Blind love?

Some say love is blind, but I wonder if love actually enables sight? That is, is there a kind of knowledge that is only gained through love, which cannot be perceived without love? Is it true that there are truths that can only be grasped through by the heart? As someone has said ' the heart has its reasons which reason knows not'.

I was reading some reflection on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) by Caroline Simon, and the way it was worded struck me. She writes 'The priest and the Levite are blind to what the Samaritan sees, for they lack the love that leads to compassion' (p.13). She then quotes Simone Weil's comment: 'Humanity does not exist in the anonymous flesh lying inert by the roadside. The Samaritan who stops and gives his attention all the same to this absent humanity, and the actions which follow prove that it is a question of real attention' (p.13).

I am interested in people who speak of love as that which enables us to look upon people differently, to see things which, without love, we are unable to see, and to be transformed in our thoughts and deeds by what we see. I think there is a lot bound up in this. It means being truly present to the other, and also truly perceiving their presence. The encounter with true 'presence' is something that is deep and touching, something that can 'grip' our heart. Often we do not give our true presence to people. Our minds are elsewhere, 'busy', or through some form of subliminal rejection we choose not to fully listen, and certainly not to look beyond whatever facade we are 'faced' with. But giving our true presence and beholding the other 'lovingly', we may see through their facade to their true presence.

If we do this, if we offer our full presence and manage to glimpse the other, will we find something that compels us to love? That is, is there something in that person that is intrinsically lovable, love-worthy, lovely? Or is is, rather, that our love 'creates' that value in the other?

This, of course, has significant theological assumptions and implications, e.g. Does God's love see in us something of value to be loved, or does it create in us that something, i.e. love completing itself in the other? I would tend to favour the former: that love perceives a worth which already exists in the other. In this case, it is love that enables us to see it.

Read more...

Life of the beloved

Adrianna and I have been reading the book life of the beloved by Henri Nouwen, a Jesuit scholar who left YALE to work with mentally handicapped people in the L'Arch community. He writes simply and profoundly, and I find his work inspirational. His basic premise throughout the whole book is that we are the beloved of God, and that if we can grasp this truth it will truly change our lives.

Some might find this kind of thinking as self-aggrandising, but the more I think about it, the more I don't believe this is so. It is actually one of the hardest truths to accept that God actually does love us, that we are the 'beloved'. A lot of people would actually be quite uncomfortable with this idea, or else shrug it off to 'get on' with their busy lives.

But I wonder, for all of our busyness, how empty our lives can be, how hollow. As captain Jack Sparrow said in Pirates of the Caribbean, 'The world's not smaller, there's just less in it.' Our lives are more busy but there is less in them. I know this feels true for myself. Perhaps we are busy trying to make something of ourselves, trying to become successful, respectable, even enviable, and maybe, just maybe lovable.

And yet most of us will have had experiences in life that tell us we are not lovable. Rejections, break-ups, betrayals, loss of jobs, humiliations, fights and falling-outs. These can all make us believe that we are not worthy to be loved, at least not as we are. So we try to become better, to become someone else, to become worthy. After a while of trying, we can forget the very person who we are, and I think at that point we either have to keep distracting ourselves by the trivialities of life or else face up to our brokenness and emptiness. And I would bet that under the surface many of us can identify with this reality.

Into this context the truth that we are the beloved, loved by God himself, and therefore created lovable, is something that we would meet with skepticism and mistrust. But what if it is true?

Read more...

Why in the grip of grace?

ggNo grace is not a person!

If memory serves, I first saw the words 'In the grip of grace' on the front cover of a book by Max Lucado on the bookshelf of my friend Roz. Funnily enough I have never read that book, but its title really took hold of me, so to speak. I think it is a fitting image for those whose life is in Christ, and also of my life. It is an image that causes us not to focus so much on what we do in our relationship with our God, but causes us to remember that God himself has taken hold of us and carries us safely in his mighty hands. I chose it for the title of this blog because it reminds me of whose I am, and I believe that should be reflected in my life, my thoughts, my words and my acts. May the words of this blog echo the grace that God gives me.

There are a few passages that come to mind when I think of this image:

(1) In writing to the church in Philippi Paul speaks of his Christian life as one where he hasn't got everything made just yet, and he hasn't 'arrived' or achieved perfection. He says 'Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me'(Philippians 3:12). I think this acknowledges that God is the one pursuing us, and he takes hold of us in his love. God took hold of Paul and changed his life. This is recorded in Acts chapter 9, but it is good to start reading from chapter 7 for the fuller picture.

(2) Another passage which picks up on this imagery is Isaiah 41, which speaks to God's people scattered throughout the earth concerning God's care. From verse 9 it says:

^?9? I took you from the ends of the earth,

from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, ‘You are my servant’;

I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

^?10? So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Again this passage uses the image of God's hand taking hold of us and 'upholding' us, a hand which is commonly identified as the person of Jesus, who sits as God's right hand in heaven.

(3) Finally, I think Paul asks a profound question along these same lines when he writes to the church in Rome and asks 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' (Romans 8:35). It is comforting to know that we don't need to struggle to hold onto God, but we can rest safe in the knowledge that God has taken hold of us, and he will carry us. He loves us and nothing can separate us from that love. This is a promise of rest (Matthew 11:28). It is the knowledge that God has got my back, he is the one working in me to bring about good (Philippians 2:13).

I have much more to say on this topic, but I will leave it here for now.

Read more...

Hello world

I have been inspired by my minister Graham to start a blog. For quite some time I have thought that I wouldn't have the discipline to keep up the writing, but I now think I should at least give it a go. I am hoping it will encourage me to continue in exploring the wonders of God through writing down my thoughts and learnings, and perhaps interacting with others.

I will also write a bit about myself and what 'I' am up to and where I am 'at', and also about what 'we' are up to and where we are 'at'. By the we I mean my beloved Adrianna who shares with me our journey through life.

Let us see what becomes of these electrons...

Read more...