Brueggemann continues to open up the meaning of this love for us and what it does with us.
Love is a dense term. Clearly it is a covenant word that means to acknowledge sovereignty and to keep one's oath of loyalty, on which the covenant is based. But such a political dimension to the term does not rule out an affective dimension, in light of the term set one's heart (hashaq), which we have already considered. At the core of Israel's obligation to YHWH is the desire to please YHWH and to be with YHWH (Psalm 27:4; 73:25). This dimension of desire and joy is what, in the best construal, keeps Israel's obligation to YHWH from being a burden. At its best, this obligation is not a burden, but is simply living out Israel's true character and identity, for Israel lives by and for and from YHWH's freedom and passion. This same dimension of desire has permitted the reading of the erotic love poems of the Songs of Solomon as a reflection of the affective commitment between YHWH and Israel. Thus we may focus the obligation of Israel around a yearning devotion for YHWH; but with that focus we must recognize that the enactment of that obligation takes many different forms, depending on time, place, circumstance, and perspective.
Israel lives from " YHWH's freedom and passion." That has become the life for all who know this God and the one and only. We are to be the people whose lives take shape from this God whose love is the essence of life. I suppose when we talk of the Holy Spirit coming upon us, it is this love filling us up so that our lives will now be a part of this breath. That breath - that spirit - does not simply pass by or through us. It is taken up into every part of us - it becomes the life that can now be available to the world in a way that is shaped by the God whose love becomes our character. I find that this loving relationship with our God does not make all things fixed in a certain manner. Rather through time and place, that love may take shape in different ways. Love is never stagnant in its expression - it is always consistent in that it will not turn into something other than a gracious love for us. But in any context, that love now must be put to life. In that life, it makes room for more than we so often want to limit. Therefore, love spoken one way and put to life in one way, may take on another face and action in another time. Therefore, this love is always dialogical - always staying alert to learn more fully how to love from time to time and place to place.
Connection: Obligation need not be a burden. Unfortunately, as soon as we say obligation, we are thrown into thinking about conditions. That need not be the case. In a dialogical relationship, we are obligated to take up our part of the loving relationship. That is simply how love becomes complete and alive.
O God, who makes our humanity shine with life, help us to be the love that moves us to offer ourselves in loving relationship to other just as you so freely offer you love to us. Amen.
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