Following a short video clip of Bishop Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the U.S., is a reflection addressing the discomfort of loving the MYSTERY. Below the video you will find my notes for the reflection.
- Who do you see when you look into the mirror?
- Loving others
- Loving our enemies or opponents
- Loving the Earth
- And thereby LOVING the MYSTERY that we call God
- That we should dare to LOVE is a miracle in and of itself
- That we should dare to rise above self-interest or the will to survive in order to LOVE is a miracle
- But that we should dare to LOVE the MYSTERY that we call God, well the word “miracle” simply cannot capture the reality of our audacity
- The Creator, the Source of all that IS, WAS, and EVER SHALL BE, this is the ULTIMATE REALITY that we seek to LOVE and be LOVED by
- I must confess that I am tickled by Bishop Curry’s delightful, playful, joyous approach to the audacious endeavour of LOVE
- For if this MYSTERY that we call God, is LOVE itself, or as Augustine puts it, God is our LOVER, BELOVED and LOVE HERSELF, then as creatures created in the image of LOVE then being human, actually living into our humanity is all about learning to be LOVE
- Surely Being LOVE is our most sacred destiny
- Throughout LENT we have been talking about this sacred purpose this destiny of ours as Revolutionary LOVE
- Loving Others, Loving Enemies, Loving the Earth, LOVING ourselves, and thereby LOVING the MYSTERY that we call God
- Earlier this week, someone, I promised this someone, that I wouldn’t name them, but I can tell you that we don’t really need to name them, because I suspect that this someone’s observation has occurred to most of us who have struggled to see the MYSTERY that we call God as something other than a faraway sky-god,
- You see this someone bemoaned the fact that it is so much more difficult to wrap our arms around the MYSTERY that is LOVE, than it is to relate to the faraway-sky-god, the all-powerful, all-knowing, wish-granting, string-pulling, Father-god who lives, safely up in the heavens.
- I would have to agree with this someone
- I confess that there are days when I miss the great-far-away-sky-god
- So, with the image of the great-far-away-sky-god firmly planted in our minds,
- I want to ask to listen to a Psalm that has been handed down to us by our ancestors