REFLECTION: What Does God Ask of Us?
TEXT: John 14:15-21
This is my third reflection and I continue to learn and gain fresh insights about Jesus, about the Bible and about myself each time I volunteer. Today I want to try to tie together some of the different elements of the service in terms of the question, "What does God ask of us?"
As Roy said, in the reading from John this morning, all Jesus is asking of the disciples is that they embrace the love he has lived among them as the goal for their own lives. But what is this love? In the dictionary, love is defined primarily as "a strong affection for another, arising out of kinship or personal ties", "a warm attachment, enthusiasm or devotion", or "an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another." Perhaps understated but this is the kind of love I had, rather lazily, always envisaged from this passage from scripture.
But there is more to love; think back for a moment to our opening prayer:
We open our hearts to one another and in these moments of stillness,
become aware of the warmth, the breath, the life we share.
The Spirit of Christ abides in the shared warmth between us.
May we inhale deeply of this sacred presence and exhale words and actions of godly love.
To me, the actions of children exemplify so simply and easily this shared warmth and shared life. Isaac gave something of himself to his Opa as naturally as he breathes. As adults, we often feel as if we must work at giving naturally but when I do, it is surprisingly easy and I do feel deep spiritual warmth and a special connection with the other person.
The Children's song, The Gentle Face of Love, reflects that same spirit. It was created in 2007 by Walter Farquharson after he and Ron Klusmeier offered a number of concerts with Parksville's Knox United Church Choir. Profoundly moved by being part of this richly caring family of faith, Walter wrote these lines in tribute to these people living out their faith through word, deed and interaction with others.
And certainly, this is an important aspect of Jesus' love. He clearly demonstrates this gentle love Ð he feeds the hungry, heals the sick, and acts and speaks to women and other disenfranchised members of society with care and respect.
But in John 14, Jesus adds the additional promise that God "will give you another Advocate to be with you forever Ð the Spirit of truth."
Throughout his ministry, Jesus advocated, as if driven by the spirit of truth: he fiercely protested against those who abused his vision of the value of every person, and the importance of an ethic of mutual respect and care; he overturned the money table at the synagogue; he challenged the very authority of the empire which sought to impose a hierarchy of military power. The love he asks his disciples to live is also action-based.
As I worked on just what this action dimension of love means, I had my first "aha" moment when I heard a popular song from the 80's replayed and tried to relate it to our service today. "From A Distance" was written by Julie Gold and sung by many performers including Bette Midler and Kathy Mattea. Many people find this a very comforting song. Have a listen...
FROM A DISTANCE — Julie Gold
Sung by Kathy Mattea. Used with permission granted by Julie Gold
From a distance the earth looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.
From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man.
From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
There are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.
From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They're the songs of every man.
God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.
From a distance you look like my friend,
even though we are at war.
From a distance I can't comprehend
what all this war is for.
From a distance there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves,
it's the heart of every man.
It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves.
It's the song of every man.
(God is watching us, God is watching us,
God is watching us ...)
"From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man."
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man."
The song ends with the chorus, "God is watching us, God is watching us..." echoing in the background and it is as though we can relax; everything is, or will be, alright as long as we live with hope and peace in our hearts. It is as if the gentle love we first talk to our children about, or worse yet, the dictionary-defined love, is sufficient.
When this song was high up the radio music charts, I resented its popularity as it seemed to me that people were looking for – and too easily finding – comfort. Personally, I find this is a very challenging song when it points out the obvious contractions:
"From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.
From a distance you look like my friend,
even though we are at war."
For me, its underlying message is that we can't stand back, disengaged, and at a distance where we can pretend that everything is in harmony! Not only must we get involved to better understand the real situation, but we then must act to improve this world for which we have shared responsibility! I think what the songwriter is saying is that God has given us the ability to act, to love, as Jesus loved – and he is watching us, waiting for us to take up the challenge Jesus made in John Chapter 14.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Naomi Tutu, the daughter of Archbishop Tutu, speak at a conference. Ms. Tutu is an impassioned and gracious leader speaking out and acting against injustice and inequality – following a similar path to her father. She talked about the many African proverbs that are so popular in North America, such as, "It takes a village to raise a child." She laughingly said there were thousands more but only the good ones catch on. Here's one I liked:
Our gifts are given to challenge those who are comfortable
and give comfort to those who are challenged.
Familiar in other contexts, but is this not a simple, elegant rephrasing of the gift of love that Jesus is talking about in today's scripture?
My second preparation "aha" moment involves the tiny word, "in". Here is Jesus promising to be Òin" the disciples, and we interpret that to mean he will be Òin" each of us as well. But did you know that the Greek words usually translated as "in you" can also legitimately be translated as "among you" with you being the plural you? How does Jesus being Ôamong us' change our understanding of John 14? What if he is more in our shared breath, our shared lives than he is in each of us individually? Are we not called to collective action?
In her book, An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor questions the various reasons people give for the decline in mainline churches -such as the music used in worship, or too much investment in institutional survival. In Taylor's experience we should look more closely at the intellectualization of the church. She believes that people want "Not more about God, but More God!" She argues that from the youngest to the oldest, we experience "more God" through Spirit-filled community where love is given free expression, and I interpret that love to be the multidimensional love we have been talking about today.
God has given us an Advocate who will be with us forever, and to advocate means to get out in the community, to speak out for and to work for change Ð like Naomi Tutu and her father are doing. It means being uncomfortable with our world because it is not in harmony. As a congregation we have been working toward a new Purpose Statement:
We dare to live in the Way of Jesus, embodying the Love of God.
As Roy mentioned we have a Congregation meeting coming up to discuss this Purpose Statement. Please think about what this Statement means to you and, perhaps more importantly, what it calls us, as a community, to do.
And if Barbara Brown Taylor is right, we shouldn't be just thinking! Talk to others about just what is the Love of God that we want to embody. Meditate on daring to get out of our comfort zone to meet the challenge Jesus lays before us to live our lives has he lived. Pray for understanding about the Spirit of Christ that abides in the shared space between us. Practice living out the words! If we all can do some of these things, then together, we will inhale deeply of God's sacred presence and exhale words and actions of godly love!
Amen
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