Loving like Jesus

During our annual giving campaign this year, we are highlighting our new mission statement: “Gather to Worship, Scatter to Serve, Love like Jesus”.  I have been reflecting on the third part. What does it look like to love like Jesus?  This, of course, can be answered in variety of ways. Christ-like love is:

• Unconditional – Jesus upended any notion that God’s love is limited to those deemed worthy by legalistic interpretations of the Jewish Law.  He repeatedly and proactively extended life-giving love to those who had been deemed unworthy by religious authorities and/or Jewish society.

• Compassionate – A huge part of Jesus’ public ministry was devoted to the alleviation of suffering in others.  No matter the circumstances or the persons involved, whenever he encountered those who were suffering for any reason, he acted to alleviate that suffering.

• Merciful – Jesus often proclaimed forgiveness of sins to those he encountered and those he healed. He refused to reject or condemn those who were considered to be notorious sinners (tax collectors, the adulterous woman, etc.).  

• Courageous – Jesus never shied away from showing love to those whom religious authorities and Jewish society deemed unworthy, even when he knew the potential danger he was incurring by doing so.

• Abundantly generous – Apart from that brief moment with the Syrophoenician woman, whom Jesus initially resisted helping, he never seemed to be stingy with his healing love to all those who sought and needed it, regardless of who they are and from whence they came.  

When we begin to paint a portrait of Christ-like love in this way, we cannot be blamed for questioning our own capacity to truly love like Jesus.  The reality is that our love for others will always be an imperfect reflection of Jesus’ love for us.  The journey of faith is one in which we are always on the way. In this life none of us will ever be able to fully love like Jesus. This, of course, does not mean that we allow perfection to be the enemy of the good. The more that we internalize our own unearned beloved-ness as children of God, the more we can become agents of Christ-like love, even if imperfectly.  Our ability to love is always preceded by and rooted in God’s perfect, transformative love for us.

It is also important to remember that when we recite our mission statement, we speak as a community, not as individuals.  This is OUR mission, not MY mission. Being transformed by God’s unfathomable love for us, we can each grow in our ability to love like Jesus. AND we are doing this together as a community of imperfect people who are always on the way.  Our capacity to love like Jesus multiplies exponentially when we do it together as a community and not merely as individuals.

I look around at Saint Alban’s, and I see a community where the mission to love like Jesus is being lived out in some remarkable ways. We are indeed on the way…together!

Yours in Christ,

Kevin+