A Tappist monk by the name of Thomas Merton once penned the words, “There are two things which men can do about the pain of disunion with other men. They can love or they can hate.” When I read the words they stung me and somehow stick with me. You know when you hear or read something that somehow wedges itself into your mind and ends up being remembered at strange times, or perhaps not so strange times, coming up when God knows that you need to remember such things.
These words came to me just recently when a homeless man asked if there might be some way I could assist him. I had seen him before, and have reason not to trust him, but as I was about to turn him away I could hear the words recited to me deep in confines of my heart, “They can love or they can hate.” It was then I realized that this man and I were of a broken relationship, we were at disunion with one another. And in the midst of our disunion I had consciously decided that the best option to choose was hate, but the voice spoke to me of a better choice, the best choice, the choice to love.
Some of you are already suggesting that I made the wrong choice, what to be wronged again and all, giving anything to someone whom may not have used whatever I gave with the intention in which I gave. However, I am dissuaded from agreeing simply because of faith. The aforementioned Father Merton says it well, “The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved.” We are Christians, and as Christians we posses the most beautiful thing of all, faith! What is our faith that it is so special? At the root of faith is the belief that God loves us for no other reason than that God is love. There is nothing that we can do which makes us worthy of such a precious gift as the love of God. When we are quite honest with ourselves we discover how unworthy we truly are of God’s love, but alas it is not for us to dwell on the question of worth, for the truth of the matter is we are loved. Only when possessing the faith that God loves us just because God loves, might we be able to choose to love others, because then we do not have to ponder whether or not they are worthy of our love, for they are also loved by God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian, pastor, and martyr, said, “Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe.” I believe that he probably had in mind the words from the epistle of James which say, “Faith without works is dead.” Upon remembering all of these other quotes that stick with me and of which I am reminded at strange times, it is then that I hear also these words from Matthew’s Gospel, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” In this quote from Jesus the word “did” haunts me. It haunts me because it demonstrates one of the most important qualities of love, and one that our culture has either chosen to forget or ignore. Love is not about what we mean when we say, “being in love.” Instead love is qualified and made real when we talk about what we do in love. The commandment of Jesus to love each other as he loves us is not a flowery concept of being able to say easily, “I love you.” Instead it is the notion that when I encounter your need, whatever that need may be, I discover with myself the faith that because God was willing to sacrifice His very self for me, that I have no choice but to love the same way, and to sacrifice myself to one whom I can love simply because that is what love is.
I wonder sometimes when I go through more idealistic phases, what the world would be like if we believed that God truly loved us. Sure we all say we believe that, but alas our actions prove the opposite is often true. We bicker with each other, we talk behind each other’s backs, we give reasons why we cannot help a neighbor or worse yet why we should not help, and all the while our disunion with other human beings continues because we often choose to hate.
But we are not without hope, for even now I see love conquering all. I see it when I realize that now every day of the week there is a meal provided to the hungry in the downtown. I see it when I get to meet with people like Lee Don, of Covenant Presbyterian, and talk about churches beginning Whiz Kids tutoring programs throughout our city. I see it when in those special moments I am given love from someone who has no reason to love me, and in those miraculous moments when somehow I act and do in love. It is in those moments when I do in love that I most assuredly believe that Christ dwells within me, and can thank my God that someday I may be a better person than I am right now. Someone who may be blessed enough to hear at the culmination of time, “Well done good and faithful servant, come into the joy of your master.” Let us pray that we begin living lives where we do everything in love, and soon our community will be an example of hope and joy to all.
Riding the Wave of the Holy Spirit,
Garrett
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