“The sermon was on love tonight, Lord, yet where is the love in the folk I know here? Love? I don’t think they’d really miss me if I never came again. After all I’ve done, I don’t really matter. I suppose they would be saddened if something bad happened to me. But it wouldn’t last long. They all seem to be concentrating on keeping the church going, and people just don’t matter….”
“…Wait, my child, you feel so unloved, so ignored so unimportant. Have you ever stopped to think that others feel just the same?”
“Yes, but Lord….”
“No, my child. No “Buts”. I am calling you to love, sustained by the infinite love I have for you. I am calling you to take the initiative of love as I have done on the cross. I am calling you to break the vicious circle of lovelessness begetting lovelessness.”
“But, Lord, my love is so weak.”
“My child, have I not told you that my love has been poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit who has been given to you? You do not have to ask for love, but rather to allow my love to well up in you and overflow to others. But you must let my love break down every barrier between us.”
“O Lord, you know I really want that. But what if my love … Your love in me … is rejected?”
“It will be, my child, as my love was rejected on earth before. But I seek for those who will allow the river of my love to overflow and sweep away the barriers between my people. And the power of my love will ultimately wear away the hardest obstacle.”
“Yes, Lord, and I can forsee some very big obstacles. I might as well be honest there are some folk I just can’t love. Some are just, – well – just odd, difficult people. They rub me up the wrong way. We have nothing in common.”
“Nothing in common, my child? You are speaking of my children, those for whom I suffered, those in whom I have put my Spirit. I see you all as rough hewn, needing to be moulded into the right shape even through the differences between you which you find irritating-. And do you know the loneliness of some of those whom you describe as odd and difficult?”
“But some of them are so self-sufficient, Lord. They don’t need my love. And one or two are just plain arrogant. Anyone would think they have the right to do as they please, trampling on folk like me. They don’t show me any love.”
“My child, I came into a world that was trying to do without me, trying to run its own affairs, and eventually it did trample on me. They crucified me, my child, but I loved them through it all. And do not be deceived by appearances. Behind many of those arrogant, self-sufficient facades is the little boy or little girl so much needing love, and yet afraid to accept it, afraid it will pierce the facade and reveal the truth of their poverty and fears. Sometimes they are afraid they’ll have to stop and look at themselves if anyone pierces the facade. And they fear what they might see. You have been hurt, but so have they – and my love can heal both them and you.”
“If they’re so afraid, Lord, how can I get through to them? How can I help them?”
“By just continuing to love them with my love, my child, until they relax and open up in it, as you would relax in the summer sun. With some it will be a long and painful task, with many discouragements. But love never ends, it will always triumph ultimately. And it is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.”
“Lord, then help me to love with your love.”
© Tony Higton: see conditions for reproduction