Today's Sermon

 

“Love: Talking About God 4"

 

1 John 4 (selections): Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and God’s love is perfected in us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  We love because God first loved us. 

When someone is going through the process of being approved to become an ordained pastor, they usually need to write and present a statement of faith. This is a document where the candidate shares what they believe about the big topics – God, Jesus, Spirit, scripture, the sacraments … to name a few. Since we are in the midst of a worship series called “Talking About God,” I thought it would be interesting to see what I had written about God in my statement of faith so many years ago. Here’s what I wrote, “My understanding of God, at its most basic, is love. God is love.” Notice that I did not say, “God loves us” or “the love of God is important.” I simply stated - God is love.

The writer of 1 John does the same thing – twice – in the passage we just heard. In verse 8 – “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Then again in verse 16 – “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”

However else we might think of God, and we will think of God in a lot of ways in this series, at the most basic, God is love. We have been using Matthew Fox’s book, “Naming the Unnamable” as a companion in this series, and it did not surprise me at all when I discovered that Fox’s very first chapter is titled, “God is Love.” In some ways, that is so obvious. In other ways, however, it does cause us to think about what that really means. Fox writes, “To call God love can be quite shocking since many people, in invoking the name of God, think of Judge or stern Father or indifferent unmoved mover or cause of Fate. ‘God is love’ represents a profoundly alternative direction for humankind. To say God is love is to render God omni-present, omni-felt, part of everyday life.”[i]

Another pastor, William Self, once described it this way, “All God’s activity is loving activity. If God creates, God does it in love. If God rules, God does it in love. If God judges, God does it in love. God cannot help it – God is love.”[ii]

If you’ve been paying attention this summer, you’ll know that this is my third sermon in a row about love. In July, I preached on God’s “all in” love. In August, I preached on God’s love as a gift, not a transaction. And now here I am again … talking about love. That is not a mistake. It is that important.

I hope you hear “God is love” as the good news that it is. The word that keeps coming up for me as I reflect on “God is love” is free. How freeing to know that God is love and will love me no matter what. Because God’s very essence is love, God can’t help but love me abundantly and unconditionally. I was pleased to see that I still agree with how I explained it in my statement of faith – “God’s love is not reserved only for people who believe a certain thing, or act a certain way, or live in a certain place, or any other category one could create. God is love. We are therefore freed to live as our authentic selves – to not be bound by the expectations, traditions, rules, and regulations that others have imposed. Instead, God calls us to embrace who we are and whose we are.” My 15-year-ago self was so wise! We are free to be exactly who God created us to be … not who anyone else thinks we should be. God is love.

For our most recent Zephyrs newsletter, I wrote about some new hobbies I have been trying that have not gone very well. I have definitely not mastered any of them! But I have found such joy in trying something new. I have had more response from all of you to that article than ever before. It seems like this idea that we don’t have to be perfect at everything all the time has really struck a nerve with many of you. That is also part of the freedom of God’s love. God loves us no matter what, even if we play the violin out of tune. We don’t have to be a concertmaster to earn God’s love because God is love – God loves regardless. So let’s try something new and not be good at it and still enjoy it and know that we are loved through it all.

Now, though there is great freedom in God’s love, I also once read a quote that has stuck with me. “Although God’s love is without conditions, it is not without consequences.” Let’s read a bit more of the 1 John passage. “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from God is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”

There is likely someone in your life who claims to love God, but does not love someone else. Maybe it is a whole group of people they do not love, such as undocumented immigrants, or the LGBTQ community. Or maybe it is a specific person they treat badly and say they cannot love. According to the author of 1 John, that is impossible. If you claim to love God, you must also love your neighbor. Otherwise, you do not love God. It is as straightforward as that.

Seminary professor Ronald Cole-Turner puts it like this, “The one thing we cannot do is to claim to love God while refusing to love the sister or brother in front of us. Love and hate cannot mix. We tell lies to ourselves when we claim we can love and hate at the same time.”[iii]

Jesus was very clear about the two most important commandments – Love God and love your neighbor. 1 John reminds us of both, but takes it even further, saying it is impossible to obey the first (love God) without also obeying the second (love neighbor). God’s love is without conditions, but it is not without consequences. We MUST love one another.

I want to return to a line that Sharon read for us – “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.” You might hear that and think, “Oh no, I have to love perfectly!” But that’s not it at all. God loves us perfectly, and therefore that frees us – there’s that freedom again – to love others as the imperfect humans that we are.

Here’s an example. Our son was home from college for the summer. We were so happy to have him home and we just couldn’t wait to share our love with him in person. All the things that he had to do for himself while away at college, we could now do for him! We offered to cook him pancakes for breakfast, do his laundry, make appointments for him … whatever we could do to show him how much we loved him and loved having him home. Let’s just say, that did not go over well. It took almost no time at all for Ben to be completely frustrated with us. “I can do it, mom.” “I’m fine, mom.” “I don’t need your help, mom.” We were definitely loving imperfectly. We quickly realized that our love was better expressed with a meal cooked for us, that included leftovers that he may or may not eat. Waiting for him to suggest playing a board game together, rather than one of us suggesting it. (Which he occasionally did! Hallelujah!) Asking how his day at work went and being OK with a one word response as he rushed off to call his girlfriend. Simply being present. God loves us in often quiet, non-dramatic ways, and slowly we learned to share that quiet, non-dramatic love with Ben.

We are not always going to get it right. But we must keep loving. For God’s love is not an abstract concept, but concrete action. God’s love is made known through our love for others. Now, my example is obviously a weak one because Ben, even in his newly independent state, is so easy to love! It gets even more complicated and more imperfect with someone who is difficult to love. And still, we love. Because God is love.

One more example. After worship, we will have our twice monthly Bible study on Matthew’s Gospel. Today, we will be looking at the passage where Jesus shares the Last Supper with his disciples. As I was studying that passage in preparation for the class, I was struck anew at how bold Jesus was to share that meal with Judas, his betrayer. Jesus knew that Judas was going to stab him in the back – metaphorically – and still invited him to dinner. Jesus still dipped his fingers in the same bowls at that table as Judas did. That is what we celebrate when we share the Communion together. A love that will share a meal even with a betrayer. A love that will invite all to the table. A love that draws the circle so wide that no one is left out. God is love. And it is through us that God’s love is made known in the world. Amen.

 

[i] Naming the Unnamable, Matthew Fox, pg. 2.

[ii] Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 2, pg. 469.

[iii] Ibid, pg. 468.