Love’s The Antidote
By: The Rev. Brenda Sol
Spoiler alert! This morning, I'm preaching another sermon about love. I feel like I'm turning into Michael Curry. I mean, I know I don’t preach like Michael Curry, in terms of enthusiasm and charisma, but I keep hearing myself talk about love as often as he does. Every sermon I’ve ever heard him preach—including the Royal Wedding—has been the same message: love, love, love.
But, I’m starting to catch on to what he’s all about. The message of Jesus—the promise of God— really is all about love. So, lately, no matter what scriptural passages I’m studying, I most resonate with, and what I feel called to preach about, is love.
Part of the reason for that is, of course, that love is the only true antidote to all that's going on in our world. From our country’s politics, to the poverty so many face around the world, to the senseless tragedies of war and gun violence, we need something to counteract our fear and our anger. We need an antidote to our confusion and our overwhelm. God provides that. The opportunity to be loved by God, and to love others on God’s behalf, is at the core of our Christian beliefs—at the core of most religions, actually.
This morning’s scriptural readings talk about our part in God’s promise to be loved, and that’s not always an easy task—especially with a blanket statement like: “Love your enemies.” So, let’s start with the Collect of the Day (you’ll find it on page four of your bulletin). As I've mentioned in other sermons, the Collect of the Day is an opening prayer meant to “collect” us all together into our shared worship experience. And each week, in the midst of our call to God, this prayer also offers us some tips on how to live into our own paths of discipleship.
Today’s collect goes beyond some simple tips and tricks. Instead, it claims the truth of God’s promise to us on our paths. We prayed: “…pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue.” Let’s sit with that a moment. We’re acknowledging that God’s greatest gift is love. Not only are we claiming that God’s greatest gift is love, we’re also dropping down, trying to embrace that on another level, stating: love is “the true bond of peace and of all virtue.” So, we’re saying that the only way we get to the bonds of peace and virtue is through love.
Our scripture readings back up that idea with stories and reminders that love isn’t just a fluffy, touchy-feely, happy-go-lucky concept. Love—agape love, which is what Jesus talks about—is not an easy thing to carry out. Jesus insists, this kind of love demands that we love even our enemies.
Perhaps the idea of agape love is easier to grasp in the reading from Genesis, where it’s not so much an enemy who is being loved, but wayward family members. You’re probably familiar with the rest of this story. When Joseph was young, he was his father’s favorite son, and his jealous brothers decided to get rid of him. They contemplated killing him, but decided to sell him into slavery, instead. You know…they were hoping for feeling a little less guilty down the road.
Years and years later, after he had worked his way up the ranks in the Pharoah’s kingdom, Joseph served in the position of a trusted leader. Meanwhile, there was famine in the land, but Joseph had wisely stored enough grain to feed many, many people for multiple years. So, he sends for his family—the same brothers who had misbehaved so horribly—and offers to provide for them. He loves them, despite what they did to him. Joseph is in a very powerful position, and he chooses to use power for good. He chooses love.
Some of you have heard me describe how part of my sabbatical, later this spring, will take me on a pilgrimage to Spain, where I’ll walk in the footsteps of Teresa of Avila. In preparation for that, and because our women’s retreat will focus on her writings, I’ve been reading a daily meditation based on excerpts from Teresa’s books. Here’s how she describes the challenge of loving:
Choosing the will of God is very hard to do. For not only must we choose to do the will of God, but we must be pleased with doing that which, according to our nature, may be in every way the opposite of that which we would choose for ourselves.
Teresa’s commitment to choose God’s love and God’s will is what I see reflected in the Collect of the day, as well as our scripture readings. Additionally, I find a lot of encouragement in Teresa’s comments. She adds: “Certainly this is hard. But love, if perfect, is strong enough to do it.”
Not only am I enjoying Teresa’s down-to-earth writing, I’m appreciating the way she so openly describes the challenges of discipleship. She’s also quite a cheerleader, consistently counteracting the realities of how challenging discipleship is, with reminders that God is patient with us. One of her best-known sayings is: “Let nothing disturb you.” I believe you sang a hymn based on those words last week.
In fact, that same message is found in our reading from Genesis. When Joseph first sent for his family and offered his help, he didn’t reveal who he was. His brothers came thinking he was still a slave. So, when Joseph is ready, he explains who he is and how God—not them—has brought him to this point, where he can now help them.
I can only imagine how they might have reacted facing their brother after the terrible things they’d done. But Joseph cuts right through any awkwardness, saying, “Do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves.” He understands that the path to peace and virtue is through love.
This morning’s Psalm reiterates that idea. It reads: “Refrain from anger, leave rage alone; do not fret yourself.” More importantly, there’s a follow-up. Why should we avoid fretting? Because, the psalmist writes, “It leads only to evil.” The fretting—the worry—doesn’t ever fix anything, and, worst of all, fretting takes our focus off of God and God’s love.
There’s a similar message in 1st Corinthians, which essentially begs us not to worry about things that will perish. Rather, our attention should be on imperishable things, like God’s love, and how we are not only humans, but were created in the image of God.
My best recommendation for rooting ourselves better in agape love—and the advice present in Teresa of Avila’s writings—is to spend more time in prayer. This is how she describes prayer:
…prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him [God], whom we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much, but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight, but desire to please God in everything.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the appealing things about studying Teresa is how “real” her reflections are. She consistently admits her own trials and temptations, adding that she’s disappointed that her prayer time seldom results in rapturous visions. She explains that—though she did have a few of those lightning bolt moments, more often she reaches the end of the day simply being able to say, “I did my best.” Then adds, “But if I have you, God, I will want for nothing. You alone suffice.”
Love is the antidote! But I’m not the only one talking about love more. This past Friday, Mindy and I accompanied our youth and parent confirmation classes, along with the mentors of the youth, on a field trip to welcome in Shabbat at Temple Solel. My friend, Rabbi Alexis, touched on a similar theme in her message. So, I’ll leave you with a beautiful prayer I came across in the Jewish book of worship.
First, I’ll remind you, we don't pray so that God changes the world on our behalf, we pray so that we are changed by God and able to better love others. Here’s that prayer:
Let there be love and understanding among us.
Let peace and friendship be our shelter from life's storms.
God, help us to walk with good companions, to live with hope in our hearts and eternity in our thoughts, that we may lie down in peace and rise up waiting to do Your will.
-AMEN
