Here is the piece I read at last night’s 3rd Phase preview meeting… I usually don’t like explaining a piece, but in this case I think a little explanation is necessary, as I read a portion and then the worship team played a song… a cycle we repeated 3 times. The songs were changed at the last minute so there might be a little disconnect, but I think they still work… kinda.
The piece starts with the budding emotional love of our youth and moves into what that love has the potential to become if we allow it to mature into something more than just an emotional response, specifically into a transforming action, which is carried out from our hands and feet to others around us. Moving from receiving love to giving love back.
Enjoy.
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// Awakening
I think that many of us long for a love that is clean, easy and everlasting. But reality is quite the opposite. Sure there are times of crisp moments and clean lines, in every relationship but how long does that last? A moment, an afternoon, a day? Maybe that’s what makes love so attractive, it’s an escape from the normal, it’s birthed in an instant, an glimpse, or a conversation. A spark ignites a flame of passion which burns bright for a time, but then fades. It seems the origin of this flame is something we are always trying to re-ignite.
Do you remember your first love?
I do… and Soloman was right, it’s not good to awaken love until it so desires…
Let me set the scene… I’m 8 years old, a 3rd grader, and one of my classmates, Laura Chapman, grabbed ahold of my heart… now we never really talked, I mean, who talks to girls in elementary school? But, there was an understanding… as soon as recess was over I would meet her behind the slide and she would kiss me on the cheek. This lasted a couple weeks, until she moved away, never to be heard of again…
Given, this is a silly example of an elementary school crush, but hopefully it makes a point to the emotional impact love can have. I’m sure many of you can dig back into your emotional archive and recall the helplessness of being lovestruck? The giddyness, the anticipation, the racing heartbeat?
// Awakening by Chris Tomlin
Maybe you haven’t felt the spark of love for sometime, or maybe you’re in the thralls of love this very moment. Either way, I’m hopeful that most of us can recall the inception of love, whether it be for a girlfriend, boyfriend, guitar, purse, pair of shoes, a car… or even God.
You see, the inventor of Love was smart… And I don’t mean that in an intellectual kinda way. Don’t picture God standing at the front of a lecture hall in a suede sport coat with elbow patches… dictating the stages of love to naive audience! Picture God as OLD MAN RIVER with a scruffy beard that contains the weathered look of wisdom and experience… Old Man River God understands the unspoken truths of this world, he knows not all things can be explained in a proposition or a formula… but can only be understood in a story. And in Genesis 1-12 we enter into His storytelling prowess with the beautiful prose of creation.
Now John tells us, in the new testament, The Word (or Jesus) was the initial spark that started the BIG BANG of creation… And along with creating all things, God took a special interest in his unique relationship with Adam. It could be said that God was indeed the first matchmaker pairing Adam with Eve… A couple that got comfortable and complacent in their divinely appointed love… a restlessness that drove their curiosity towards the only thing they couldn’t have — the knowledge of good and evil.
Picture this, Adam and Eve in the Garden… the first Tarzan and Jane, hanging out in this beautiful garden discontent with their plain old pineapple juice in a coconut shell… they wanted more… they wanted an apple infused pineapple cocktail.
And as we look back upon this decision… it seems as though, it’s the aftertaste of the apple that compels us, as Adam’s seed, into a desperate pursuit of love. This distinctly human characteristic may be a side affect of our being made in His image, remnants of deity compelling us toward the attainment of affirmation; with the hope that acceptance, will give us equal footing with our creator. It seems the serpent’s deceitful words still hold sway over the children of Eve. As we seek a selfish outcome of knowledge over relationship, trivializing love until it becomes something we need to receive in order to be fulfilled.
// Micah 6:8 by Charlie Hall
Picture a sapling – as the sprout of love begins to grow upwards it is refreshed by the warmth of the sun. And not to be found top-heavy the roots begin to dig down into the soil forming a structure of incredible power and function. These roots feed the sprouting leaves with water from the ground and nutrients from the soil… and eventually this tree grows strong enough to weather a storm, and fertile enough to produce fruit, which then can nourish others.
The problem is that many of us, me included, have planted seeds of bitterness, anger, deceit, lust and pride… right beside our sapling of love. These seeds have grown roots, quietly suffocating the love of God in our lives. These roots of bondage must be pulled, yanked and uprooted in order to allow our sapling to actually produce fruit. My proposition, is that this undertaking that can only be done in community. Amongst people who work with hands of love and discernment, gently pruning each other in order to foster growth. transformation and multiplication.
In this vein, love is an action, not a word or a feeling – for words and feelings are not tangible. A sonnet may bleed of ‘love’ and emotion and give us a ‘warm fuzzy’ but these are not lasting impressions – they are temporal pleasures. It doesn’t take much effort to read a romantic poem or say “I Love You” to the ones you care about, but it is an undertaking to serve the ones we love.
Serving one another is an unselfish action – a sacrifice – demonstrating the very essence of love. An action. A service. An effort. An exertion. A deed. All these must be from an unselfish motive, a dedicated heart, all of which is easy when we are taking about people we love. Our close circle of friends and family.
But wait… are we missing something. Luke’s words, “Love your neighbor as yourself” are directed at those that hate you – not those that love you. With this twist we see the complete picture of unselfishness of the cross. True servanthood, pure sacrifice. With this understanding love becomes much bigger than us. In joining God, we practice a version of love that influences our behavior and stains our hands. Love that creates tangible healing in the lives of others, and in turn we are affected in a powerful way. God is calling us to movement, to go. — love the homosexual, the addict, the prostitute, the muslim, the baptist, the catholic, the ones that are so very different from yourself…
Allow Luke’s words to echo in your hearts, “Love your neighbor as yourself, for in doing this you will find the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 10:25-37)
// I Will Go by Charlie Koopman
