Midweek Faith Lift
December 20, 2023
The Third Sunday of Advent-Love
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Spiritual Passages
December 7, 2023
Matilda Handy, a 10-year-old British girl who wanted to write a letter to her departed grandparents, came up with the idea of installing mailboxes at cemeteries so people would have a way to write their loved ones who had passed. The idea has taken off, with more than 40 cemeteries across the UK putting up the mailboxes. About 3,000 letters have been dropped in the mailboxes, bringing comfort to lots of people.
“I lift up my heart in gratitude for the beautiful bridges that bind us together in love.” – Edward Hays, author and storyteller
Affirmative prayer: Infinite Presence, I give thanks for the everlasting bond I have with my soul companions, with all life. I affirm that these points of union are occasions of pure beingness, pure love. These felt connections lift me up, give me strength and purpose, and bring me home. Thank you, God, forever. Amen.
What a wonderful story to illustrate the power of love, the love that is the next station on our Advent journey to see and shine our own inner light. When we pause in our journey of hope and faith, we make space in our conscious awareness to embrace peace. In that moment of peace, we rest and realize how much we are truly loved and how much we love those who are near and dear to us, and perhaps no longer with us in this very human part of our journey. But they have given us a legacy and that legacy is love. What they have done is allow us to shine and also see our own inner light.
So imagine during this Christmas season those who have taught you to love, to be generous, to be playful, to be light-hearted and fun and whose smile and warmth have blessed you beyond measure. Close your eyes for a moment and truly appreciate the gifts of love they have given you. And then pause to appreciate the many ways in which you returned that love: perhaps with gifts, or with acts of service or just hanging out and listening. We all have different “love languages” and part of understanding each other is to recognize and appreciate the language of love in translation! Don’t miss the expression of love because you didn’t know the language!
That is all the good, happy and wonderful human experience of Love that sustains and nourishes each of us. We have a strong human need to give and receive love, as it is a way of expressing all that is good within us. We feel better, we do better and we are much happier when we can fully express our love. And we want to do that with and around the people, pets, situations that bring out the best in us, right? Of course we do! The very real challenge is to have that sense of love, of unconditional positive regard for those who truly push us to the edges of our love capacity. That is a much heavier lift for sure, and not at all easy.
This year I have been part of the planning team for the 2024 Martin Luther King Interfaith service. Our theme this coming year is “Love In a Messy World” which was the suggestion of City Council member, Anita Rollins who wanted something to reflect the reality of all the challenges we currently experience. She particularly did not want to gloss over the “mess” and pretend like it didn’t matter. We, on the team, agreed with her for sure. The quotation from Rev. Dr. King guiding our planning is “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Each of our speakers has been given this theme and quote to respond to for the service.
I find that statement by King both inspiring and intimidating! We have been talking about Karma in the two prior Advent Sundays, and I think King’s statement really addresses the issue of Karma, or holding thoughts of hate toward others as being a very heavy burden. And as I noted last week, it usually comes back to bite you when you least expect it, and it bites hard! Holding a grudge is heavy a lift because that is what brings you to the edge of your love capacity. We may not be ready to actively love someone, but we can practice “non-hate” as a precursor, which makes the burden less burdensome.
In this Advent season, we are anticipating the birth of the Christ, the light within each of us. How do we make space to see that light in all of us? There are some powerful statements in the gospel stories about Jesus whose constant message was one of reconciliation and forgiveness, NOT punishment or retribution. God is not the great punisher, grudge holder or score keeper….God is not Santa Claus, keeping track of whether you are naughty or nice with gifts or lumps of coal awarded accordingly! God’s love is always there for us, NO MATTER WHAT, just like gravity. We have no power over it, for ourselves or anyone else!
Richard Rohr in his December 11, 2023 blog called: “Love Now and Later,” writes:
No one can be more loving than God; it’s not possible. If we understand God as Trinity—the fountain fullness of outflowing love—there’s no theological possibility of any hatred or vengeance in God. Divinity, which is revealed as Love Itself, will always eventually win (John 6:37–39).
This is a wonderful way to state our first Unity Principle, there is only One Power and One Presence in the Universe and it is God, it is Love and it will always win!
How is it that we can give Love a boost to improve the odds for a win? Well, one of the primary paths is the way of forgiveness. You cannot talk about Love without forgiveness. Human beings are human, and therefore capable of hurting each other and doing mindlessly awful things to each other and to ourselves. When Jesus appeared on earth, the primary mode of operation was justice as retribution without much mercy or compassion. But that does not do much to repair relationships or heal the hurts we each carry. The love message of Jesus is intended to find a path of repair to heal the hurts we carry through forgiveness…70 X 7 times, or as long as it takes!
Again, Richard Rohr says it very well in his August 22, 2023 blog:“Truth & Reconciliation:”
What humanity really needs is an honest exposure of the truth and accountability for what has happened. Only then can human beings move ahead with dignity. Hurt needs to be spoken and heard. It does not just go away on its own. This can then lead to “restorative justice…”
He continues:
Only mutual apology, healing, and forgiveness offer a sustainable future for humanity. Otherwise, we are controlled by the past, individually and corporately. We all need to apologize and we all need to forgive or this human project will surely self-destruct. No wonder almost two-thirds of Jesus’ teaching is directly or indirectly about forgiveness. Otherwise, history devolves into taking sides, bitterness, holding grudges, and the violence that inevitably follows. As others have said, “Forgiveness is to let go of our hope for a different past.” Reality is what it is, and such acceptance leads to great freedom, as long as there is also both accountability and healing forgiveness.
That is such a powerful statement to realize that “forgiveness is to let go of our hope for a different past.” It is to let go of the illusion that things could have been any different. It is the true key to the freedom to create the space for things to be different in the future. It is the key to emotional and spiritual growth and physical health for our bodies, which hold all that unforgiving energy for sure.
This is the Sunday of love, and the key to unlocking our hearts and deepening and expanding our capacity to love is forgiveness. When we choose to forgive, we are not saying that what we did was ok or the right thing to do or that what others said and did was ok. We are opening to the possibility of seeing all of it, good, bad and ugly and holding it with love and compassion. We acknowledge our part and then let it go. Until we do that, the ashes of the past continue to smolder in our hearts, giving us heartburn, and that just lets us know that we are not quite done with it yet. More work to do, more growing edge to explore!
That is why this Advent season is a process, a journey to the heart. Last Sunday I shared that Karma with my ex-husband had bitten me from behind and my response was a lot of anger and a really foul mood! I was anything but peaceful. When I paused several different times, over several different days, what I finally felt was a deep sadness at the lost opportunities for true healing and repair of his relationships, especially with his children. I have no need to wish anything bad for him; his choices and behaviors are creating plenty of suffering for him and others without any need of my input. What I can do is send him love and wish him well from afar. In that way, I know peace and I deepen my capacity to love, especially when encountering another person just like him! It is the edge of my growth, and my heart’s desire is to keep on growing.
As Jesus puts it, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living—for to him everyone is alive” (Luke 20:38). In other words, growth, change, and opportunity never cease. Keep on loving!
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb