The Loving-Kindness of God

 

We worshipped through lessons and carols at church yesterday. 

This was somewhat counter-cultural since most people have long since put up their Christmas decorations and music. 

But it was a lovely service that included a lot of beautiful Christmas music and 

Some of the most beloved scripture passages of all times. 

 

Just before the official lessons and carols began, 

Pastor Ann led a portion of the service that served as the prayers of the people. 

I was following along and offering my solidarity in prayer 

Until she almost finished. 

She prayed, 

“(We pray for) all who do not know the loving kindness of God,”

And my eyes filled with tears.

We often pray for those who are lost or hurting, 

Those lonely or unloved,

Those sick or dying, 

Those poor or marginalized. 

We even sometimes pray for those who do not know Christ. 

But something about those words yesterday--

Something about not knowing the loving kindness of God--

Stopped me in my tracks.

 

As Pastor Ann continued praying,

I got lost in a litany of names and lives.  

I know so many people who view God as a God of harsh judgment and punishment. 

I know so many people who have experienced hatred, manipulation, and control in the name of God and can therefore not understand God any other way.

 

Truth be told,

I used to be one of those people myself.

I thought of God as a being in the sky, with a long beard and clipboard, keeping record of wrongs, and waiting to strike when too many transgressions occurred.

 

But that’s not God. 

God is love.

And the story of God and God’s people demonstrates this love time and time again,

Especially in Jesus’s life. 

 

So I pray for those who do not know the loving kindness of God. 

I pray that, somehow, they will know loving kindness toward themselves, 

And that that understanding will transfer to God, the origin of Love,

Then back to self and then back to God

In a never- ending cycle of love.

 

Amen. 

Treat Everyone As A Gift

Have you ever ordered something you wanted online, forgotten that you ordered it, and then surprised yourself with the order when it arrived?

Or have you ever ordered a gift online and then found yourself full of joy and excitement when it arrived—as if you had gotten yourself the gift?

Such has been my life this Christmas season. I’ve ordered myself a few things for school. I’ve ordered my family and friends many things as gifts. And every time, I’ve been excited (and sometimes surprised) when the package has arrived. I’ve found my heart racing as I’ve opened the boxes and I’ve found myself smiling as I’ve removed the packaging to reveal the treasure inside…

Wouldn’t it be neat if we did the same thing with people? Not order them online or cut them open. That would be sketchy and gross. But what if we found ourselves filled with excitement when someone showed up in our lives and we got the opportunity to get to know them and learn what lies beneath what we immediately see?

Yes. This usually takes time. Getting to know someone is not as easy as removing loose packaging. But what if we saw each person as a gift and treated them as such? Even in brief encounters, what if we treated the person as someone or something special?

I know it’s hard in the rush of the holiday season to see anyone or anything other than ourselves and our to-do list. But let us together remember the wise saying: “Be kind to everyone you meet, for everyone is fighting a great battle.” And everyone needs to be seen and celebrated for who they are.

Kindness

I have visited my grandmother’s house almost every Christmas of my life. On many of those Christmas trips, I’ve attempted to read one of the old books adorning G-mama’s shelves. More often than not, I have failed at this attempt. I’m a terrible reader with my eyes. So this past Christmas, I didn’t even bother to look at the bookshelves. In addition to my family who permanently live in town, my niece and nephews and families were in town, so I focused on them instead of literary scholarship…until the last night we were there.

For some reason, as I walked to my room that night, a tiny little book caught my attention. I imagine that the book had been sitting there for most of my life, yet for some reason it jumped out to me that night. So I pulled it off the shelf and went to the world’s most comfortable bed, fully expecting to be asleep a few pages into the text. Instead, I found myself closing the book’s back cover well over an hour later, having just read a tiny little book that spoke to me so powerfully that I wiped away tears more than once and packed the book in my book bag so that I could read it again. And probably again. And again.

“The Greatest Thing In the World” is a meditation on 1 Corinthians 13 that Henry Drummond wrote in 1874. Henry Drummond, born in Scotland in 1851, was an ordained minister and theologian best remembered as a gifted evangelist who assisted Dwight L. Moody during his revival campaigns. He was also a lecturer in natural science and wrote several books. Before that night at G-mama’s, I have no memory of ever hearing Henry Drummond’s name or of being introduced to “The Greatest Thing In The World.” I’m not sure why this is so, and I’m not sure why more people in my circles haven’t read and/or discussed this book/meditation/address. Maybe I wasn’t ready to hear Henry’s thoughts. Or maybe we haven’t needed to be reminded of his words so desperately until now.

Since stealing Drummond’s tiny little book from its place on a bookshelf in Jacksonville, Florida, I have been keeping it on my nightstand, reading its pages slowly each night, and letting its words, thoughts, and images seep into my being. I could probably spend weeks hashing out my thoughts on love, as influenced by Drummond’s ideas, but for now I simply want to share the passage that I read last night. Written so long ago, Drummond’s words and semantics are sometimes difficult to decipher, so I’m going to paraphrase a bit to make the thoughts more readable. I hope these words present as much relevant challenge to you as they do me. If not, come back to them. You never know when the word of God, active and alive, will speak to your soul. As I learned this Christmas break, it’s oftentimes when you least expect it.

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Kindness. Love active. Have you ever noticed how much of Christ’s life was spent in doing kind things—in merely doing kind things? Run over it with that in view, and you will find that He spent a great proportion of His time simple in making people happy, in doing good turns to people.

There is only one thing greater than happiness in the world, and that is holiness; and holiness is not in our keeping. But what God has put in our power is the happiness of those about us, and that is largely to be secured by our being kind to them.

“The greatest thing,” says someone, “a man can do for [God] is to be kind to some of [God’s] other children.” I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder than we are? How much the world needs it! How easily it is done. How instantaneously it acts. How infallibly it is remembered. How superabundantly it pays itself back—for there is no debtor in the world so honorable, so superbly honorable, as Love. “Love never fails.” Love is success, Love is happiness, Love is life. Love, I say with Browning, “is energy of Life.”

For life, with all it yields of joy or woe
And hope and fear,
Is just our chance o’ the prize of learning love,--
How might love be, hath been indeed, and is.

Where Love is, God is. Those that dwells in love dwell in God. God is love. Therefore, love! Without distinction, without calculation, without procrastination, love. Lavish it upon the poor, where it is very easy; especially upon the rich, who often need it most; most of all upon our equals, where it is very difficult, and for whom, perhaps, we do least of all.

There is a difference between trying to please and giving pleasure. Give pleasure. Lose no chance of giving pleasure. For that is the ceaseless and anonymous triumph of a truly loving spirit.

“I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

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Loving God who is Love. Help us to love through kindness today, tomorrow, and in all the days to come. Amen. And amen.