Training in the Power of God's Love

Beloved in Christ, 

Part of what made former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s royal wedding sermon in 2018 a global phenomenon is how rare it is to see a Christian leader on a large stage, talking simply about the power of God’s unconditional love. Christians, as we all know, have too rarely been known for how powerfully we love. That’s bitterly ironic in light of this week’s gospel lesson, where Jesus tells his disciples that love is to be the very thing that marks them as followers. 

It’s so easy to get on board with the idea. But here’s the thing about love: it’s really hard. The kind of love that will change the world isn’t about good vibes toward others. Love is about actively willing and working for their good. This often means seeking good for the annoying other, the difficult other, even the enemy other. Love demands that we set down our self-righteous attempts to win the argument, be right, demand we get our due, and instead seek good for another. Jesus saves the whole world with the power of love to be sure, but that love requires him die. Loving as Jesus commands requires that we, too, die to our selfish project in order to know what it really means to live. 

 The love that marks us as followers of the Way is also to be mutual. We are called not only to love others, but to allow ourselves to be loved, too. In all my years of pastoral ministry, and from long observation of my own heart, I know that being loved is usually much harder than loving others. Being loved means allowing God and others to see our shortcomings and weaknesses, to trust God and others won’t abandon us when they see who and how we really are. That’s hard. But it is only by allowing ourselves to be loved by God and our fellow disciples that we will be able to fully participate in God’s project to heal the whole world with love. 

The church is the gymnasium where we practice loving and being loved. The church isn’t where we go to feel good. It’s not the place where we go to feel right, to be comfortable, or even to find refuge. The church is where we go to train in the power of love. 

Are you known in your life for how you love? Is your congregation known for how you love each other, and the world around you? Are we together, showing up at the gym of prayer, day in and day out, in order that the whole world might, through our small lives, know the full power of God’s life-saving, world-changing love?

Grace and Peace, 

The Right Rev. Craig Loya