God is Love

We all know how impossible it is to capture a description or definition of God.  Since I was a teenager, I have always felt that God is a verb rather than a proper noun.  (Which in turn meant that being a Christian was a way of life.)

One of my favorite “descriptions” of God comes from the poet EE Cummings when he wrote these words:

“Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; the truth more first than the sun, more last than the stars.”

As overused as it might seem – God IS Love – (and Love is indeed a verb)

For me, God or Love are interchangeable in Cummings words – God is the voice under all silences, God is the hope which has no opposite in fear; God is the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; God is the truth more first than the sun, more last than the stars.

These images can stir FAITH in me when she has crawled under the covers.

(Love is the voice under all silences)

These words and images can stir MOVEMENT in me, when my limbs have gone limp and I would rather ignore the wrongs I see than do my part in correcting them.

(Love is the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness)

These images can stir TRUST in God for me when doubt and discouragement in the human race has made me sour and pessimistic.

(Love is the truth more first than the sun, more last than the stars)

I invite you to hear these words again and see if it makes a difference if you close your eyes and listen with your heart, mind and body – (read slowly and with intention)

“Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; the truth more first than the sun, more last than the stars.”

“God is the voice under all silences, God is the hope which has no opposite in fear; God is the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; God is the truth more first than the sun, more last than the stars.”

When we hear today’s scripture readings – the first from the Book of Revelation about the renewal of earth and the second from Acts when Peter is given a life and faith-changing vision of inclusiveness – I think of ee cummings piece on Love.

It was Love that prompted the author of Revelation to have enough faith and hope, to believe that despite all the crazy ways we damage the earth and one another, God’s grace keeps moving us towards renewal, re-creation and resurrection. 

Now I know that there are some people that will tell you that all the environmental crisis’ of our day are God’s purposeful way of bringing THIS EARTH to an end so that a new one can be created with just a few chosen people inhabiting it –

Friends…Don’t buy that.

That is just not what the book of Revelation is about.

The book of Revelation, with all its mysterious and strange language – is really, truly about RENEWAL, not destruction.

It is about calling us to task to work WITH God for the renewal of the earth.

It was Love which has no opposite in fear that gave Peter a vision which extended and stretched God’s grace beyond the Jewish people with their dietary laws, to all people.

Three times Peter is given a vision of a large sheet coming down from heaven with all kinds of animals, birds and reptiles that he knew they were not to eat and a voice told him, three times, “what God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

(The number three is very important with Peter – must be where professors and speech-writers got the idea that you have to make a point three times before a person gets it.)

This mysterious vision goes against what the Jewish people had been taught.  So much of their identity was wrapped up in their dietary laws, circumcision, patriarchy, and location - it turned their world upside down each time Jesus or some other Jewish leader (now Peter) challenged them to consider that God’s love and grace might also be found beyond all of that. 

It was not that Peter was saying dietary laws are meaningless, he was saying that they are not the only avenue of God’s grace.

Love has no opposite in fear…

Love does not oppose difference – it ultimately pushes us beyond tolerance and towards understanding.

Love seeks to build community, not tear it down.

I know that Sarah mentioned to you last Sunday that a group of us attended our Pacific Northwest Conference of the UCC Annual Meeting in Wenatchee.  We were very well engaged by our keynote speaker Rodger Nishioka, a seminary professor.  He told us that one of the trends we are seeing in the former mainline denominations, like the UCC, is a movement away from “tribal to immigrant education”. 

He was not talking about education for children who have arrived here from Mexico or some other country. 

He was talking about people coming into our churches that do not have any kind of history in the Christian religion or church life, or no history in mainline Protestant denominations – so they are still “immigrants” even if they might know the same Bible stories.

As God challenged Peter to take a new vision to his people that would widen their circle of community by extending hospitality even to those who do not practice their dietary laws or know the stories of the great Jewish Exodus –

So we are challenged to extend hospitality to a growing population of “immigrants” into our local church who do not know our traditions and practices.

These changes in the local church – in our local church – is not a breakdown of the church as we know it…It is not the “end of the world”.

It is a time of RENEWAL…new growth, fresh perspectives, a blending of tradition and creativity. 

It isn’t always comfortable however.

We know that Peter was not well-received with this crazy vision right away…(“But we have always done it that way…but it says in the Bible that those things are dirty, wrong, sinful”)

I imagine that Cornelius, the Gentile and his family who was baptized by Peter and his friends was not immediately embraced by everyone.

It would be nice if they were, but we humans are kind of slow on hospitality to “strangers”…

Just over 10 days ago the Reverend Silversity Madrazo died after living with cancer for many years.  She was 74 years old and a member of Bethany UCC in Seattle and also did work at Wayside UCC in Federal Way. 

She was ordained in 1959 in the Philippines and served as a missionary couple with her husband Carlos.  She served as a missionary in Nepal and Bandladesh. She served in Chicago as an Associate Minister of the Philippine American Ecumenical UCC.  She also worked in Yakama at the Yakama Indian Christian Mission (which is where our youth will spend time this summer).  Silversity also worked in the Seattle public schools.

I bring her up today as an example of someone from our local area and denomination that was not slow on hospitality to strangers…Someone who gave her life to the RENEWAL of the church

Someone who was in many ways, “the other”, the “stranger” herself…

She was from the Philippines…she was a woman…

Yet she challenged the rest of us to shut up and put up – to push beyond our fears of “the other”…(Our conference minister, Mike Denton told us at the meeting that whenever he saw Silversity coming his way he was both very happy but also trepidatious.)

Let us give thanks for her life and courage.

*****

Part of why we come together on Sunday mornings for worship is to be reminded of what gives us hope and keeps fear at bay…

We come to be grounded in the Strength that is stronger than any human force…

and to give thanks for Love “that is more first than the sun and more last than the stars.”

We do this not just for ourselves, but for God – so that when we leave here we will continue to live in that Love – Share that Love – Be that Love – Particularly for the stranger, the lonely one, the hungry ones…

Friends, may we be a community that intentionally seeks to be a welcoming place for all.

A place where we try and call one another by name – even if we have to ask what it is again and again.

Where we share our food and water, both here and away from here.

Where we value one another’s creativity.

Where we nurture our relationship with God and do our part to care for the planet.

            (Silence…)



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