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Index - Posting 18 May 2005 Vol:1-7

"…A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another…"

John 13.34 (NIV)

A couple of events occurred during the last few days, that whilst not cataclysmic in global terms, sent shock waves through several communities here in the U.K. Even I was slightly stunned at their implications and wondered if there was anything left in the private sector, that was sacred (in a secular sense)

Firstly, the country’s premier football club, Manchester United, the epitome of all that is English, succumbed to a "hostile takeover" - not by a British based conglomerate, but by an alleged "corporate raider" based overseas. This was much to the chagrin of fans and football supporters alike. Secondly, and with increased disbelief on my part, the organic chocolate maker and pioneer of fair-trade/ethical sourcing, sold out to one of Britain’s top confectionery companies, for an alleged £20 million. The purchaser is renown for what connoisseurs consider to be, inferior sugar laden "candy" with a low cocoa content, that renders questionable, the descriptive label "chocolate"– as well as its perceived diffidence towards "fair trade" arrangements. I had to ask myself, what is my world coming too? Changing, I countered, and at the very foundations…

So it was with some relief that later on in that week, I was to participate in a psychology conference that would explore, among other things, the meaning of love. It is an emotion that I am familiar with; that I know is unchanging and is historically, the bedrock of our Christian faith. I expected to be affirmed in my perceptions and to be validated in my understanding of what it means to "love my neighbour as myself". But I was in for a surprise – a revelation, a deeper understanding that has fundamentally affected how I see Christ’s new commandment. Something so simple and perhaps obvious, that maybe, I am one of the few people left on this planet, to grasp its significance for those I love and how I love.

The speaker, simply said, it is important to allow someone else to see you as their love object. He quoted from Victor Hugo’s book – "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and gave the example of Quasimodo’s love for Esmeralda – in how his love for the gipsy girl, although not reciprocated, transformed him in such a way, that when he rang the Cathedral bells, the whole city knew that something magnificent had happened to him. His love literally rang out in melodious tones through his primary means of communication – his music, his bells. For me, this graphically illustrated, the preciousness of the love, that we permit others to have for us. And how by short-sightedness, we can deprive others of responding from their experience of their love for us. And in so doing, we rob them of opportunities to make "music" that will uplift others. It made me consider again, the richness inherent in the New Testament’s description of love, detailed in the Amplified version of the text.

"If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody). Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing. Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end" - 1 Corinthians 13 verses 1-8 (Ampl.)

Never underestimate the transforming power of allowing someone to love you. In so doing, your enable someone else to move mountains.

Be empowered through the love of others, for you, through the Holy Spirit of God.

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