Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Selfless

“YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT REAL LOSS BECAUSE 

IT ONLY OCCURS WHEN YOU’VE LOVED SOMETHING 

MORE THAN YOU LOVE YOURSELF. 

I DOUBT YOU’VE EVER DARED TO LOVE 

ANYBODY THAT MUCH.” –

SEAN MAGUIRE IN GOOD WILL HUNTING

Selfless

You are loved.

Yes, you.

You. Are. Loved.

Yes, yes you are.

Your story, my story, our story, begins with love. Turn to the first chapter of the Good Book when Love created from and out of love. Take note that when Love could have remained with Love’s self, Love created us:  you and me. Selflessly Love created humanity not only good but also in the image of Love.

Friend, you, yes you, you are loved.

At the heart of the story of God is this:  we do not exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others. This life, your life, no matter where you have been or what you have done, no matter how dark it has become or how much light appears, your life is a gift.

Friend, you, yes you, you are a gift.

Accepting this reality is a great good, not because of what it gives you or me, but because of what it enables us to give to others:  love.

We are human. There is no denying or escaping this fact. While we are good, no one expects us to live or be ‘as gods.’ We all have our weaknesses and deficiencies, and these limitations of ours play a most important part in all our lives. It is because of them, our brokenness, we need others and others need us.

Friend, you, yes you, I need you.

Why you ask?

Because we are not all weak in the same spots, and so we supplement and complete one another, each one making up in himself/herself for the lack in another. Or as Ram Dass has said, “We're all just walking each other home.”

In the movie Dead Poet’s Society, Robin Williams’ character, John Keating said, “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”

Friend, you, yes you, can change the world.

You are a gift. Your story is needed. You are enough. You were created from Love. Love is your name. Love is your destiny.

For those of us who claim this Love, when will we stop offering superfluous words filled with emptiness and begin embodying this Love? No longer can the world, our communities, our children, afford to listen to lyrics of sentimental love. We must , as Love’s children, deal realistically with the pain and injustice in the world. This does not mean of course we seek to convert people into our image for the sake of growing congregations. But rather, we offer our gift, this thing called love, to those who know real pain and suffer from real injustices without judgment, without condemnation. Love is not transactional. We must love others as God loves us:  selflessly and unconditionally.

So yes, you, especially you, you are loved. More than you ever know.

And the two of us, with everyone in between, we are more than enough to give this gift of Love.

“Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now.”

Enough by David Whyte, Where Many Rivers Meet

Looking toward Sunday:

Sermon Text:  Genesis 45.1-15 & Matthew 15.[10-20] 21-28

Sermon Title:  Hard Conversations