Toward Sunday

We’ll continue our worship series, Way of Love, this week with reflection on the Christian story of fall & redemption. 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).

Way of Love Outline

Take some time to remember back to what you learned as children or early in your faith journey about the following Christian ideas: fall, redemption, original sin, and atonement?

Read the following by Norman Wirzba (Way of Love, 41-42):

Creation: A Christian understanding of life begins with God’s creation of the world as an expression of love. Nothing in this world has to exist. That anything exists at all is because God’s love is hospitable, making room and space for creatures to flourish and grow fully into the life that is uniquely theirs. God’s love is the power that initiates life and keeps it on the move. Understood deeply, creatures on earth are God’s love variously made visible, tactile, fragrant, audible, and delectable. Life is precious and meant to be cherished. Everything and everyone are eternally and daily loved by God and are thus also eminently loveable by us. When love becomes flesh, life is created.

Fall: Because love is the power that moves the world, it is also the power people most want for themselves. When love is distorted, it then easily turns into forms of control and abuse. The moment people try to possess love and turn it into a tool they can use for their own advantage is also the moment in which needless pain and suffering are introduced into the world. The moment people refuse or turn away from love is the moment life comes apart. The world is damaged and life is wounded when love is perverted or neglected. When love is denied, life falls apart.

Redemption: But God has always and only ever wanted life and love to flourish together. The Bible teaches that, from the beginning, God has been at work to heal our diseased ways, mend our brokenness, nurture our need, reconcile our divisions, and redirect our waywardness. One of God’s names is Emmanuel, “God with us,” because God is forever desiring to lead all of creation into the fullness and joy of life together. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God dwells in the very flesh of embodiment, so that the whole world can be healed from inside. When love goes to work, life is healed.

Hope: The miracle of God’s love is that life does not finally end in death. The love that first created life from nothing is also the love that re-creates life out of death. Though violence and pain and suffering are everywhere, these grim realities do not have the last word. Jesus’s resurrection on Easter morning, his bodily ascension to heaven, and the promise of his return are all material signs that God intends all created bodies to share in the divine life characterized by love, joy, and peace. Heaven is not pie in some faraway sky. It is fullness of life with God and with each other. Heaven has an earthly life in which we are all invited to participate. When love is “all in all,” life is heaven.

Put in summary narrative form: God’s love creates a beautiful world, but our distortion and denial of this love lead to life’s degradation. God does not give up on us or any creature, and so God works to redirect our waywardness, so that we can participate with God in the healing of all life. The goal of God’s love is for it to be fully active in the life of each and every creature. When that happens life becomes heavenly.

Reflect on these questions in relationship to the four movements of love in Christian faith:

We invite you to prayerfully read the following verses in preparation for worship on Sunday: Jeremiah 8.18, Romans 5.12, John 10.10, 1 John 3.14.