Sermon Library
“Love and Life”
Gregg Anderson
January 23, 2005
Service Theme: Epiphany III-2005
Source: 1st Corinthians 13: 1 – 13
The message this morning entitled Love and Life. It is a rather audacious title and I am not sure what I was thinking about when I gave myself this title. In fact, I did not think about it as thoroughly as I should have before other than a broad title to introduce a theme for the year. The internet has often been helpful with sermon preparation. So I thought I would just plug in “Love and Life” on Google and see where it led. There were 5,630,000 possibilities. The first one was entitled MillionaireMatch.com. “Date hundreds of thousands of young, sexy, rich singles and friends.” I don’t think that is what I had in mind regarding love and life. Actually, it was an impulsive title based on the fact that I wanted to introduce a theme for 2005 which is about “Philia” or love in various manifestations. It all started with the printing of Ron’s book of sermons entitled Terra Nova which was just completed two weeks before Christmas. The book is put together so well that it presents Ron’s messages of love and life in a new, uplifting and reinvigorating way. In re-reading his sermons, I am even more impressed with his grasp of love and life and particularly his love of words and language along with his creative skill in putting wonderful words and deep thoughts together.
Becoming Who You Are
Here is a sample of what inspires the title Love and Life. It is from his conclusion on his sermon entitled Becoming Who You Are. “So, then, a question: What will a church be like which sees and feels the validity of Creation Spirituality? It will be less concerned about indoctrinating people with correct teaching, and more concerned with helping people find their own spiritual core; less concerned with pointing people to an external God out there somewhere, more concerned with the God whose Spirit is inseparable from our human spirits and is to be found in our own human depths; less concerned about an ethical system of behavior control, more concerned with the enhancing of our consciousness; less concerned with endless religious rules and regulations, more concerned that people discover the courage to live, to love, and to be, simply for the sake of living, loving, and being. And that is because the more deeply we live, and the more passionately we love, and the more expansive our inner being, the closer we will be to God. Jesus taught us that much. ”
Etymology of Philology
Those words could be part of our Aspen Chapel Profile and mission statement. As far as I can tell this last great quote is done in the words of Ron James, but is a paraphrase from Bishop Spong’s book Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Ron was a great writer and speaker. In order to be a good writer, one has to be a good reader. In order to be a good speaker, one has to be a good listener. Those are my words. Ron was all of the above. In fact, Ron had a master’s degree from Harvard specifically on the subject of reading and writing, listening and speaking. It is called Philology and it is the term Philology that particularly started me on this theme. The definition of Philology is simply the “science of language.” It is the study of literature including grammar, criticism and etymology. The etymology of philology (now there is a good phrase, the “etymology of philology.”) is to “love words.” Philo is love and logos is word – Philology. Logos is also understood as the essence and intentionality of God. Hence, the beginning of this theme is Love and Words.
Philias
After looking up Philology, I started looking up other “philias.” March and April will be called Philosophy or “Love and Passion.” The etymology of philosophy is really the love of Sophia or the love of Wisdom, but because we will be remembering Lent and celebrating Easter, we will call it Love and Passion. After Easter, we will look at Love and Relationships with particular emphasis on moving from the industrial age to the technological age to the information age to the relationship age. It will be a preface to the Spiritual Paths Seminar in mid-July entitled The Way of Relationship. We will be defining a much deeper and broader and spiritual understanding of relationships. This summer we will call upon Philharmonic or Love and Harmony as we will be emphasizing spirit and music along with harmony with diversity. In the fall, we will call it Philanthropy or Love and Giving. We typically think of philanthropy as giving money, but the etymology of philanthropy is love of humanity. Anthropy is, of course, humanity, man and woman. We will end the year with Philathea which is Love of God and what does that really mean for our lives here and now? There will definitely be variations on this theme, but it still provides a thread giving direction and purpose.
