27 October 2005

The law of love shapes our whole life as Luther notes in one of his sermons.

...all the commandments of the law depend on love (Matthew 22:40). This is to say, if they are not done out of love, they are contrary to God and are nothing; that's what you should go by. It is not done for the sake of other works, for your eye should be kept only on the work of love, and your should break all the laws rather than see your brother suffer want or affliction. For Christ imputes everything to love and our whole life should consist in this. (LW 51, p.106)

Now do we just call this idle talk or do we take it as the gospel truth? This is especially important to decide as we continue to talk about and live within a church that has problems with the full acceptance of gay and lesbian (let's say GLBT) saints within all aspects of the life of our congregations. I say this because what is winning the day is the idle talk. Talk about..."fall out" in the church in regard to numbers and money...doing something we have never done before...what the impact would be on our children...keeping a tradition in place so that we will somehow remain truly Lutheran. How is it that we are able and willing to press on and accept so many people by "bending" or "loosing" the law for the sake of the love of Christ in the life of the community, but we insist on, and even make more pronounced, rules/laws forsaking this focus on love when it comes to our GLBT fellow saints. How do we take part in the the process to prayerfully bring about a consistent love ethic among us?

Connection: It takes courage to press us beyond our boundaries. But the love of Christ is the food for such courage. It would do us good to sit down to a hearty helping of this law of love.

Deliver us, O God, into your loving Reign so that we do not deliver ourselves into hands that seek to separate and divide. For as we stand within your loving embrace, the character of your people begins to see the world through new eyes - your eyes of love without end. Amen.