Hey folks - So, I've kinda switched preaching styles, and very seldom use manuscripts as of late, leaving this blog rather deserted. Alas... I hope to be posting again soon. Until then, peace. And happy Ordinary Time.
tom
Thoughts and sermons on life and faith active in love, by Rev. Tom Gaulke | Author of An Unpromising Hope (Pickwick, 2021) and Everyday Armageddons (Cascade 2023) | www.tomgaulke.com
Welcome back, Pastor Tom! Look forward to your future postings & sharings, with whatever styles, on whatever topics you see fit. God’s peace & joy to you, too!
ReplyDelete...then, what exactly is this love which is rooted in & funded by Christ? How is it manifested in our everyday life?
ReplyDeleteIf I may venture an answer to this question, I'd say, it's a kind of self-giving which facilitates others to become what God creates them to be, to become Christ-like.
On the one hand, such a love ought to be an art rather than a science, in the sense that it may be displayed in wondrously many different ways, all reflective of God’s many-faceted deep love for us...
On the other hand, a victim of abusive relationship cannot give such love, because the victim is under fear, and so does not own the self, and cannot really give the self to others. Neither can anyone who gives oneself in such a way that, it exacerbates Christ-dislikeness in other people, e.g. oppressiveness, laziness, dependency, etc.
One vivid demonstration of such self-giving love - which helps to transform others to become Christ-like - may be that priest figure in Les Miserables, when he handed his silver candleholders to the stranger who was brought to him by the police for stealing his silverwares after eating dinner in his house!
...then again, how very difficult is it for us to actually live out this kind of love, pure, other-oriented, fearless, neither too compromising nor too harsh...
May the Lord Who Himself is Love teach & help us each day the ways of love, that most excellent gift of all the gifts from the Holy Spirit!
Amen!