Some time ago, as I hopped into my car to make the drive from Lutsen back to Grand Marais, I turned on the radio and fiddled with the dial until I found something interesting to listen to. What I found was a Christian station whose host was inviting listeners to share verses of scripture that they feel our nation needs to hear and heed.
While I struggle with the idea that any single verse may be presumed to speak for the whole of the Bible, I think that there is something of value in asking ourselves how scripture should be heard in light of the times we live in. It’s an important question for us to ask.
I listened as caller after caller shared their scripture verses. But before I even got to Cascade River, a troubling theme had emerged, which can be summed up something like this. “Whatever it is that you non-Christians are doing … knock it off! God is judging us because of your behavior.”
Every caller, in one way or another, affirmed that it’s other people who need to repent. And it was pretty clear from the verses put forward that we all know who “they” are.
But here’s the deal. Repentance never begins with other people. Repentance always begins with us as a community of broken believers. Repentance means that we turn away from all the things that we believe we can’t live without so that we can turn back toward God. It is connected to the belief that God’s love is more powerful and enduring than our brokenness.
I couldn’t help but notice as I listened to that radio station that not one person called in to proclaim that the Bible passage we need to hear most is John 13: 34-35, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Make no mistake about it; this is Jesus’ commandment. He isn’t asking us to love one another. He isn’t suggesting it or recommending it. He isn’t saying, “If it’s convenient, or profitable, or comfortable for you, then by all means go ahead and grudgingly love others.”
Nope. He says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.”
We live in a time of contentious social, economic, cultural and scientific changes. As Christians, we are compelled to confront these challenges through the lens of scripture. We address these issues through the perspective of our various confessional traditions, even as our knowledge of the universe around us expands exponentially. As we seek to address matters like poverty, violence, gender issues, homelessness, climate change, and our care of veterans, we are called to embrace this mandate to love as we are loved because these issues affect others whom God declares to be God’s beloved children.
We will struggle to confront these divisive issues together until we abide in God’s love, and then extend that love to others. We can’t love our neighbor until we first accept that we are ourselves loved. We are loved by God whether we choose to be or not. We are loved by God whether we like it or not. It is a love that is powerful, transcendent and permanent, and it comes to us without condition through the death and the resurrection of Jesus.
God’s love is a powerful thing; powerful enough to reach down into this world and erase all of the bigotry, loathing and suspicion that divide us. God’s love is powerful enough to open our eyes, even when we don’t really want them to be opened, so that we can see God’s vision for our community.
We are invited to turn our brokenness over to God, and to repent as a family of believers in response to this amazing love. It is by daily turning toward God that we become God’s loving hands for others; feeding, healing, restoring and strengthening our community so that all may know that God loves them.
To quote perhaps the most influential Minnesotan of my generation, a Christian who wasn’t shy about expressing his belief that we are to love others as we are loved, “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.” Beautifully spoken.
Thank you, Prince Rogers Nelson, for this reminder about the depth and the breadth of God’s love for us, and our divine calling to love those on the outside. Godspeed.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month’s contributor is Tom Murray of the Lutsen Lutheran Church and Baptism River Community Church of Finland.
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