We’re excited to begin a new worship series this Sunday called Way of Love. Norman Wirzba writes, “The way of love requires a transformation of the human heart and a reorientation of one’s life. To become proficient in the ways of love, we need a sympathetic and supporting community helping us all along the way. Christianity is best understood as a training ground in the ways of love” (Way of Love, 3-4). As children and teachers in our community head back to school, we hope this three-week worship series will help us reclaim the best of Christianity as a school in the ways of love.
Way of Love Outline
- Sept 11: Christianity as School in the Ways of Love. (Psalm 86.11, 1 John 3.14, 1 John 4.8)
- Sept 18: Fall. Redemption. Original sin. Atonement. (Jeremiah 8.18, Romans 5.12, John 10.10, 1 John 3.14)
- Sept 25: Hope. (2 Corinthians 5.17)
Norman Wirzba writes, Jesus stands for a perpetual revolution in the life of love, because he insists that all people, no matter who they are or what they have done, are invited to become children of God. Scripture is so shocking, because it reveals that the scope of Jesus’s healing and reconciling ways extends to every square inch of the universe. There is no place or time where God’s love does not seek to go. The love of God revealed in the life of the man from Nazareth explodes all the categories and classifications we use to devise who is “in” or “out,” worthy or unworthy, because its reach is infinite, encompassing everything that is.
Love has always been a contested and fragile power, vulnerable to multiple forms of misunderstanding and abuse. Discerning the truth of love and the trustworthiness of Christianity’s expressions must, therefore, go hand in hand. For too long, too many Christians have acted as if by simply reading scripture and adopting the name “Christian” they have been inoculated with the equivalent of a “love gene,” thinking that they now understand love and that love will immediately flow from them. The history of the church and most people’s experience of other Christians show this to be false. That is not how love works or how God works.
Though the Bible is all about revealing the logic of love, we must acknowledge that the study of sacred doctrine and scripture may not be enough to lead one to the truth of love, let alone help one become more loving. Scripture by itself cannot carry all this weight. The way of love requires a transformation of the human heart and a reorientation of one’s life. To become proficient in the ways of love, we need a sympathetic and supporting community helping us all along the way.
Christianity is best understood as a training ground in the ways of love (Way of Love, 3-4).
Take time to pause and reflect for a moment on the sympathetic and supporting people in your life who currently help you to become proficient in the ways of love. After a moment of reflection, make a list of the names as a form of gratitude and prayer for the ways God helps us along the way by bringing us into community with others.
Then, read aloud these three biblical verses:
- Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name (Psalm 86.11 NRSV).
- We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death (1 John 3.14 NRSV).
- Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love (1 John 4.8 NRSV).
In what areas of your life does your heart need transformation right now? What might it look like for you to reorient your life toward love?