1 John 4:7-11

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

C.S. Lewis wrote the seminal book on the concept of love in his work, The Four Loves. In it, he identified four distinct aspects of love: affection, friendship, erotic love, and divine unconditional love. As you might expect, C.S. Lewis champions divine love as the love that exceeds all others, namely for its power to transform one’s self into the image of God.

It is this divine unconditional love that Franciscan Father Richard Rohr is addressing when he writes, “There’s no other way you can know who God is, and who you are, but to love….God is not saying, ‘I demand this of you.’ Rather, God is saying, ‘I invite you into this mystery of who you already are in me.’ Love is not something you decide to do now and then. Love is who you are! Your basic, foundational existence—created in the image of the Trinity—is love. Remember, Trinity is saying that God is not an isolated divine being; God is a quality of relationship itself, an event of communion, an infinite flow of outpouring. God is an action more than a substance, to put it succinctly.”*

I thought briefly about selecting the holiday-themed film, Love Actually, as my subject for this evening. However, as much as I enjoy this movie in all its cheesy British-humor goodness, I couldn’t recall anything powerful about its depictions of love. It is full of uplifting depictions of affection, friendship, and romantic love, but offers little in the way of divine unconditional transformative love.

I did, however, find divine unconditional love portrayed in the 1966 program How the Grinch Stole Christmas, based on the book by Dr. Seuss. In case you haven’t seen this, or if it’s been a while, I’ll briefly set up the story.

A creature called the Grinch lives far enough away from the happy village of Whoville (home of the Whos) that he is not a part of that community. He is close enough, however, to hear all the noise they make, particularly around Christmas time. He resolves to ruin the Whos’ Christmas by sneaking in on Christmas Eve and stealing all their trees, decorations, musical instruments, food, and toys.

This is where our clip begins.

Hopefully you see the story of the Grinch as a wonderful example of the power of love to transform one’s self. There is beauty in the Whos lovingly welcoming the Grinch into their community. There is beauty in the Grinch’s literal change of heart. But what struck me (on this, what I can only assume is my eightieth time watching this movie) is what happened to allow love into the Grinch’s heart: he listened.

Recall the image of the Grinch putting his hand to his ear, expecting to hear the groans, angst, and disappointment of the Whos mourning the absence of everything they no longer have. Instead, however, the Grinch hears the unexpected sound of joyful singing.

This is not a new sound that the Grinch is hearing. After all, it was the joyful singing that he refers to as “noise” early on. But for the first time he listens instead of merely hears.

You know the difference between hearing and listening, right? Hearing is what we refer to when we acknowledge the sounds coming in our ears. But listening is a whole-body experience where the sounds serves to create relationship. You don’t just hear your favorite song, you listen to your favorite song. You don’t just hear the person tell you they love you; you listen to the person tell you they love you.

And even though it was a cold-hearted impulse that led the Grinch to listen, he listened nonetheless. In listening he was revealed a truth about life that introduced the concept of love into his heart.

The importance of listening in this day and age cannot be overstated. In a world where we are bombarded with noise, it is increasingly difficult to listen to what is actually true. In a world that can seem so polarized, angry, and isolated, the call to listen to others remains critical. In a world that spends millions of dollars convincing you who you are and what you need to buy in order to be happy, God calls us to listen to the voice of God animating each one of us – the voice that tells us we are loved; the voice that tell us we are called and capable of sharing that love with others.

So, to conclude, I would like to invite you into a spiritual practice of listening.

For a couple of minutes I invite you to take a comfortable posture and sit in silence.

As you find a comfortable position on your chair, close your eyes. Begin to focus around your chest area, your “heart center.” Breathe in and out from that area, as if you are breathing from the heart center and as if all experience is happening from there. Anchor your mindfulness only on the sensations at your heart center, focusing on your breath.

Continuing to breathe in and out, think this phrase several times: “God is love and God is here.”

Repeat this phrase in the hopes that this will eliminate all other noises.

Listen to the truth that God is love and God is here.

Next, think of a person who most invites the feeling of pure unconditional divine love. Perhaps someone you consider a mentor. It might be a parent, grandparent, teacher, someone toward whom it takes no effort to feel respect and reverence, someone who immediately elicits the feeling of care. Repeat the phrases for this person: “God is love and God is here.”

Continuing to breathe out of your heart’s center, think of a person you regard as a dear friend and repeat the phrase: “God is love and God is here.”

Now think of a neutral person, someone for whom you feel neither strong like nor dislike. As you repeat the phrase, allow yourself to feel tenderness, loving care for their welfare.

Now move to someone you have difficulty with–hostile feelings, resentments. With this person in mind, repeat the phrase: “God is love and God is here.”

Let this phrase spread through your whole body, mind, and heart.

Stay in touch with the ember of warm, tender loving-kindness at the center of your being as you slowly begin to draw awareness back to the rest of your body, your chair, and the room around you.

