Love… No matter what.
This morning when I turned on the news I felt like turning it off and crawling back into bed. Israel had bombed targeted sites in Iran raising the spectre of another round of tit-for-tat destruction. Of course, there is complex background to the story, but it is not just a story. It is real suffering of real people. My heart goes out to everyone connected to Iran in our own community and abroad.
And my “pull to covers over” reaction also has background given what has gone on lo these many months not only in Iran but in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo. The cycles of suffering is not easy to hold gently in my heart and mind. I am sure that it is not easy for you either.
This Sunday worship will be held and led by the Re:Sound Chamber Choir and their theme is Love- the love at the core of life, the call of love in the bible and the gospel, and the challenge to love no matter what. On one hand, that may sound like the covers are still over our head. How can you believe in the “no matter what” part when all hell is breaking lose? But that is the very point. The call is to love, even when all hell is breaking lose. Jesus said love your neighbor as yourself and your neighbor is defined as the one who drives you nuts. He loved the Pharisee, the tax collector, the Roman soldier, the bumbling disciples, the outcast, his mother, everyone… no matter what. He also said “love your enemy.”
The transforming truth of gospel love is that it heals. When we love the way he loved, no matter what, it may hurt but it also heals.
So come and celebrate that love, and rest in the beauty of it as expressed in music.
Blessings, Will