The Irreverent Reverend

To show compassion for an individual

without showing concern for the structures

of society that make him an object of compassion

is to be sentimental rather than loving.

William Sloane Coffin

Never forget that justice is what love

looks like in public.

Cornel West

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Love divine all loves excelling,

joy of heaven to earth come down.

Fix in us thy humble dwelling,

all thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, thou art all compassion,

pure , unbounded love thou art.

Visit us with thy salvation,

enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe

thy loving spirit

into every troubled breast.

Let us all in thee inherit

let us find the promised rest.

Take away our love of sinning,

Alpha and Omega be.

End of faith as its beginning,

set our hearts at liberty.

Come almighty to deliver,

let us all thy life receive.

Suddenly return and never

never more thy temples leave.

Thee we would be always blessing

serve Thee as thy hosts above.

Pray and praise thee

without ceasing.

Glory in thy perfect love.

Finish then thy new creation.

Pure and spotless let us be.

Let us see thy great salvation

perfectly restored in thee.

Changed from glory into glory

til in heaven we take our place.

Til we cast our crowns before thee,

lost in wonder, love and praise.

Til we cast our crowns before thee,

lost in wonder, love and praise.

Of God’s love we can say two things:

It is poured out universally for everyone from the Pope

to the loneliest wino on the planet;

and secondly,

God’s love doesn’t seek value,

It creates value.

It is not because we have value

that we are loved,

but because we are loved

that we have value.

Our value is a gift

not an achievement.

William Sloane Coffin

In ancient Hebrew times love was an action not dependent on feelings. It doesn’t mean that people didn’t fall in love in biblical times. It does mean that where the word love appears in Scripture it probably doesn’t mean romantic love.

There are many words for love in Hebrew. They range in meaning from the love of parent for a child, the loyalty of family bonds, devotional love, a deliberate choice of affection and kindness, love that is expressed in compassion, the physical act of making love and love as a celebration of joy.

Greek, the language of the New Testament, also has multiple words for love. The meanings include erotic love, familial love, friendship love and the self-giving love that mirrors God’s love for us.

The reason any of this matters is that when we speak of God, we usually speak of God as love. So, it’s important to have some idea of what we mean by the word. In Scripture it usually means unselfish, self-giving action that is not dependent on feeling.

Action that is not dependent on how we feel is hard. It’s the root of loving our enemies. Heck, we have a hard enough time loving the people we are supposed to love. At its best, biblical love desires for everyone else what we have for ourselves. There is a generosity to biblical love that mirrors God’s generosity toward us.

Many of us are familiar with words from 1 Corinthians 13. We hear them all the time at weddings: “Love is patient and kind, love is not envious or boastful 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.”

These words were originally intended for the gathered community of faith. They are words about how we are to be with each other in daily living. It is not a marriage text; it is a guide for living each and every day.

Advent celebrates the coming of God’s most complete example of love into the world. We can learn a lot about love by looking at how Jesus lived in the world. He was always at the margins with the unclean and the broken, with the outcast and the downtrodden. His love in action was about remaking the world.

Welcoming Jesus in this season is an invitation to sign on for the same work in the world.

If we desire a society of peace,

then we cannot achieve such a society through violence.

If we desire a society

without discrimination,

then we must not discriminate against anyone

in the process of building this society.

If we desire a society that is democratic,

then democracy must become a means as well as an end.

Bayard Rustin

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Peace is the bread we break.

Love is the river rolling.

Life is a chance we take when we make this earth our home,

gonna make this earth our home.

Feel the cool breeze blowing through the smoke and the heat,

hear the gentle voices and the marching feet

singing draw back the fire

pull the missiles down

and we’ll call this earth our home.

Peace is the bread we break.

Love is the river rolling.

Life is a chance we take when we make this earth our home.

Gonna make this earth our home.

We have known the atom,

the power and pain,

seen people fall beneath the killing rain.

If the mind still reasons and the soul remains

it shall never be again.

Peace is the bread we break.

Love is the river rolling.

Life is a chance we take when we make this earth our home.

Gonna make this earth our home.

Peace grows from a tiny seed,

As the acorn grows into the tallest tree.

Many years ago I heard a soldier say,

when people want peace, better get out of the way.

Peace is the bread we break.

Love is the river rolling.

Life is a chance we take when we make this earth our home.

Gonna make this earth our home.

There are five enemies of peace that inhabit with us:

Avarice

Ambition

Envy

Anger

Pride

If these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.

Petrarch

Did I offer peace today?

Did I bring a smile to someone’s face?

Did I say words of healing?

Did I let go of anger and resentment?

Did I forgive?

Did I love?

These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and in the life to come.

Henri J.M. Nouwen