Holy Cross Love Was Our Lord’s Meaning
Julian of Norwich, Showings
Thomas Traherne, the 18th century English spiritual writer, said it well: “Let me love every Person as Jesus Christ:
Meet his love, and thine, O Lord, In every person…
O Learn me this, and the whole is learned.
Learn me this, the Divine Art, And the Life of God!
The church should be the place where we learn…and teach…about love.”
The Great Commission is Christ’s admonition to us to share with the world the Good News that in the person of Jesus Christ, God re-words the world. Where the governing word is hatred…a new word, love. Where the dominant word is power…love. Where the tempting word is greed…love.
This love is not just an emotion. Love is the urge towards authentic relationships, communities of hospitality and justice. For it is in community, particularly the community of the church, that God makes it possible for us to meet the divine in Word and Sacrament. For as we meet one another in the life of shared-community, we encounter God among us. And where God is, we find always, love. To be the church is to be formed in love. Even, and in spite of these times of on-line worship and worship together limited by numbers and weather, Love, remains, our Lords meaning.
NLJ+