Love, Actually

“I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws .  .  . I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.”  (Deuteronomy 30: 16, 19-20).

In the movie, Love Actually, the protagonist’s opening remarks are “When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.”  Yes and no.  We see many expressions of love in February—valentines and hearts are prominently featured.  The heart emoji is a shorthand symbol for affection and love used in texts and emails.

Superficial expressions of love are all around—in movies and books, on billboards and in magazine ads–but meaningful, everyday expressions of love and concern for our fellow man, not so much.

Luther included a heart in his seal because “[O]ne who believes from the heart will be justified” (Romans 10:10).  We consider our hearts to possess our truest and purest emotions and beliefs.   The heart of a matter is the central or critical part.

And love (or the lack thereof) is at the heart of how we interact with others and conduct our everyday lives.  For that reason, genuine love for each other should be at the forefront of our thoughts every day, not just in February.   Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ . . . And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  He said that the entire law is fulfilled when you follow those two commandments (Matthew 22: 37-40).

The Scripture texts for next Sunday juxtapose the benefits of loving God and following his commandments against the chaos wreaked when we stray from the path God has laid out for us.[1]

The Old Testament text sets the contrast out clearly: “I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws  .  .  . I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.”  Deuteronomy 30: 16, 19-20

The Psalm describes the benefits and blessings that follow from loving God, and following his commandment to love others, which sums up all of the commandments: “Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.” (Psalm 119: 1-2).

And in contrast, Matthew quotes Jesus’ teaching describing the chaos and curses that ensue when we stray off the path and ignore the commandment to love others.  Jesus isn’t telling us to literally take out our eye or chop off our hands.  He is using metaphors to warn us to remove the things from our lives that cause us to wander off the path.   Remove those things from your life that distract you from your true purpose: to love God with your whole heart and soul and to love others as yourself.

Many negative behaviors result from our failure to follow God’s command to love him and others. We become angry, impatient, unkind, envious, boastful, proud, disrespectful, self-absorbed, angry, slanderous, unforgiving, untrustworthy, divisive, despairing, and lazy—in short—the opposite of Paul’s description of the love that comes from loving God: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians, 13: 4-7).  Love promotes peace and harmony.

Paul explains that we are God’s workers in his field: “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth .  . . For we are God’s fellow workers.  You are God’s field” (1 Corinthians 3: 8-9).  We are the raw materials through whom God works.  We are the field.  We are his fellow workers: “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth .  . . For we are God’s fellow workers.  You are God’s field” (1 Corinthians 3: 8-9).  We can create beauty in our plots by nourishing those around us, providing food, shelter, and comfort for our families and others by using our God-given gifts and talents. We can thrive in our fields. Or we can reject what God has offered to us and let our fields go to seed.  God gives us a choice, as Moses noted over three thousand years ago.

God is the one who makes it all work.  When we follow his commandments to love God and others, God blesses us with the fruits of the Spirit that create peace, beauty and artistry in the gardens of our lives.

Love builds up, it unifies.  Japanese theologian, Kasuko Koyama wrote: “Love is committed to encourage the good and discourage the bad to grow anywhere. It is the mind of God at work . . . The love that does not heal is not love.”

Choose to heal with your words and actions.  Choose to use your words and actions to build others up.  Let your words be balm to the hurting souls of those who hear them—salve to their despairing hearts and open wounds. Choose love.

Prayer:  God of love and mercy,  we sometimes wander from the path you have set before us—the path that leads to beauty, peace, and joy.  We fall back into thinking of ourselves as having superior knowledge and insight, and we stray from our intention to rely on you and to love you with our whole heart and soul, and to love others as ourselves. Forgive us and help us stay on the path that leads to loving you and others every day.  Amen

Diane Cieslikowski Reagan

[1] The Scripture readings for the Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany are Psalm 119:1-8; Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; 1 Corinthians 3: 1-9; Matthew 5: 21-37.