The Mark of the Christian and Dear Trinity (part two)
Here are a few insights:
All humans bear the image of God. They have value, not because they are redeemed, but because they are God's creation in God's image. Modern man, who has rejected this, has no clue as to who they are, and because of this they can find no real value for themself or for others. Hence, one downgrades the value of others and produces the horrible thing we face today — a sick culture in which we treat one another as inhuman, as machines. As Christians, however, we know the value of the human. (language updated). (Schaeffer, 8-9).
In John 13, Jesus says, "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all people know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another."
In 1 Corinthians 12.21, Paul says the statement or sentiment "I have no need of you" is not fitting in the congregation.
Compare the simple thoughts of Josef Pieper and Rowan Williams.
Philosopher Josef Pieper says to love someone or something is simply to communicate, "I am glad you exist." (from The Love That Is God, Frederick Bauerschmidt, Eerdmans, 2020). My wife's way of saying this is, "You are worth the work." My way of saying this is, "I'm glad you were born."
“A great deal of our politics, our ecclesiastical life, often our personal life as well, is dominated by the assumption that everything would be all right if only some people would go away.” Rowan Williams, The Way of St Benedict, 27.
Love is a more clear sign (1 Corinthians 13.1). Technique, even in the form of spiritual gifts or practices, is almost always easier than the challenging act of loving. I have control over technique. I have no control over those I love. Love surrenders. Technique controls. Having a tongue or a sermon or advise is great, but love also listens, and "does not insist on its own way" (1 C 13.5).
Love is a more effective power (1 Corinthians 13.2). Powering through is usually a more attractive option for us than the patient trodding, as we walk with difficult people or through difficult circumstances. I am a great repenter, for other people. I know what most people should do to get their act together, to improve their situation. But love doesn't power through. It "does not envy or boast, it is not arrogant or rude" (1 C 13.4-5).
Love is a more basic sacrifice (1 Corinthians 13.3). The martyrdom of long hours, or physical pain or exhaustion, or sacrificial giving is more cut and dried compared to the vulnerability to love. Love will hurt. "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 C 13.7).
We are in a cultural moment when we in the church feel that our witness is confused and in need of clarity, impotent and in need of power, and tired and in need of someone noticing. Will signs and techniques, power grabs or relevance, or working harder impress the world around us?
Love is "the final apologetic" (Schaeffer, 14): The church's unity borne out love points to the love that is God. That they may be one even as we are one...that the world may believe (John 17).
The love that is God, is from God, for us, for them, for him.
A Letter to Trinity:
Dear Beloved Trinity, Your very name--Trinity--rings with love--an inner affection and attention given and received by Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. But this same love that is shared within, has been poured out "For God so loved the world he gave," and "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (John 3.16 and Romans 5.5).
There is an inner love of God that is ever pouring outward. This is your namesake. You also are to experience an inner love from God and for one another that can't help but pour outward. I have noticed your outward love is evident. Expressed all over 7th Street School and in the collecting, reporting, sorting, and delivering of daily bread to many in need through the Pantry Ministry. Your generous love extends to from A to Z, from Albania to Zimbabwe, Thailand to Tanzania to Turkey. Many, if not most, of you express it in your vocations and neighborhoods. Your love outpours for others.
Do you still love one another? It has been more difficult lately. Our differences have been magnified and then leveraged against each other. We have been tempted to be more fundamentally marked by an identity other than the one carved in our forehead and on our heart at our baptism. "You are marked with the cross of Christ forever." Now politics has graffitied over that more fundamental mark. The cross has been turned into an "R" or a "D." Differences over cultural issues has threatened to make the primary mark secondary.
Those other marks are the shape power takes. The shape that a demand for "our rights" "what we want" "what we deserve" takes. The cross is the shape love takes. Does the following sound more like the shape of politics or pundits or the propaganda that we are constantly listening to? Or, does this sound like the shape of the cross--the way of Jesus?
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
The spirit of the anti-Christ is convincing many that the way of love, the way of Jesus, is no longer effective or in effect. An influential leader even recently told a group of evangelicals, "Turning the other cheek has gotten us nothing."
God's word and ways have not changed. The way of the cross, the way of love has never seemed like it would work. From the beginning, it looked like failure and stupidity and weakness. But, to we who are being saved, it is the power of God. This is the sign that marks you, the banner you bear, the mercy that embraces you, and the message and means you are called to be and deliver in this loveless world. You are loved. Love.
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