Love Is Life’s Goal
I did think enough about the title of Love and Life to call it Love and Life and not Love of Life. Love of Life is more Norman Vincent Pealean and definitely the goal, but love and life is not always loving and livable. Love is life’s goal. That truth can fly over our heads if we leave it as just a sentimental saying, but living out the goal of love on a day to day basis is, probably, the most challenging endeavor we will ever encounter. To touch someone we love is one of life’s greatest pleasures. To touch someone we do not love, is one of life’s greatest challenges. And therein lies the gospel message. I am pretty sure it is safe to say that everyone here this morning has fallen in love and fallen out of love with someone, sometime. In fact, in order to love, we must all take the risk of losing love. It has been said, “If you risk a love and have had lost, but the gift surpasses the loss – then you have still gained.” This includes our intimate loves as well as those day to day moments of just being a loving neighbor. It is one thing to be loving with one’s spouse relaxing on the couch in front of the fireplace with a glass of champagne. It is another thing to be loving, sitting alone behind the wheel of your car late for an important appointment stuck behind someone driving 35 miles per hour in a 55 mile an hour zone. We are all capable of giving sacrificial love and we are all capable of hurting the one we love intentionally or unintentionally.
A well known Unitarian minister named Forrest Church talks about “Lighten up” to love. “’Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly,’ wrote the English author G. K. Chesterton. By the same token, surely the devil fell on account of his gravity. What works for angels can’t help but be good for us. Levity addresses worry’s tendency to obsess; scoffs at the demon of perfectionism; and exposes (as our enemy, not our friend) the self-absorption that lies at the root of insecurity and unhappiness. When we laugh – especially at ourselves – we fill the present with instant joy and love.”
This week I had some outdoor carpet laid on my deck. I remodeled my condo last Spring and probably the easiest part of it all should have been picking out and laying outdoor carpet on the deck. Through a series of little mistakes and miscommunication, it was just now completed. Finally, the man who is more of a manager of this design store came to install it himself. When he was done he thanked me for my patience and attitude. I replied, no big deal, it’s just a little piece of outdoor carpet. He then asked me if I would talk to a few of his other customers.
Two Extreme Ends of the Spectrum of Love and Life
I think I would have a couple things to say to his other customers. In order to get at the center or heart of love and life, I would suggest looking at the two extreme ends of the spectrum of life and love. I would begin looking at one extreme end which is the macro end, the big or biggest picture of life. We might call this view the eye of God. Our day to day challenges of love and life can, for the day, seem overwhelming, but if we put that day into perspective with God’s infinite and eternal design and see ourselves through the eyes of God, the really big picture of life and love and what is really important and what is not – I believe it can reduce any specific stress of the day. The Apostle Paul reassures us “that in everything God works for good with those who love the Lord.” (Romans 8: 28) In the story Shadowland C. S. Lewis says, “The pain now is part of the happiness then. That’s the deal.” Michael Joncas took a passage from the book of Exodus and wrote a beautiful hymn, “And God will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of God’s hand.” When we can see our difficulty of the day within the infinite spectrum of life itself, it can help make that problem of the day seem not quite as overwhelming. I would like to think the big picture, eyes of God, perspective could apply whether we just learned that we didn’t win the lottery or we just received a diagnosis of cancer. Dr. Potthoff, a wonderful professor and friend of mine, who has since left to join God’s world, said in class once, “A single tragedy is not the measure of all reality, but can still be seen within a universe of pattern and potentiality.” Every day, keep the big picture of love and life in mind and heart and soul.
The second thing I would say to those who are disgruntled with love and life itself, after looking at the big picture on one end of the spectrum, then go to the other extreme end of the spectrum of love and life, the littlest things of life. Make a choice to love the tiniest moments and the smallest events of life. Some days, the best part of the day is a drink of fresh, clear, cold glass of water or catching a glimpse of a goose poised amongst the snow covered rocks in the Roaring Fork River, which Carolyn and I observed this week on our walk along the Rio Grande Trail. Some days, the best part of the day is a lunch break with a very good friend or taking five minutes to observe the many children at play with the water fountains on the Hyman Street Mall.
