Wordless

Wordless

 

The events of the last few weeks with unwarranted death, protests that evolve into riots, compiled with the coronavirus, mixed in with the general issues of economic impacts on large and small companies, families leave me wordless. I don’t know where to start.  

I am trying to say, wish I could say. something that would stop the pain, the anger, the fear, the selfishness.  All the unsettled feelings we are having for whatever reason.  I am not able to hold all these feelings.  I tend to pull away when things get so heavy, like these days. It takes time to come into the peace that has been disrupted.

We don’t heal easily.  Some scars remain.  Some look like they are gone, but underneath the shame, sorrow, feelings of all sorts remain.  Like an infection, by remaining, it begins to fester, cause pain, and eventually, it must be tended to.  I could be talking about me or about you.  Or about the stranger we don’t understand.

Into the wordless place is where I find Christ.  Silence is God’s best place of revelation.  In the quiet, words that are not my own show-up.  Questions that I would not ask come racing into the confusion.  Promises of God shout over the chaos.  One word remains.  Love.

We think we love.  God re-writes the love we cultivate around the people we love, the things we love to do, the places that make us feel comfortable, the rhythms of life that can be swept away without a moment’s notice.

Love in these times, all the time, but especially right now, is not meant to be sequestered, held close, guarded with fear, protected by assaults of any kind.  Love is created to build upon itself.  Feed on the hope that resides with love.  Multiply with the watering of mercy and grace, bring new fields of respect, compassion, and forgiveness.  If done on our own volition love will wither and die.  Love in the hands and heart of God will prevail.  

It begins by loving ourselves because God loved us first.  No quantifiers, no righteousness proved.  God loved us in spite of our sin, sending Jesus Christ to assure us of a relationship built on faith alone.  Such great love.

Most of us spend a lifetime working on loving ourselves.  If you listen to the words of the “world” you will never love self.  If we don’t love ourselves, how can we love others?  Spiritual growth is at hand, my friends.  We can’t be love for others if we don’t love God and self.  That holy work involves faith, confession, repentance, and acceptance that God is gracious and will forgive our sins. Sounds like it hurts, and maybe being real with God about ourselves does hurt.  But the pain is lifted by God. No longer bound by our shame or spending time covering up past failures and shortcomings, we are freed from the very things that prevent us from loving well.

Somehow wordless has evolved to many words.  Just as the page has become filled, God opens us up to a new vision, a fresh sense of hope, a strength to move forward, fed by the love and mercy of God.  God’s unending energy supplies us for the wordless day.  Not so much physical, but spiritual assurance that carries and holds us in ready to act in love. Speak in love. 

Remember the song, “What the World needs Now”? It’s not a hymn, but the words fit.  

Spend some time listening to God, being open to the love God is waiting to give you in overflowing measure.  Listen to the song, pray, and let us be the love the world needs.  

I love you, I am praying for you and for our world.  God loves you.

Pastor Lisa

“‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”Mark 12: 28b-31

 

Dionne Warwick sang “What the World Needs Now” in 1966.  This latest version was done one year ago.  The words still ring true. What we need is love.  May we contribute to the love out of God’s overflowing love for us.
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