Love One Another!

Medora Gordon, Associate for Pastoral Care

No one has ever seen God;
If we love one another, God lives in us,
And God's love is perfected in us.
There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear;
Those of us who say "I love God," and hate our brothers
and sisters, are liars.
For we who do not love a brother or sister whom we have seen, cannot love God whom we have not seen. The commandment we have is this:
We who love God must love our brothers and sisters also.

(1 John 4:7-21)

On the face of it, this morning's lessons are pretty clear - love one another. Well, that is easy enough for you to say, but dear God, you have not met that guy next to me! Maybe it will help - at least a little - to put the lessons in context.

As you likely know, the gospels were written at different times throughout the 1^st century, in different geographical locations. To make it even more complicated, the gospel books that we know as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not original, but come from what in the industry is known as "independent sources." Matthew used Mark, Q, and his own special source called "M". Luke also used Mark and Q, but had another source called, strangely enough, "L", a source which Matthew did not have! The material in "M" and "L" likely came from the oral traditions of different communities.

The Gospel of John incorporates an earlier written source called The Gospel of Signs. I can just about guarantee that none of you have ever heard of The Gospel of Signs, which was written in yet a different community from 'M" and "L", and was likely the oral tradition of a community far from Jerusalem. The gospel of Signs contains very few short, or neatly expressed general truths about Jesus, and no parables about Jesus, yet it appears to have been written down as part of community life. The gospel speaks to a group that was isolated, and divided into roughly three camps. There were the followers of John the Baptist, there were the Jews, who did not allow upstart Christians into the temple, and there were "other" Christians who were not at all certain that Jesus was divine. As you can see, figuring out how to love one another was as big a challenge to them as it is to us.

The Gospel of John is good news and bad news. On the one hand, this is the gospel that tries to explain the "mystery" of Jesus and trying to do that is like trying to capture moonbeams. On the other hand, this is also the gospel that takes great flights of fancy. This is free association time. The gospel begins with the words "in the beginning was the word. . . And the word was with God. . . And the word was God. . . ." And we are off and running, wondering just what is going on here?

Tradition holds that the apostle John wrote the Gospel According to John, but most scholars believe that the gospel was actually written by a disciple of John's - much the same way that Mark recorded the teachings of Peter. So what we have is a gospel written by someone who was not an eyewitness to Jesus, who did not publish the gospel of John until the close of the first century, which places it somewhere around 70 years after Jesus' ministry.

The core of the lesson is "this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you," and that brings us back to where we started. In the presence of God's overwhelming love, how can we possibly love another that much? But therein lies the trick, I think. It would be grand to make a huge, overwhelming gesture of love for another. Something big, and showy, that everyone could see. But I would argue that it is the little gestures that are the most like God.

You see, God's love is in the details. God's love, and ours for one another, is in the opened door, or the gentle hug. Love is a home cooked dinner, or a perfectly grown rose. Love for one another is in listening, instead of talking. Love is remembering to say something nice instead of one more nasty crack. We all know these details, but they are too easy.

What about the really hard parts of loving one another? What about loving Sadam Hussein? Or, what about loving the people on death row? What about loving the bishop or your neighbors who complain about the parking? What about loving someone who makes us furious? How do we love one another when the odds are against us and the price is very high?

How do we love the abuser? The manipulator? The murderer? The ones who bring us pain? How do we manage to love them? It is easy to love a baby, if they aren't crying all night. It is easy to love clean people who don't smell bad. But, how hard is it to love someone who lives on the street and hasn't washed in days, what do we do then?

I suggest to you that the answer goes two ways:

1. First, there are those times, and those people that have hurt us so very much that loving is virtually impossible. Love suggests forgiveness, and sometimes, we just can't get there. In seminary I read a book called The Fall to Violence, written by a woman named Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki. Suchocki claims that the "fall" was not original sin but violence. Violence done by one to another in a loving world. Suchocki goes on to say that there are those of us that, try as we may, have been hurt too badly to love the perpetrator. Her suggestion is that in the face of overwhelming pain and suffering, sometimes the very best that we can do is pray for the other's well being. We wish that we could love the other, but we just can't. We try to follow the great commandment - to love one another - but it just hurts too much. Instead of carrying all of that good old-fashioned Christian guilt around, the guilt that comes with not being able to love one another fully, Suchocki asks us to continue to pray for the well being of the person who has hurt us. God does not require perfect love. God requires that we try to love and, sometimes that is the best that we can do.

2. Second, love is in the small things. Perhaps we show love for Saddam Hussein by asking our legislators to lift the sanctions on food and medicine to Iraq. We can love the people on death row by praying for them and asking the governor to declare a moratorium on capitol murder. We can love the bishop by understanding that maybe he sees the world differently than we do, and while we do not necessarily understand or agree, we must pray for his vision and his well being. We can love people on the street by buying the panhandler a cup of coffee or a sandwich instead of walking away. Maybe there is a warm coat or a blanket that we are not using, and if that is not enough, Ritter House always needs more volunteers. There is always something we can do.

Then there are those times when we have to gather up all of our courage, and love, and discipline and try to talk to that person who makes us furious. We are called to speak the truth in love, and sometimes it is terrifying, but the lessons tell us that love casts out fear, and so we go forward.

Finally, there is always something, something that we have meant to do, but just can't seem to find the time for. Call our mothers, write a note, take time for a cup of tea with a friend - love is in remembering to find the time.

The genius of Christianity is our insistence on love, forgiveness and community. The love we have for one another does not have to be earth shattering. Remember that God is in the details, the little things. Our job, in fact our marching orders as Christians, is to remember:

"This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this."

Amen