"Love one another"

‘Love one another and you will be happy.’ It’s as simple and difficult as that. There is no other way. Amen.

Leunig

 I love my Dad; may he rest in peace. Although I am called Hugh, my first name is John, after my father. It used to annoy me that banks and officials and even some teachers would call me John. No, I’m Hugh! Now when ever I get a phone call from a stranger and they say “hello John” I just reply “hello” and enjoy the fact that I share my father’s name, as well as all the other beautiful (and annoying) things that he passed down to me.

 Today is Father’s Day, as well as Ordinary Sunday 23, and our readings from scripture, most appropriately, encourage us to reflect on love. Ezekiel’s appointment as prophetic sentinel may not seem very loving. He is called by God to deliver a harsh message: “O wicked ones, you shall surely die.” But, of course, it is loving. We might term it tough-love, or an intervention. If we are going down the wrong path, the loving response, from someone who cares, is to call out our bad behaviour. None of us like being told off, but sometimes we need to hear it. That is love, as much as sentimentality and warm feelings.

 Likewise, in chapter 18 of Matthew’s gospel, we have a passage about conflict resolution in Christian communities. To do nothing, when there is a serious issue in the body of Christ, is the opposite of love; another word for it is neglect, or even abuse. In times of conflict, the loving way is to confront the issues, to work them through, however painful that might be. Many of you will know this truth in family conflict, or workplace disputes. We experienced something of this reality as a parish family last year. It was painful, and it was messy, but overall the Parish Support Process enabled us to heal relationships, to give and receive forgiveness, and move forward, together. It hurt, but it was undoubtedly an instrument of God’s love.

 The Christian mystics across the centuries have perhaps best articulated the complexity and simplicity of Christian love, from their lived experience of a life of prayer. Julian of Norwich, in 1373, came near to death and was then given A Revelation of Love as her parish priest lovingly held a crucifix before her eyes. Her written reflections on the experience is recognised today as one of the great works of Christian theology. Thomas Merton, in Seeds of Destruction (1965) described Julian as “without doubt one of the most wonderful of all Christian voices … I think [she] is with Newman the greatest English theologian.”

 In chapter 49 of the Longer Text, for example, Julian writes about the complex divine interplay between love, anger and peace (Colledge & Walsh, Showings, 1978, p. 263-5):

It was … revealed, that our life is all founded and rooted in love, and without love we cannot live … For I saw most truly that where our Lord appears, peace is received and wrath has no place; for I saw no kind of wrath in God … And though we may be angry … as we fall victims to our blindness and our evil propensities, still we are sure and safe by God’s merciful protection … So I saw that God is our true peace; and he is our safe protector when we ourselves are in disquiet, and he constantly works to bring us into endless peace.

 St Paul, arguably one of the first Christian mystics, has this to say about love, from our lesson today: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments … are summed up in this word: Love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”

 The twentieth-century theologian C.S. Lewis puts it like this (Mere Christianty, bk 3, ch. 9): “The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste your time bothering whether you “love” your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love [that person]. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking [that person] more. If you do [that person] a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him [or her] less … Ask yourself, “If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?” When you have found the answer, go and do it.”

 So, this Father’s Day, with the Prophets, with St Matthew and St Paul, with the mystics and the theologians of every age, may we seek to better understand, and live ever more deeply the truth of Christ (and Leunig):

‘Love one another and you will be happy.’

It’s as simple and difficult as that.

There is no other way. Amen.