The problem with the littlest things of life is that we are so used to taking them for granted. But, we can make the decision to genuinely elevate the appreciation of the most common events of life. It is like the Chinese ceremony of making tea. Every move in making a cup of tea is taken with the utmost precision, care and love. Then it is sipped while savoring the particular flavor and heat of the brewed tea. Can the image of a wine connoisseur savoring a sip of wine be a metaphor for how we might enjoy life’s simplest pleasures. But it needs to become deliberate and purposeful because we are so conditioned to gloss over the seemingly trivial, which can become through the eyes of deep gratitude, most dramatic. To love the little things of life is to love life itself. But it is a conscious decision. I like the phrase which I came across not long ago, “turn obligations into opportunities.” I would add - turn the mundane into miracle where the ordinary routinely becomes extraordinary.
One of the reasons I love Carolyn is that she so appreciates the regularities of life. Many times a day she says things like, “This is the best trail to walk ever,” or “That was the best concert I have ever heard,” or “Look at those clouds, this is the best sunset ever” or “This is the best tuna-melt I have ever had.” There are only a very few things I can make in the kitchen. Tuna-melts happens to be one. Carolyn says “the best ever” several times a day. This is the same person who told me that even though her son lived for only nine years, half of his life battling cancer, she remains genuinely grateful for those nine years. This is where I am in writing my sermon, precisely about 7:30 pm in the evening and Carolyn is stopping by with some food. I greet her at the door and the first thing she said to me was not hello, but, “Can you hear the owl outside?” I just thought I would mention that while I am writing about Carolyn’s love of life’s littlest pleasures, she literally enters the door and says, “Did you hear that owl outside?” This is what I am talking about. There are moments of irony and wonder which should never go unacknowledged
Earlier this same day last week, she called me and asked if I wanted to go for a brief walk on the Rio Grande trail on this beautiful day. My immediate response was literally, “No, I really can’t, I have to work on this sermon about Love of Life. Then I realized what I had just said. Talk about not practicing what one is preaching – it was then and there. So, I quickly pointed this out to her and said, “I’ll be right there.” Taking a winter walk on a sunny afternoon along the Rio Grande Trail with a loved one is one very good way to love life.
The Central Fabric of Love and Life
So I commend for your consideration the goal of life is to love. And to love the central fabric of life itself is to seek the two extreme edges of life, the littlest picture of love and life and the biggest picture of love and life. In an article simply entitled What is Love? Benjamin Devey writes, “The experts on love aren’t the ones writing newsletters and websites promoting thoughtful relationships. Do you want to know who the real experts are? They are our little children. Our youngest turned two years old the other day. His rendition of “happy Birthday” came out as “Happy Day.” I should write a book called, What Little I’m Learning About Love I Get From My Baby. Jesus expressed the need to humble ourselves as a little child. Little children have loving qualities that we lose as adults. They are full of bright-eyed wonder to the beauty of life. They are not capable of cynicism, doubt or cruel intentions. They nurture in love rather than withdraw from it. They live in the present moment. Little children are submissive, meek, humble and patient. Not knowing anything else, little children know what is most important. Somehow they intuitively and naturally know about love. When we recognize that God is the source of love, we can ask and receive divine aid. Instead of praying for the love of our life to show up, we should pray to show up with life full of love.”
I would like to break down the theme of love and life this up-coming year into smaller bits of love of life such as; love and language, love and passion, love and relationships, love and harmony, love and humanity, love and God. God is love and love is life. I know these are general, if not generic terms, but love and life and love of life can become very specific on a day to day basis. The Bible is all about love and life even though it often addresses hate and death. The ultimate message of the gospel is that hate and death is over-come by love and life. I do believe it can become real here and now, even today.
I have, probably, learned more about love and life for myself through the event of death. Meeting with people as they face death of self or loved ones and then creating a sensitive and personal memorial service for the family is invariably a process of deep feelings and intense dynamics. What I have learned can be stated in a country western refrain from a song entitled Three Wooden Crosses. “It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you – it’s what you leave behind you when you go.” Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson, Chaplain
Aspen Chapel
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