“God’s Exquisite Love!” How exquisite your love, O God! And those who seek your wide wings’ shelter— They feast on the abundance of your house They drink the delights of your streams For you are a fountain of cascading light, You are the light within the light. -Psalm 36 Over the weeks of Lent, I have been writing this weekly e-letter reflecting on our lives as they relate to God’s Exquisite Love, the opening of our hearts to the love and compassion that God is always offering us. This is the fourth in that series. Today, I ask you to consider some words concerning love and efficiency spoken by my friend Jerry May. Jerry died about a year ago. He was the author of many books, including “The Awakened Heart,” from which the ideas below are taken. He was a wonderful friend and mentor. Jerry writes:

One of the most profound struggles we face in our culture today is between efficiency and love. Efficiency is how we cope with our daily tasks, how we get our jobs done, how we manage our relationships and handle our feelings and adjust to the stresses we encounter. Efficiency has to do with how we function.

In contrast, love has to do with our deepest desires, what we are functioning for, what brings real meaning to our lives, real nourishment for our hearts. Efficiency is the how of life; Love is the why. We all know people who are very efficient but not very loving. We also know people who are very loving but not very efficient.

God in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament are unequivocal about love being the most important thing in life -- love is where we come from and where we are meant to be heading. Love is the one thing necessary; we are here on this earth for the sole purpose of furthering and deepening love: for God and for one another. What are the two great commandments? That we love God with our whole being and our neighbors as our very selves. Such a thing may seem impossible -- and it surely is without grace, but there is no equivocation in it. There is no compromise. The eighteenth century poet William Blake said it well in these words: "And we are put on earth a little space, that we might learn to bear the beams of love."

The scriptures keep saying in countless other ways that our functioning should be determined by our deeper passion for love; our efficiency should be in the service of love. But our culture, for generations, for millennia in fact, has reversed these priorities. The spiritual heart, grounded and loving in love, is a radical challenge that must go against the idolatry of function. It must risk being inefficient sometimes in the cause of love. It must risk vulnerability for love and to love. It is, as the apostle Paul said, "Foolishness" in the eyes of the world. Jerry’s words are very interesting. This week we continue our Lenten investigation of God’s Exquisite Love and participate in our church’s Annual Meeting. This week we will have an opportunity to practice what Jerry is talking about, what we preach here. It is my hope that we will have a wonderful, efficient Annual Meeting, and that we will continue to operate the business of the church in a clear, transparent and efficient manner. Further, it is my prayer that the business that we transact here at the church might be fully and completely in the service of love. Love, David

“God’s Exquisite Love!” How exquisite your love, O God! And those who seek your wide wings’ shelter— They feast on the abundance of your house They drink the delights of your streams For you are a fountain of cascading light, You are the light within the light. -Psalm 36 Over the weeks of Lent, I have been writing this weekly e-letter reflecting on our lives as they relate to God’s Exquisite Love, the opening of our hearts to the love and compassion that God is always offering us. This is the third in that series. Today I will talk about the healing of our hearts, the taking up of one’s cross as one faces into life’s challenges. We carry with us the wounds that make it difficult to trust God and others. These wounds come to us from various sources: our childhood, our life’s experience with love and affection (or the lack thereof), and the stories that we have created for ourselves that we are unloved and unlovable. The wounds are deep for all of us, so much of our lives spent addressing, running from or trying to control. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, the last verse of chapter 12, after having spoken about all the various spiritual gifts available to human beings, says, “ I will show you a more excellent way.” That way is outlined and elaborated on in Paul’s famous “Love Chapter,” the 13th Chapter of First Corinthians. What is love’s way?

love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful

It is interesting to me that Paul spends ink telling us what love is not. Not jealous, not boastful, arrogant, rude, insistent on its own way nor irritable nor resentful. When I examine these “nots”, I see that they are all related to our wounds. Why am I jealous? because I feel that I have not received my fair share, or that I don’t measure up. Why am I boastful? Because I am not secure in myself and I need to prove to others I am worthy. Why am I arrogant? Chalk that one up to insecurity and a lack of self-assurance as well. Same with insisting on my own way and being irritable and resentful. Love does not rest in these things. Our wounds represent obstacles to love’s way.

Love is patient and kind…Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. For me love’s way is summed up in being patient and kind, with oneself and with others. Patience and kindness allows love to believe, hope, bear and endure all things. In my personal life, this means being able to look at and to bear my own weakness, shortcoming and failings. I need not shirk away, run away or pretend they don’t exist. Love of self will allow me simply to accept that I am human, and that I am bound to make mistakes – to accept this simply, without overbearing self-judgment or punishment. The same with others. Loving others, I can embrace those others (neighbors, friends, family members AND strangers), with a like measure of acceptance and grace. I need not judge. With inclusion, acceptance and embrace, the magic of love can begin to do its work. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

The “magic of love” leads us to a full understanding of ourselves and our companions (friends and strangers) along life’s way. Though we might often tell ourselves stories about who we are, how we fall short, or how unlovable we see ourselves as being. Though the world might ask us to prove our worthiness. Though we might project our insecurities about ourselves onto others, love tells us another story. Holding fast to love’s (God’s) word, a certain spaciousness opens within us. Our hearts, in the words of John Wesley, feel “strangely warmed.” It is as if the words that God spoke to Jesus at baptism and on the mount of transfiguration become words meant for us, “You are my beloved, upon whom my favor rests.” With that, our identity as God’s beloved is sure. Working that out in our lives is all in the details: what is the life of the God’s beloved? what is this life for? how can we be channels of love’s way in the world? Let’s talk about that next week.

