I don't see good things coming. I'm mostly an optimist and know things in the end of conflict will mostly end up okay. Right now though I see economic disaster because we have an anti-business president and political party in power. Those same people are dismissive of Judaic-Christian principles and values, and that does huge damage to the culture. With that in mind, I'll still have to fight them. I love my Faith, and I love Liberty, and both are threatened. I've moved a long way from where I was in my 20's and 30's when my line was, 'you're born, you suffer, you die'. Now I'm a religious man, and belief in God and Savior informs what I do. Apostle Paul wrote:

"Because you are God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect. Christ’s peace must reign in your hearts, since as members of the one body you have been called to that peace. Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness. Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you. In wisdom made perfect, instruct and admonish one another. Sing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns, and inspired songs." Colossians 3:12

As a society we've put these values to rest. I see no mercy and kindness, just incessant attacks by the State and it's supporters in politics and the Jurassic press. Rush Limbaugh goes to the hospital and those people cheer and hope he dies. Sarah Palin, a mother that has stayed married and raised a family with her husband, has loving parents, got involved in her community and effected good change, is hated and vilified in the most vile ways. What kind of culture is it that promotes the suffering of others?

I don't want to chronicle all the ills our country is suffering. All I can do is know and practice the best I can the values Paul says we as Christians must live, expressed from our hearts. We can only influence the small circle around us...be the stone in the small calm pond that sends out ripples. The waters are turbulent now, so we must use bigger stones of kindness, meekness, humility and patience. That's very tough, because the people in power now, politics and press and popular culture see those as weakness and gives them the right to force their ideology of command and control on the rest of us.

I pray for myself that I can, this coming year, be meek (I'll need to write about what that means later, it's not what most people think it is), kind, patient, with love in my heart. It's hard, especially now, because Christians are under assault, as are people that want the freedom to make their own life choices without the intervention of the State.

This year for me, more Bible study, lots and lots of praise, lots and lots of worship, lots and lots of singing praises, and sharing as much Love as I can, and express Thankfulness.

Faith and Love, Church, State, and Walls

I don't know where this quote came from, just that it's from the second century. It's about Love, and how those of us that proclaim God's Love, fall short of practicing it. Doing so has influence and consequences deep into our relationships; not just personal relationships.

“…we say one thing and do another. When they hear the words of God on our lips, unbelievers are amazed at their beauty and power, but when they see that those words have no effect in our lives, their admiration turns to scorn, and they dismiss such words as myths and fairy tales.

They listen, for example, when we tell them that God has said: It is no credit to you if you love those who love you, but only if you love your enemies, and those who hate you. They are full of admiration at such extraordinary virtue, but when they observe that we not only fail to love people who hate us, but even those who love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the Name is blasphemed.”

I wrote elsewhere today about the State, tyranny, separation of Church and State, and some of the personal decisions we make; denial of Love, or expressing it. I think that God is Love. At the macro level, the State builds up the wall between Church and State, between religion and State. The wall is in fact a wall to block Love. Is there Love in Nazism, communism, fascism, socialism, ancient Roman tyranny? Gulags, concentration camps, slavery, the murder of millions, holocaust? All these from a Love denying State. Christians and Jews fall short of expressing Love, but we try, know we often fail, and try again. The State, using brutal oppression or soft tyranny, has no Love.

At the micro level, I think euthanasia is a denial of Love. Abortion is a denial of Love. That is a child that will never Love, or be Loved. I think of sometimes people reach out to me, needing Love, and I don't respond because I'm busy, or irritated about something, or even don't like the person. That last is horrible to contemplate, its being so much in violation of Faith based Love.

And yet, I'm blessed by God, and full of his Grace.

Romance

I had removed myself the last two weeks of this past year from news and analysis, even from my favorite blogs. I called it a detox from the world, and it was. Nearly four weeks have gone by. I’ve just recently started again watching and thinking about the conflicts, lies and hatred that is constantly washing over nearly everything we experience. I missed church too the past couple Sundays, and choir practice, because my back spasms were so bad that often I couldn’t stand up straight, and the pain was intense. The past few days the results of the media detox became apparent, and I felt overwhelming Love, the Love of God. In church today I was so full of His Spirit I felt I was vibrating. I felt so much of His Love for all in the church, and most especially for my fellow singers in the choir. The joy was inexpressible. The source of this is the Romance of God, knowing that he loves me ever so much, that he loves us all so incredibly. That Romance comes out of this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all you soul, with all your mind”, and I do. Acting on that “…and your neighbor as yourself”. Here’s a realization that God has come to us, he’s asking us for our love. This is a matter of the Heart. God is touching our Heart. He romances us, not us him. “So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about-He is looking for us.” (Simon Tugwell) I have so many times not recognized this love,or responded to it. God so loves me, and when I recognize it and accept; I so much more love others. Here’s the thing; as many times as I’ve gotten caught up in activities that distracted me, God still pursued me. The whole of what Simon Tugwell said: “So long as we imagine that it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about; He is looking for us. And so we can afford to recognize that very often we are not looking for God; far from it, we are in full flight from him, in high rebellion against him. And He knows that and has taken it into account. He has followed us into our own darkness; there where we thought finally to escape him, we run straight into his arms. So we do not have to erect a false piety for ourselves, to give us the hope of salvation. Our hope is in his determination to save us and he will not give in.” What came out of my weeks of media detox, and busyness, was this recognition of God’s Love. It’s a Romance. It’s sacred. There was courtship. He was patient. I was in my mid-40’s when I re-joined the Church and got baptized. The last fifteen years of that courtship, I spurned Him, and He loved me still, and was there. Since that time, the Romance has grown and matured. I get distracted sometimes, and lose sight of Him. But I turn and He’s there to comfort and support me. All of us God has romanced. Since before time he loved us. He loves us all for who we are and not what we do. Think of the time you were in love, (and for the fortunate few that fell in love and remained in love), how you felt (feel) toward that person. Your heart sang. God’s heart sings for us. We just need to hear the song.