It takes more power than I can imagine to give up power…
We do not have to understand anything except that the
Maker loves us enough to come and be part of us. This is what matters
Madeleine
L’Engle (Bright Evening Star)
__________________________________________
Love (Aka God)
is weird
Really, weird
When we think of God we think of power
The think of God having and using power
Of God, in control!
Calling the shots!
Sometimes we wander into that space
where we think God’s power is our power
After all, God is our God
that great cosmic bellhop in the sky
whom we ask to give us goodies
give us comfort
give us power
gives us “wins”
give us healing
it’s not all bad
turning to God for help
for if one can’t turn to the One who is Love
who can we turn to
after all, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not
envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it
is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices
in the truth. It bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (I Cor. 13)
but too often we miss the point
that in Jesus God gave up power (Phil 2)
and God came down
down into this world
down into the pain, the anger, the hate
down into the mess
and when God came down God exerted only one kind of power
the power of Love
Yes, there were miracles, but they were miracles of love
of healing
and feeding
and then there was the miracle of the cross
it was a miracle because God chose to change the
the world through loving participation in the world’s
pain
rather than through a coercive, domination oriented
use of power
I believe the cross was inevitable
not because God “planned” the cross
but because God knew that when you throw love
into the midst of hate and violence
hate and violence will inevitably
attack
and destroy
but God also knew that Love gets up
that Love rises from the ashes
and lifts everything else up with it
that love, ultimately (although not in the short-term)
wins
many of those in America (and elsewhere)
who claim God
are also seeking and claiming power
power over
power over others
especially those they don’t value
or those they dislike
or those who frighten them
or those who make the squirm
or those who are different.
They claim power through politics
They claim power through the judicial system (SCOTUS)
They claim power
When
They should be letting go of power
And loving
Loving the black person who wants to vote
Loving the woman who in desperation wonders if she can
survive another child
Loving the immigrant who has fled certain death
Loving the person with addiction who has lost control of
his or her life
Loving the children who live in fear of mass shooting
Power suppresses the vote
Controls women’s bodies
Excludes the immigrant
Incarcerates the person in addiction
Insists on the “right to bear arms”
Love lets God
And reaches out
And picks up
Love comforts
Feeds
Lays down weaponry
Stands with people in their desperation and pain
And love
Love is how God works.
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