Love,

David

“God’s Exquisite Love!”

How exquisite your love, O God!

And those who seek your wide wings’ shelter—

They feast on the abundance of your house

They drink the delights of your streams

For you are a fountain of cascading light,

You are the light within the light.

-Psalm 36

Last week I was able to write to you about God’s exquisite love and speak to you about the efforts that our artists have made in decorating the sanctuary. This week it is my hope that you will join with me in contemplating the struggle inherent in human life as we “bear the beams of love (William Blake).”

It is the nature of the universe, of God, of Love, to give, to constantly spill forth love and compassion. We are beloved – each one of us -- just as we are. It is Paul who says in his Letter to the Romans, “there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.” As we have been quoting Julian of Norwich over these weeks, “Love is God’s meaning in life and creation.”

Yet, we find it ever so difficult to, as Blake pointed out, “to bear the beams of love,” to embrace who we are created to be – God’s beloved. So, I ask you, if we are so loved by God, who are we to say that we are unworthy? Isn’t our own dim view of ourselves just the thing that causes us to suffer, to not acknowledge this great gift of love that is ours even before we are born, ours throughout and beyond our human lives?

For me, the small cross in our sanctuary symbolizes our human struggles as we “bear the beams of love.” Implied in Jesus’ words, “to love your neighbor as your self,” is self-love. Period. AND, self-love seems to be the biggest hurdle many of us may face in our life times. This Sunday, we will explore self-loathing and self-love, we will plumb the depths of our spiritual lives as we confront the obstacles that we place before God’s gift of “exquisite love.” We will explore the wounds that once accepted can only draw us nearer to the Holy One.

Blessings,

David

“God’s Exquisite Love!”

How exquisite your love, O God!

And those who seek your wide wings’ shelter—

They feast on the abundance of your house

They drink the delights of your streams

For you are a fountain of cascading light,

You are the light within the light.

-Psalm 36

Last week I was able to write to you about God’s exquisite love and the Lenten program that we will be using to explore that love in our individual lives and in the life of the church. This week I would like to preview for you the work that our church’s artists have done to beautify our sanctuary for Lent.

Following our Lenten theme, our artists have taken the image of water as a sign for God’s exquisite love. As you walk into the sanctuary you will notice an installation next to the baptismal fount that reminds us of a flowing fountain, a wellspring. This brings to mind the baptism of Jesus where he heard a voice from heaven saying, “You are my son, my beloved, with you I am well pleased. This theme of love is repeated throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and as we examine our lives we sense the bedrock of love upholding our very being. This fountain of exquisite love in our sanctuary will remind us throughout lent of the overflowing abundance of grace that is our’s in love. I remind you once again of Julian of Norwich, when asked of God’s meaning in Creation,

love was his meaning. Who reveals it to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? For love. Remain in this, and you will know more of the same.

As you look at the artist’s design there is a blue drape coming off of the cross, flowing down over a smaller cross, out over the altar and into the congregation. This is the flowing stream of God’s love, flowing from the cross of Christ, over the smaller crosses that we bear, and out into the world as it flows over the communion table. There is an abundance of love in Christ, that reaches into our lives and through us into the world. This tells us that this exquisite love that we enjoy in Christ is not for us alone – but for all whom we meet along life’s way.

There are many other exciting aspects to the artist’s design, which you will have to come to church to see for yourself. It is quite exciting. On the side walls are some beautiful drapes, seemingly waterfalls of grace pouring into our sanctuary. God’s abundance is for us and for the whole world. Please join us as we begin Lent this Sunday, as we become aware of God’s exquisite, extravagant love!

Blessings,

David

God’s Exquisite Love!”
The following is also printed in our Lenten Brochure and in the March Seer. I am excited about this year’s Lenten theme and am confident that through the exploration of love, its height, depth and meaning, we will continue to experience transformation in our individual lives and in the life of our church. –David

Love is the Meaning
In the 14th Century Julian of Norwich had a unique vision which is recorded in her life work, Showings. This vision of Jesus, granted to her on her sickbed, left her perplexed about her life and the life of humankind. In Showings, towards the end of the book, she ponders the meaning of her vision, her life and her mission. She says,

I desired to know in what was our Lord’s meaning…
I was answered in my understanding…
“...you wish to know your Lord’s meaning in this thing? Know it well, love was his meaning. Who reveals it to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? For love. Remain in this, and you will know more of the same.”

Julian, unmatched as a spiritual theologian for her time distills the faith, indeed, our human lives to the essential: Love.

Difficulties in Love
Yet, against this perfect love, we find ourselves at sea. We often find it difficult to find ourselves at home in love. Our difficulties with living a life of love extend to our relationships with friends and family members, moving tragically to an abandonment of our love of self.

How Exquisite Love!
During Lent, we will explore the dynamics of Love in our lives, looking to the great commandment of our spiritual tradition to first love God and then, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We shall examine the depth of this exquisite calling to love and explore the difficulties that we have in being truly loving.
I hope that you will join us in exploring our Lenten theme through study and worship. See the inside of the newsletter for more details on Lent.

Love,

David