Focus:
Love
Function:
To
help people see the nurturing quality of God's love.
Form:
Storytelling
Intro:
This
passage contains probably the greatest order given to the Church.
We
know the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20.
But
it springs out of the Great Commandment, Love one another.
Today,
I want to focus on the reason why.
Whoever
does not love does not know God because, God is love, 1
John 4:8.
Some
time back, I mentioned a difficulty I was having with a child over
politics.
My
wife, in conversation about it said this to me: Don't be so
argumentative that you split up my family. Remember, we love and
respect each other.
I
titled this sermon, “El Shaddai.”
You
may remember a great worship/contemporary worship song from the early
80's called “El Shaddai.”
It
was performed by Amy Grant.
And
I loved it.
But
there is something interesting here in that name.
El
Shaddai literally means, God the breasted one.
It
is a reference, an old Jewish reference to God, the nurturer.
We
are created in the image of God
as both male and female.
So,
let me take you into the room with me last Kairos weekend.
On
Saturday night, we have a big service dealing with forgiveness.
We
ask the men to begin in the morning writing a forgiveness list which
is added to all day long until the evening where we burn the lists in
a bucket -not a small feat for inside a prison- and then we have an
hand-washing ceremony.
That
night, instead of a friendly goodbye, we give the men a “Jacob
moment.”
The
men are excused to the prison compound without a chance to talk to
anyone on the team about a way to get out of these forgiveness
cookies.
We
want them wrestling with God over themselves and the way they love
each other.
And
they come back in Sunday morning thinking that they have dealt with
it.
But
forgiveness isn't easy.
How
many have tried to forgive, only to have some sort of body memory, a
smell, a glance, a time of year or any thing that reminds a person of
past pain.
Most
of these men have big family issues.
It
is not a cliché to say that they have to deal with issues with their
mother.
One
man, I told you about him forgave his mother on Saturday night and
Sunday AM, she showed up for a visit. An huge miracle.
They
are tired and one can see the emotional struggle they have faced the
night before.
We
go into the chapel for some prayer work.
There
is a 40 minute prayer for healing past memories.
It
goes back in time, because God is not in time, and imagines Jesus
healing these moments.
For
some men, the healing starts all the way back in the womb when they
may have been rejected by a crack addled mother.
We
are tired, and emotionally on the edge when in the chapel, first
thing in the morning, we hear this song:
There
is something about this that connects with the body.
God,
like a mother, has carved us on the palms of God's hand.
God,
in this case, the loving nurturing God -it is right, in this case to
call God “her” - ...in this case, She loves us with an
unconditional love.
Now,
I have to express to you that this concept of unconditional love was
given to me by both my parents.
My
dad was different.
In
an Hell Fire and Brimestone preaching environment, my dad showed that
unconditional love as well.
It
is a quality of God.
And
those of us who know God are comfortable showing that love.
A
mother's unconditional love.
That
is the example of love that God gives to us.
God's
love is perfect and it will never ever hate us.
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