Weak with Love

Weak With Love

“I charge you, young women of Jerusalem, ‘If you find my beloved, what are you to tell him? Tell him that I’m weak with love.’” Song of Solomon 5:8

It’s all well and good to tell Christians “You should fall deeper in love with Jesus.” But do you know how many times I have seen people who love to sing, who raise their hands swaying to “He Loves Me, Oh How He Loves Me”, who then go out and vilify people they do not like? What is wrong with this picture?

Fully 80% of white evangelical men still support a president who falsely claimed Obama was a Kenyan-born Muslim, who bragged about groping women and who cannot stop throwing accusations at people he views as “enemies”. While he gripes about “fake news” and calls other people names, he wants to change libel laws because journalists write things he does not like.

This is not a political post. Here is my experience: I have seen this behavior happen in the evangelical church decades before Trump campaigned for President. I see it on Facebook every day, and so do you. Good “loving” Christian post inflammatory articles about Muslims, gays, “liberals” and “atheists” and protesters. They leave churches or make it extremely uncomfortable for pastors who simply want to express the love of God in Christ.

I have seen worship leaders, who wanted extended times for people to “love on God”, who lie about other Christians, gossip about people they have come to disagree with, and make start division among God’s people. Anyone who is “other” is outside their circle of love.

Yet, they love to “love on Jesus”.  The time has come for me to no longer be subtle. I can no longer support an entire movement that says we “love God” all the while looking like we hate whole groups of His creation. It is time for a revolution; a revolution of love. It is time for revolt; a revolt against trying to religiously one-up everyone else. It is time for “repeal and replace”. Repeal the commitment to fighting “culture wars” and replace it with compassion of grace!

Sunday, I will begin a new series in the Gospel of Matthew. We often skip the genealogy in the first chapter. Would it surprise you to note that, included in the Son of God’s pedigree are prostitutes, adulterers and adulteresses, pagans and people “outside” the circle of faith? And, if you were a first century Jew, you would be highly offended that four women are included in that genealogy!

But, by the Spirit, Matthew will have none of our spiritual nose-turning. This is family dysfunction, and it is God’s family! It’s high time we stop talking about “loving on Jesus” if we cannot also “love on our neighbor” with the same passion.

So, if you find my Beloved, please tell Him I am weak with love. I am weak-kneed over every neighbor He has put in my life as well. The deeper I love Him, the deeper I love those who are also the objects of His love.

Father, I am so sorry for the times I have thought someone else needed my anger instead of Your grace. Deliver me from saying how much I love You if I won’t also be known as a lover of people.

Let's Get Over Ourselves

“…being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3”

Somewhere in late November or early December the first snowflakes of the season fell upon the slopes of the Cascades. Over the winter, flake upon flake pile up, eventually carpeting the bare ground with several inches of white powder. Barring an unusual thaw, the first flake that touched ground will stay frozen, connected in crystal formation to all the subsequent bits of snow. Each snowflake can range from less than a millimeter in diameter to nearly two or three inches. Even the largest, by itself, would produce little of value.

The Host's Request

"The Host’s Request"

(“First, I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other. I’m reluctant to believe it, but there it is.” 1 Corinthians 11:18 [The Message])

Why do you fight over the plate when the dessert tray is full,
Why do you arrive so late and push yourself past the front
without a word, your hands moving quicker than the
usual welcome when invited to someone’s home.

There are so many vying for the head of the line,
so many trying to use their rank while others wait to dine
at the Master’s table spread first to last, pinnacle to basement
so the banquet outlasts the sojourners showing up without
RSVPs.

The word gets out, a word wrapped in yesterday’s bacon,
that the crowd of Christ has let another soufflé fall in the oven
while they argued every jot and tattle. They bring their calendars
to match the dates for Christ’s return, being sure to stock their cellars
with canned goods, crossing off the dates until they know within
a week they will be pulled higher like kitestrings performing a
full reversal.

Facedowns and finger-points occupy each free square
upon the well-worn bare wood floor. They know that they know
their favorite sayings. They must reduce their opponents to
nonsensical phrases. They stuff their faces. They turn grace
into doctrinal mazes and sing the praises of know-it-alls who
can tell you exactly how many will show up to the banquet
and how long they will be allowed to stay.

Dissertations and dialogue decay into dissensions; cleverly
disguised as the host’s best intentions. Some are swayed,
others paid to believe. Some set up shop to sell the
controversy copywrit to keep it all legal.

Some, a meek minority, feel no desire to tackle those who
cut in line. They will wait, they have been here before
(though once, a great while ago, they actually wrestled a few to the floor).
But they will wait, having been here before,
knowing the plates are never empty within the doors of
GraceHouse.

The host only requests their attention.