IF…THEN

VIDEO LINK:

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYh2Dsk1Wv

 

This may seem a bit too personal
but I want you to think about, “I love you.”

Go ahead, close your eyes
and in the golden chamber of your mind,
just whisper, “I love you,”

I hope you tried it
because I want to make the case
for those three words
as our primary theological statement.

Now please, I don’t mean as a replacement
for the more romantic, “I love you.”
If that was the voice you used
in that quiet mind of yours,
try it again with a less amorous feel to it –
something more familial…

Ok? Got the right voice?

“I love you” is the only necessary creed
there ever was.
“I love you” is the only necessary summation of faith there ever was.
“I love you” is the crystal through which biblical faith is refracted.

Well, what else is there
that a human being could say,
and say from the pit of the belly
to the front of the cranium,
that could convey more
of what we want
need
hope
dream
or even desire to give?
“I love you,” given and received
is the molten core.

In the Gospel of Mark,
Jesus hears a secret voice
cooing inside his head.
It is the voice of God that only he hears
while standing in the midst of a crowd
gathered round John at the Jordan River.

That voice says simply,
“You are my Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
How much sweeter,
how much more tender,
how much more loving
could God be
than to say “I love you”
in that way?

“I love you – with you I am so pleased.”
Who doesn’t want some of that love?
Who doesn’t want to feel that love?
Who doesn’t want to be held within that love?
If we had little else in life, and we had that,
it would be enough, right?

You have probably heard that deeply poignant
distinction between pain and suffering:
Suffering is pain endured in isolation.
Now there are all kinds of pain of course.
God knows there is physical, emotional
and spiritual pain,
any of which can knife us with searing hurt.
But nothing, nothing is as devastating
or intolerable,
as pain suffered in isolation.

Suddenly a hurt we could have endured
becomes unendurable when we are bereft
of anyone who loves us –
if we have no community of others
to love us in the midst of our pain.

And so, “I love you”
is not merely a statement about how we feel.
“I love you” includes being present
and abiding with one another.
You know, as God abides with us.

So I invite us to just sit with this for a moment.
In fact, let’s take a break
and close our eyes again.
Then take a nice slow deep breath,
inhaling through the nose
and exhaling slowly through the mouth.
Oh, that felt good,
so let’s do it one more time.

Now imagine…
that God’s single small whisper to you,
the only one, is “I love you.”
Just hold that for a moment: “I love you.”

But God, I need to confess my sin…
“I love you.”
But God, I really screwed up this time…
“I love you.”
But God, I am so ashamed…
“I love you.”
God, I am such a mess…
“I love you.”
God, I can’t stand this pain any more…
“I love you.”
God, I feel so alone…
“I love you.”
God, I am so lost…
“I love you.”
God, my life is so dark right now…
”I love you.”

Is there anything else
we need
or want
or need to know
from God, other than
or more than, “I love you?”
I don’t think so.

And isn’t that what spiritual community
is all about on some very basic level,
looking for love –
hopefully not in all the wrong places.
Aren’t we all seeking that whisper?

But it is not so easy.
Even though “I love you” has been issued,
and has gone in and out of our ears often,
we have trouble accepting it.

It doesn’t help that,
according to the Gospel of John,
God’s love ain’t free
nor does God’s love come without strings.
IF – if we keep the commandments,
John has Jesus say, THEN…
then it proves that we love him
and so THEN he will love us.
IF…THEN.
IF we do right
THEN he loves us.
“Yes,” God loves us, we are told,
IF we are good.
But we know
we haven’t always been good.
So God doesn’t love us?
Well, IF we do the right things –
like confession, penance, prayer,
and hold the right beliefs –
THEN God will love us again.
IF we continue to be good THEN
God will continue to love us.
But then we know what happens.
We will do something bad again
and the love is endangered,
and on and on and on and on.
It is a viscous and losing cycle.
When we think about it,
it is an abusive cycle.

And here is the hard reality:
no matter how progressive we are in our thinking;
no matter how mature we are in our development;
no matter how well loved we were in our childhood;
there is still that niggling anxiety
that love may be conditional.
Christianity has given a horribly mixed-message
with a confusing signal
and a double-statement.
God loves us IF…

That two letter word is monstrously huge: IF.
IF is attached to the commandments,
attached to the offer of forgiveness,
attached to the promise of love,
and even found in the language of communion
we share.

IF is a cocktail of promise, doubt, and anxiety
that never slakes our thirst.
So here is the thing, and it is a bit of a surprise.
While the IFs have been sewn
into the lining of Christianity,
it is also true that the unconditional love of God
is something we simply have a hard time accepting.
Even when we here “I love you”
it still leaves us with a decision
of whether or not we can believe it –
whether or not to accept it.

What would it mean for us
to unconditionally accept God’s love –
no ifs, ands or buts?

Think about it for a moment.
There is a high price to be paid if we accept that kind of love –
a very high price for creatures like us.
Can you feel it?
Can you feel that lump rising up
from your stomach?
Can you feel the presence of something dangerous in the room?

IF we choose to accept that God’s love
is truly unconditional,
THEN we also have to accept that there is absolutely nothing, nothing
we can do
to earn it.

How scary is that?
It would mean that God’s love is utterly,
totally,
completely
beyond our control
or influence.

You see the problem, right?
In a mental maneuver of twisted psychology,
we would rather live with the IF’s
than embrace unconditionality.
Why?
Because as long as there are IF’s out there,
we continue to have some control and influence.

IF means we can practice
the right penance
and get back into God’s good graces.

IF means there is something we can do
to achieve what we desire.
IF means we can say the right prayer
or make the right sacrifice
or perform the proper amends
and THEN
we will have earned that love back.

We are far more comfortable
with a system of rewards and punishments
than with the idea
that there is nothing, nothing
we can do
to control or influence or manipulate God.

If God’s love is unconditional,
and there is no hell out there for the bad guys
and no extra treasure for the good guys,
then the practical consequence is clear:
we are going to have find some other motivation
besides positive and negative reinforcement
to live by the values
we say we cherish!

We are going to have to find some other way
to live with and accept our imperfections,
other than pretend
we can make up for them
with some system of contrition and amends.

Instead, we are threatened
with unconditional love.
Threatened with a vulnerable loss of control
and influence.

We are threatened with unconditional love
that dismantles
our intricate defenses against anxiety.

We are threatened with unconditional love
and it requires, if we choose it,
that we give up any sense of control or influence.

If we allow ourselves,
deep in that quiet golden chamber of the mind,
to stand before God
in naked powerlessness
to either earn or influence love,
then we may begin to hear
the words we dare to hope for and yet resist:
“I love you.”

Should we choose to accept God’s love
as it is given,
it will both radicalize our outward behavior
and transforms our internal conversations.
As always, it is our choice
because God’s choice to love us just as we are,
has already been made.