GOD'S LOVE!

      There is (what I call) "deal-making" love... which basically says that "I will love you IF you love me." This is about as good as it gets for many people. There is "manipulative," love... that pleads, "If you really love me... you will do this or that for me," and there is "controlling" love, which is not love at all. There is "puppy" love, which is mostly hormonal love, and there is "being in love," which sets one's heart on fire. There is the type of love that can't take its eyes off of self and there is the sort of love that obsesses on the other. There are many different types of love, and it's a shame that we only have one word for "love" in our language.
      The Greeks, or course, had several words for love. Eros is erotic love, and while it is sometimes used for pornography (porneia), it is essentially passionate love. Philia, as in Philadelphia, is the love of friend for friend, and it is very often quite deep. Storge is a deep-rooted love that is borne of familiarity. It is typically found in families, but others who share meaningful time together can also come to "love one another." Finally, there is Agape, which keeps on giving without keeping score... or ever stopping to wonder if it is deserved or not. This is the highest form of love because it gives itself for the sake of giving- without payback or even being received. It is a rare thing to behold, but even "agape" doesn't quite capture the love of God... which forgives those who would crucify him!
      Let me quote two authors who mean a lot to me. The first is Kahil Gibran, who captures the painful vulnerability that accompanies real love. "When love beckons you," he writes, "follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you... for even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you... (for) even as he is for your growth, he is for your pruning." Real love, it seems, comes to us... as we surrender to it. It cannot be bought, controlled, or possessed. It is a product of our own vulnerable commitment and "it has its way with us." Real love leads us to a depth that we never imagined and it strips us of all pretenses... so that we stand naked before our accusers and abusers. But it overcomes them... by forgiving them... and that brings me to the second author, Frederick Buechner, who writes, "Love for equals is a human thing... It is to love what is loving and lovely. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing- the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the failures, the sick, the unlovely. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing- the love for those who succeed when we fail, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. And then there is the love for the enemy- love for the one who doesn't love you... but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. (It is) the tortured's love for the torturers. This is God's love and it conquers the world."
     God's love. Inviting, empowering, steadfast, and grace-filled! God's love. Hopeful, patient, enduring. other-directed, non-scoring, and forgiving! God's love. Foot-washing. Cross-carrying. Heart-breaking. Victorious! Friends, even as we enjoy the lesser forms of love that fill our lives, Christ calls us to love more deeply... and to experience the utter joy of letting go... so that we can love others... in depth. God encourages us to trust in him... so that we will have the heart to love the least among us... and the grace to forgive the worst among us. None of us will ever be asked to lay our life down for others, let alone those who are crucifying us... but we are called to love others as God loves us. With that in mind, I will close with the words of Gibran: "Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself, but if you must have desires, let these be your desires... to know the pain of too much tenderness, to be wounded by your own understanding of love; to bleed willfully and joyfully; to wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving; to rest at the noon hour and meditate on love's ecstasy; to return home in the eventide with gratitude; and... to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips." Amen.