What do we love?

Christ Church

Morningside

What do we Love?

In my opinion every man, and I do mean man, every man who believes that the Bible should be interpreted as if it were literally true should have a copy of the command God gave to Abraham in the verses from Genesis 21 we heard read this morning etched onto stone and displayed in every room in their house:

“Listen to whatever Sarah tells you…” (Gen 21:11) or put it another way,

“Listen to whatever your wife tells you!” Pentecost V 19.6.05

That’s the only laugh you get from our Bible readings today, though. Things take a decidedly nastier turn, especially in the Gospel reading from Matthew. Let me refresh our memories:

“But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matt. 10:33) Not too bad, but it gets worse:

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34) And then there is ‘the icing on the cake:’

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will loose it.” (Matt. 10.37 – 39)

I thought Jesus was supposed to be a ‘nice’ person. What happened to the ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’, the ‘Shepherd of the Sheep’, the ‘come unto me all you that travail…’? No, no, no, this can’t be! Jesus isn’t like this, is he?

Well, it seems that Jesus is precisely like that!

But why? Why are these readings so harsh? Why does the Christian tradition have this hard, granite core to it? Why is Jesus like this? I believe it is for a very good reason.

One of the most famous love stories in 20^th Century literary circles was the between the Anglo-Irish poet W.B. Yeats and the Republican activist Maud Gonne. I should, perhaps, qualify the phrase ‘love story’; the long running affair (if you can call it that) was the tragic story of Yeats’ unrequited love for Maud Gonne. Yeats fell passionately in love with Maud in the late 1890’s and she inspired some of his most intense poetry. The hammer blow came in 1905 when Gonne married someone else. She was once famously quoted as saying, “The world will thank me for not marrying him [Yeats].” One of his most poignant poems, When you are Old, explores the reasons for love – and in particular his love for Gonne.

When you are Old, W.B. Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Some loved, “your moments of glad grace,” others “your beauty with love false or true,” he (Yeats), loved “the pilgrim Soul in you… and the sorrows of your changing face.” The difference between love of the shallow, fleeting, illusory – which is in essence a love that is self-serving and self centred – and love of truth, the soul, the real.

Why do we love what we love? It’s an important question, isn’t it? I want us think about two immediate examples of why we love what we love - those people we call ‘our loved ones’ and our church – Christ Church.

Why do we love our partners, our children our families or our friends – our ‘loved ones’?

- Is it, ‘their moments of glad grace’?
- Is it their ‘beauty’?
- Is it because we would be lonely without them?
- Is it because their presence gives our own lives meaning and purpose?

Why do we love our partners, our children our families or our friends – our ‘loved ones’?

- Is it because we simply can’t imagine life without them – which may say something about the limitation of our imaginations…
- Or do we really ‘love the pilgrim Soul’ in them?
- Do we love the ‘sorrows of their changing’ faces?
- Do we love them, not for what they do or give or bring to us, do we love them not for who we think or want or dream they might be, but do we love them for what they really are and who they really are?

And why do we love our Church?

Well, one could ask the exact same questions…
- Is it, ‘its moments of glad grace’
– in worship, music, fellowship or theology?
- Is it its ‘beauty’ – the Church building, the liturgy, its history and traditions?
- Is it because we would be lonely without our Church – our friends, the people we meet week by week, our small group?
- Is it because the Church gives our own lives meaning and purpose?

Why do we love our Church?

- Is it because we simply can’t imagine life without our Church – which, again, may say something about the limitation of our imaginations…

- Or do we really ‘love the pilgrim Soul’ of our Church – remembering that the wind, the Spirit of God, cannot be controlled, it (She) blows where it wills?

- Do we love the ‘sorrows of our Church’s changing’ face – in good times and through difficulties, when everything is going right and in those times when nothing seems to be going right?

- Do we love our Church, not for what it (as an institution and as a gathering of fellow pilgrims) does or gives or brings to us, do we love our Church not for what want or think or dream it should or might be, but do we love our Church for what it really is?

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;
anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will loose it.”

I believe that Jesus – and the Christian Scriptures and tradition – challenge us precisely to draw out the answer to this question:

Why do we love what we love?

Because the answer to this question (or rather questions, because it can, and perhaps should, be applied to every aspect of our lives and loves), the answer to this question can tell us where we are and where we need to be headed.

Are our loves self-centered and therefore self-serving? Or are we on the path to loving our beloved for their own sakes?

Are our loves all about our own needs and fantasies – which again is self-centered and self-serving? Or are we trying to love the reality – our beloved for what and who they actually are?

Simon Justice

19th June 2005
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