God is love
I am far from being an expert on Greek gods – however I do know that the Greek philosopher Socrates did not encourage his students to read the stories about them. He thought that the gods in Greek poetry were immoral and unworthy of respect. Like many, he gave the gods their due, probably observed the public rituals, but after that he left the gods well alone.
And that view of the ancient gods was fairly common. You offered the appropriate sacrifices, didn’t violate sacred places, didn't harm priests, didn't draw attention to yourself – The objective was - don't let the gods become too involved with you, because any glory won from the gods would be offset by a greater measure of suffering. Getting involved with the gods was dangerous and to be avoided. It was a hugely superstitious view.
And some people today continue to treat God in this way – trying to get in touch with him only in times of greatest need, or for special occasions, perhaps a baptism or a wedding or funeral. They seem to be playing it safe, doing what is expected, following convention – but sometimes little else.
Like the ancient pagans, many today want to have a little religion at important times, but they also resist allowing God any greater claim on their lives. Perhaps they do not see why God deserves any greater commitment. Perhaps they are afraid and wish not to draw attention to themselves by being either too religious or not religious enough. And, perhaps, as is most likely, they just don't see what God has to do with them.
Today’s epistle reading from the 1st letter of John reminds us why it is so important to take God more seriously… It contains the well-known verse, "God is love." Christians have become very familiar with this idea - perhaps too familiar with it.
Actually it is an incredible reality - to the ancient pagans, this would have been shocking or just absurd. That is why the Apostle Paul described the Good News of Jesus Christ as folly or as foolishness to the Greeks.
To proclaim that "God is love" is unbelievably powerful because it means that God really is personal – God really cares… If we are to say and believe that ‘God is love’ it must change us completely…
That is the way of the Gospel. We are bearers of the message that God is for us, God is with us, God cares for us, and, yes, God loves us. This message should strike us - and does strike pagans both ancient and modern - as a message so good as to border on folly.
But for Jesus Christ, this Gospel of ours would be folly. In Christ, God brought divine love to common human experience, not to trick us, not to make sport of us, not even to judge us or condemn us, but to join us, to live fully our common human experience, to be born, to live, to suffer, to die, all out of love - and to rise again to show that nothing, not even death, can extinguish this love. This is our hope, our calling, and our mission.
But, you see, pagans, both ancient and modern, do get something right about faith after all: to get involved with God makes a claim on your life. To get involved with God makes us vulnerable to God, not because God is vindictive, but because we must open ourselves up to love and be loved.
Our epistle reads, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love." Our mission as Christians is to lift up love, as the hidden key to life, now revealed in Jesus Christ - to see all love as an echo of the love of God, to name all love as God's, and to be drawn to this love and to reflect it for the world.
For to say "God is love" is not sentimental, not easy, not frivolous. It is a bold confession. And it demands a bold commitment and faith, because people will only see this faith if they see it among us… How will anyone be convinced that beneath the pain and suffering of common experience flows divine love - how will anyone know unless we live that way?
Having been loved by God, we likewise must love, and not just those closest to us or those who are easiest to love; our love must extend to places and to people where love is foreign, where love is absent, where faith in love has faded or died.
To be loved by God is to be given a mission: to take this bold faith to those who just cannot accept it, to the destitute, the broken, to those who have lost hope, and not just to tell them this incredible truth, but to show them it is true, through our lives and actions. No one will believe it unless they see it in us.
‘God is love’ – may each of us accept that love, respond to that love and trust in that love every moment of every day. AMEN
And that view of the ancient gods was fairly common. You offered the appropriate sacrifices, didn’t violate sacred places, didn't harm priests, didn't draw attention to yourself – The objective was - don't let the gods become too involved with you, because any glory won from the gods would be offset by a greater measure of suffering. Getting involved with the gods was dangerous and to be avoided. It was a hugely superstitious view.
And some people today continue to treat God in this way – trying to get in touch with him only in times of greatest need, or for special occasions, perhaps a baptism or a wedding or funeral. They seem to be playing it safe, doing what is expected, following convention – but sometimes little else.
Like the ancient pagans, many today want to have a little religion at important times, but they also resist allowing God any greater claim on their lives. Perhaps they do not see why God deserves any greater commitment. Perhaps they are afraid and wish not to draw attention to themselves by being either too religious or not religious enough. And, perhaps, as is most likely, they just don't see what God has to do with them.
Today’s epistle reading from the 1st letter of John reminds us why it is so important to take God more seriously… It contains the well-known verse, "God is love." Christians have become very familiar with this idea - perhaps too familiar with it.
Actually it is an incredible reality - to the ancient pagans, this would have been shocking or just absurd. That is why the Apostle Paul described the Good News of Jesus Christ as folly or as foolishness to the Greeks.
To proclaim that "God is love" is unbelievably powerful because it means that God really is personal – God really cares… If we are to say and believe that ‘God is love’ it must change us completely…
That is the way of the Gospel. We are bearers of the message that God is for us, God is with us, God cares for us, and, yes, God loves us. This message should strike us - and does strike pagans both ancient and modern - as a message so good as to border on folly.
But for Jesus Christ, this Gospel of ours would be folly. In Christ, God brought divine love to common human experience, not to trick us, not to make sport of us, not even to judge us or condemn us, but to join us, to live fully our common human experience, to be born, to live, to suffer, to die, all out of love - and to rise again to show that nothing, not even death, can extinguish this love. This is our hope, our calling, and our mission.
But, you see, pagans, both ancient and modern, do get something right about faith after all: to get involved with God makes a claim on your life. To get involved with God makes us vulnerable to God, not because God is vindictive, but because we must open ourselves up to love and be loved.
Our epistle reads, "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love." Our mission as Christians is to lift up love, as the hidden key to life, now revealed in Jesus Christ - to see all love as an echo of the love of God, to name all love as God's, and to be drawn to this love and to reflect it for the world.
For to say "God is love" is not sentimental, not easy, not frivolous. It is a bold confession. And it demands a bold commitment and faith, because people will only see this faith if they see it among us… How will anyone be convinced that beneath the pain and suffering of common experience flows divine love - how will anyone know unless we live that way?
Having been loved by God, we likewise must love, and not just those closest to us or those who are easiest to love; our love must extend to places and to people where love is foreign, where love is absent, where faith in love has faded or died.
To be loved by God is to be given a mission: to take this bold faith to those who just cannot accept it, to the destitute, the broken, to those who have lost hope, and not just to tell them this incredible truth, but to show them it is true, through our lives and actions. No one will believe it unless they see it in us.
‘God is love’ – may each of us accept that love, respond to that love and trust in that love every moment of every day. AMEN
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