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A Few Words from Pastor Bryan
...and Shane Claiborne
I've been thinking a lot about truth and love lately. Why? Oh a zillion reasons really. Some of them have to do with the state of the world at large, and some have to do with my own personal life experience. But truth and love. More and more these two pretty much sum up for me what following Jesus is all about, and what being a human trying to live with integrity, clarity, and joy is about. To me, the spiritual journey is pretty much a journey into deeper and deeper Truthfulness IN Love.
Author and Christian activist Shane Claiborne (that's him in the photo) has a quote that I like a lot. He says,
"My goal is to speak the truth in love. There are a lot of people speaking the truth with no love, and there are a lot of people talking about love without much truth. Following Jesus is about choosing to be radically truthful, and then asking ourselves one simple, transforming question--'In the light of this truth, what does love require?'”
When it comes to justice, I am more and more convinced that justice is ultimately a commitment to action based on truth and love. Our upcoming time with Mark Charles this weekend will be about acknowledging the truth about a terrible mistake the Church made historically, and then in the light of this truth asking ourselves, "What does love require of us?"
The same is true of the war in Israel/Palestine now. As I've listened to impassioned spokespersons from just about every side of this conflict, I've been saddened by the lack of truthfulness and love. Oh there's some degree of truth in just about every position, but no one is committed deeply enough to the love that would require that we try to understand what is true from an opposing point of view and why. I won't get into the specifics now in this format, but have you heard anyone talk about our own nation's role in drawing up the 1948 boundaries that are at the heart of this conflict? We will never begin to understand the Palestinian's desperation and rage without knowing the truth. We can't hope to get to justice, let alone peace, without being truthful. And then we will need to have the courage to ask ourselves, "In the light of this truth, what does love require?" And this exercise of dealing with truth and then following the mandates of love will need to be experienced again and again by all parties. There's no short cut to peace. Truth and Love are the long and only way. In this sense, truth and love are quite pragmatic.
But apart from social issues and geo-political concerns, how are you doing with truth and love in your own personal sphere? Are you willing to be radically truthful with yourself? If so, you will likely bump into some amazingly beautiful things, and some rather disturbing things--about yourself and how you relate to others--all at the same time. That's why love (Grace is such good love!) is so essential. Can we look honestly at our limitations, shadows, unresolved personal issues, stuck places, addictions, failures, and take responsibility for our own contribution to problems--while loving ourselves unconditionally as we do?
All I can say is that I am so deeply grateful that an ongoing relationship and experience with God enables us to learn to be more and more truthful, as God also invites us to surrender more and more to love. Love for ourselves, for others, and maybe especially for those who have hurt us, whom WE have hurt, and with whom we may see things quite differently.
If you are blessed to have someone--even just one--with whom you can be completely truthful--someone who knows who you are and who you are not--and who also loves you enough to hold it all and to not require that you be perfect--well, you are blessed indeed. If you have someone in your life who offers you grace and kindness even when the truth is you have hurt them enough that they have every right to resent you, you are blessed even more. And if you are able to offer that kind of truthfulness and grace and love to someone else, you are even more blessed--because that means God is powerfully alive within and flowing through your soul and your life.
Thankfully, God offers complete Truth and Love to us all. What can we do but give thanks, and try to be a bit more truthful and loving in response.
God is so good to us,
Pastor Bryan
P.S. The truth is I really do hope to see you in Church this Sunday. And I'll love you even if I don't! :)
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