In closing I return to the words of Richard Rohr,

“Jesus says, ‘I’ll be with you only a little while longer. So I’m going to leave a sign that I’m still here. I’m going to reveal myself in the presence of loving people.’ That’s the only way anyone can know God. If you’ve never let anyone love you, if you’ve never let love flow through you—gratuitously, generously, undeservedly—toward other people, you can’t possibly know who God is. God is just a theory or abstraction. But ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). And those who live in love live in God and know God experientially.”*

God is love and God is here. Amen.

* “Disciples: Those Who Love Others.” Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation (Tuesday, December 20, 2016)

Meditation adapted from “Loving-Kindness Meditation” from the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. (http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree/loving-kindness)

Philippians 2:5-11

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I applaud you for sticking with this whole Advent Conspiracy idea. It means a lot to look out and see most of the people who started this curious journey with us two weeks ago, plus some new faces, which is an even better sign!

I applaud you because it’s not always easy to buy into a conspiracy – a movement against the cultural grain, to raise a stink, to be critical of our society’s actions and decisions, as well as those of the church.

Advent Conspiracy is a big step. It means saying “no” to the hyper-consumerism that has co-opted the celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace. It means putting more heart and less credit into your holiday gift-giving. It means giving more to people and organizations who are making this world a more equitable place, not just financially but with time and energy as well. And it means letting the spirit of worship influence our lives and relationships.

Of course, just because you’re here doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve completely bought into the Advent Conspiracy. Most of us have probably spent a little more on gifts this year than was financially-responsible. And maybe we haven’t bothered to tally the receipts in order to calculate how much we should give to Jesus on his birthday, as Pastor Mark suggested last week. And there have been several gifts purchased without our having invested much thought or real emotional attachment into them; which in the end is understandable because you gotta do what you gotta do; and everyone knows that the line, “Well, I was holding out for the perfect gift, so I didn’t end up getting you anything,” just won’t cut it.

And so as we gather here for the last Advent midweek worship service, I am excited to announce the capstone theme of the Advent Conspiracy. It’s not another thing to keep track of or evaluate or feel bad about when we don’t do it well. Instead, it’s a purpose that should inspire all our other actions, such as spending less, giving more, and worshiping fully. Today we gather under the banner of “loving all.”

Love is a great many things; love is patient, love is kind, and above all, love is vague. Love means different things to different people. So any message focusing on the call to “love all” must be clear.

For inspiration, I turned to one of the best books ever written on the subject, C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves.

I knew I waded into the right waters when I read this quote:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Love is vulnerability. So, then, what would it mean to conspire to be someone who is vulnerable to all?

Could that possibly be the life that God is calling us to live? A life of vulnerability? It sounds dangerous and uncertain.

What right does God have to call us to live a life of love that makes our heart vulnerable to all?

This God who revealed his divine presence to the world as a baby boy born to a poor, unmarried woman from the middle of nowhere;

This God who revealed his divine presence as a young man who shunned worldly pursuits of power in favor of reaching out to the outcast and downtrodden;

This God who revealed his divine presence to the world as a young man tortured by the state and executed for crimes against religion;

This God who took the form of a slave, humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death;

What right does this God have to ask us to live vulnerably?

It would be convenient if just once we could come to worship here and walk away with the understanding that God did all that so that we don’t have to.

That’s a message being preached at many other churches; but not here. No, here we take God’s call upon our lives seriously, acknowledging that we are being invited into a life that is greater than the sum of our individual talents, accomplishments, bank accounts, or proximity to perfection. Here, we are called to love all, to be vulnerable to all.

Still to vague? Let’s narrow it down, then.

Forget about loving all and being vulnerable to all. That’s too much to take in for one night. Instead, let’s focus on one person. First, think about what it would mean to love (and be vulnerable to) yourself.

Do you love who you are? Cut through the noise of all your dreams, memories, failures, relationships; your career, your family, your church. It’s a difficult concept, I know; but just think about who you are as a child of God, look at yourself in a mirror, and let the words sink in: God loves you; you matter to God; and you are a gift to God and the world.

I doubt any of us are ready to let that idea sink in all the way. We have convinced ourselves, or likely been convinced by others, that we are unlovable. We have messed up too much. We have been hurt too deeply. We haven’t seen proof that any of this “God loves you” stuff is true.

But chances are that since you are here, you’re hoping it is true. And chances are that people who are not here have no idea that it even could be true. And just think, what could be more vulnerable for us than to be the ones who go out into the world and insist it is true?

The people who truly understand what it means to be loved by God are those who spend little to no energy in trying to get other people to love them. They can’t be bothered; they’re too busy loving and being vulnerable to others. They have nothing to lose because they know they are loved by a God who lost everything and still triumphed over death.

I hope and pray that in the midst of all the busyness, cookie baking, obnoxious commercials, football games, shopping, entertaining, and inflatable santas, that you will carve out time to get to know yourself and to love yourself.

Try reading scripture, serving others, spending time in complete silence with only the deepest sense of your self for company, or any other spiritual practice that you find helpful.

For only when we recognize God’s love for us could we ever conspire to spend less, give more, worship fully, love all, and honor the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Advent Movie Series: How the Grinch Stole Christmas – 1 John 4:7-11

"Love All" – Philippians 2:5-11