Love As Gift

Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash

Ephesians 4: 1-6

Roger Lynn

July 12, 2020

(CLICK HERE for the audio for this sermon)
(CLICK HERE for the video for this sermon)
(CLICK HERE to view the video of the entire worship service)

The words we just heard from the Letter to the Ephesians sound so nice – so attractive – so spiritual. Why wouldn’t we want to live our lives this way? Listen to the way the Contemporary English Version translates part of our text for this morning. “Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other. Try your best to let God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace.” It is how life should be.

The problem, of course, is that it is not the way life is, at least most of the time. Every time I read this text I find myself thinking, “Yeah, but how do I do that? How do I live that way?” It’s not much of a challenge with people I like and people who generally agree with me. Living at peace with the people of this congregation, for example, is usually pretty easy. Not every congregation can even say that much, so I am more than a little bit grateful. But the fact of the matter is, the writer of the Letter to the Ephesians was offering a bigger challenge than simply being nice to the people you are already being nice to. All of us (and I really am using that phrase in the most expansive and inclusive way possible – ALL of us) are part of the same body – the same tribe – the same community. As followers of Christ we are in this together with everyone else who claims to be a follower of Christ. So, not only are we called to be united in love and peace and humble gentleness with the person at the other end of the pew, but also with the person across town in that other congregation where they do such strange things and believe such outlandish things. We are even called to do our best to be in community with those folks who have written us off and condemned us to hell because we don’t share their understanding of the Gospel. But it doesn’t even stop there. Ultimately we are called to recognize that we are united as one people with everyone everywhere – Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, Black, Brown, White, Gay, Straight, Fluid, Everyone. As I said, it all sounds so nice, but how in the world are we suppose to actually do it?

And then I remember what it seems so easy to forget – it’s not just up to us! God does not simply throw us into the deep end of the faithful relationship pool and tell us to swim. We are not merely left to our devices to conjure up the necessary skills on our own. All of the language in the fourth chapter of Ephesians (to say nothing of the rest of scripture) reminds us that the whole of Creation is built on the foundation of God’s Presence, and is permeated through and through with Spirit. We are bound together not out of personal grit and will-power, but as a Sacred Gift. And the qualities necessary for our ongoing growth and well-being, as individuals and as a community, come to us not as personal achievements but as Gift. We are in this together, not just with each other, but also with the Divine Presence working in the midst of us.

All of which means, among other things, that when I find myself faced with those most unlovable of people (you know – the ones who disagree with me and have the audacity to say so) and I have those annoying words from Ephesians ringing in my ears (you know – the ones about patiently putting up with each other and loving each other and being united in peace with each other) I don’t have to force myself to smile sweetly and “be nice.” First of all, there is nothing in Ephesians about “being nice.” To reduce the Love of the gospel to simply “being nice” is to strip it of most of its power. I am not being asked to check my brains, my beliefs, or my convictions at the door. What I am being asked to do is allow the loving Spirit of God to infuse my being and bridge the chasm between where I can get to on my own and where I am being called to go. I don’t have to agree with everyone (or expect everyone to agree with me). I don’t even have to like everyone (or expect everyone to like me). What I am being called to is a life where Sacred Presence is the foundation and Love is the primary organizing principle – where God’s Spirit working with my spirit provides me with the gifts necessary to be patient and kind and gentle and respectful, not just with the people I like, but also with those who I really, really don’t like. 

Too often we fall into the trap of thinking we have to do it on our own. We don’t. We can’t. If we could we wouldn’t need God, we wouldn’t need each other, and we wouldn’t be human. It’s simply not how life works. The truth of the matter is, living as we are called to live and loving as we are called to love requires that we be empowered by the Love of God. Singer/songwriter Amy Martin once wrote a song that has always seemed to me to be a prayer. “This world is a hard, hard place. Let me be soft in it.” When we are willing to pray that prayer, when we are willing to allow God’s Love to shape us and direct us and inspire us and empower us, then the impossible becomes possible. Peace can begin to define our relationships with each other. Love can begin to change the world, one little piece at a time.

I do not at all mean to suggest that any of this is easy or simple. It is not. There are people who are difficult to love. There are people who will not even want to engage with us about the possibility. There are people with whom we will disagree regarding what they believe and the actions they take in service to those beliefs. And we are, after all, only human, which means that sometimes we will respond in less than helpful ways. But through all of that, to the extent that it is up to us, we can seek to be patient and kind and gentle and peaceful. We can begin by remembering that the Love which makes it all possible is pure Gift. And then, having received the Gift, we can begin to reach out and share it. We’re not in this alone.