What do we mean by love?

I remember hearing a sermon when the preacher said the word ‘Love’ had lost its meaning, for over the years it had become a sort of gooey, overused word. When Christ talks about love it certainly isn’t what the pop stars of today mean when they sing of love, it’s quite different from that over sentimentalised word we use today. I sometimes wish that we still used the word ‘charity’, it may be my age; or perhaps its because when I was at school we had 1 Corinthians ch. 13 as our reading at the beginning and end of each term. And the finals words have stuck with me ever since ‘ now abideth faith, hope and charity, but the greatest of these is charity.

So what do we mean when we talk of God’s love, what did Jesus mean when he said ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another’. It certainly isn’t a love which ends when things get hard.

God’s love is total you can’t add to it, it’s like a bucket which is full to the brim, you just can’t add to it.

There is a hymn ‘They will know we are Christians by our love.’, to which I put the question will they? I wonder how many people in our country have been hurt by the Church. How many, even today, might go to church for the first time , wanting to discover what Church is all about, only to leave thinking there was no love there. For no-one spoke to them showed any interest, showed that love which we are commanded to show.

But of course it’s not just in church where we are called upon to show love, it is everyday. We are called to show compassion to all we meet. I am sure anyone who saw the news last weekend from New York of the man who after going to help someone was attacked and left for dead, left for hours lying on the pavement until someone had enough compassion to stop, bend down, and offer help, but by then it was too late for the man was dead.

The problem is it can take courage to help, but surely it wouldn’t have taken much courage to at least call the emergency services. The trouble is that today love can be very self centred, for love is so often seen as something which is only offered when it can be reciprocated. But that is so wrong, love has to be offered to the person who is so damaged, so scared, so bitter that they have no love to offer back. Love has to be given unconditionally.

In the reading from Acts we had the words ‘do not call anything impure that God has made clean’. And yet when we look around us, we no longer perhaps use the word unclean when talking about people, but many parts of the church are very quick to criticise, to ostracise, to condemn.

And I think the Church has to learn as a certain politician learned last week, it’s the one word said without thought that sticks. What stays in people’s mind is the one prejudiced comment which some Christian utters and says it is the word of God. However much others may say that isn’t what Jesus said, people remember the prejudices. just as that lady looked so hurt, if that prejudice seems aimed at you it hurts, it sticks. It may seem unfair but that is human nature. Which is why, I believe, the church has to work doubly hard to show God’s love to all.

In our everyday lives we are surrounded by people who feel that the church has no time for them, that church is something different from the everyday. Many will see us as intolerant, uncaring. I remember talking some time ago to someone who said ‘I’d go to church if it was like Jesus, I can see he was a good man. But all the Church does is ask for money.’

We know the church does far more than just ask for money, but if one person who lives in our parish sees us like that aren’t we going wrong somewhere. I couldn’t say to that man you’ve got it wrong, I tried to show what the church does, but words are no good at times like that, it is actions which speak, we can’t just say we love everyone, we have to prove it, we have to earn that accolade.

We have to show people that Jesus is everywhere, he’s not an optional extra in life. People may not acknowledge Christ, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t everywhere. We have to show that Christ is in the supermarket, in the office, he is alongside the millionaires and the rough sleepers, all people, he is there just waiting for everyone to turn to him. As the father rushed out to greet the prodigal son so is Jesus waiting for everyone to turn to him. Christ’s love is so unconditional, so overflowing that it is there waiting for all to turn to him. When Jesus said ‘Just as I have loved you.’ to the disciples so he is still saying it to the world today.

It may seem daunting but Jesus’ love is so overwhelming that we can let the continuing love that God sends to us overflow onto others. Jesus’ love is God’s love – gracefully and freely given, with no strings attached. We talk of God’s love as the peace of God that passes all human understanding.

But it isn’t all depressing, negative, for I believe that here in our area the churches through working together are reaching out. A few years ago I don’t think anyone would imagine Redhill would have committed Christians walking the streets at three in the morning showing Christ’s love to those around them. We have Furnistore, our new local mission for this year, WelCare, a drop in at the Salvation Army, there are many initiatives done by the churches.

But where I believe we have to work harder is making church accessible, make it no longer seem a place separate from the everyday lives of people. A place where you can only go if you know what to do, know someone to go with. Church must be the home where all are welcome from the day they are born to the day they die.

As we think about our lives, let us step back to see how others might view us through our actions, Will they see in us what Jesus commanded? Will they see that we are so filled with God’s love that it overflows onto others? Will they?

let us pray,

Lord, it is so easy to say ‘I love you’ and still to wound you. Make our love like your love, free from selfishness, sincere in words, proved in deeds. Renew your spirit of love in us each day, until that day when we meet you face to face. Amen