A God of Love

We believe in a God of Love; we exist in a world where division and hatred seem to be becoming part of our culture. How do we reconcile the two? How do we live and follow God in this world, without being drawn into that division? Indeed, without the Church being part of it? I do not have the answers, but here are a few thoughts.

Firstly, prayer: how do we pray and what for? Can we bring ourselves to pray in the middle of these divisions, rather than for one side or another? To pray for the various wars that are taking place, without praying for one side to win. Yes, we pray for peace, but somehow it is more than that. To simply sit and offer up this conflict (whether local, national or international) may seem like a waste of prayer, but I wonder whether it could bring God closer to the conflict, when we are not spending our time saying what should be done about it; whether this type of prayer may allow the Spirit to act more powerfully in these situations. More than this, do we pray for those we are divided from? Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies; do we? We may say we have no enemies, but do we pray for those we do not get along with, for those we disagree with, for those in the news whom we condemn, without thinking? Who are our enemies, and do we pray for them?

While saying this, it is important to point out that we can be honest with God. Reading through the Psalms makes it clear that all and every type of emotion comes in to those prayers. We are allowed to express to God exactly what we are thinking and feeling: our anger, our pain, our hatred, our frustration. Being that honest can allow God’s love into the situation, although it may not always feel like it. But denying it and bringing a sanitised version of ourselves to prayer seldom helps anyone, least of all ourselves. To cry, to lament, is an essential part of biblical prayer, and we can make it part of our own also, whether that is lamentation at personal, local or national and international issues. We are allowed, even encouraged, to tell God how angry, how hurt we are, how injured; to tell God exactly what we think about the person who has hurt us. That does not prevent us also praying for them.

We believe in a God of love. When people look at the Church, do they see something of that love, or do they see an institution which is simply part of the society where it is based? It is impossible to take the church totally out of our wider culture, nor should we try. Sometimes that culture will have elements that the church can learn from. We are not better nor worse than the place in which we live, we are part of it, and our churches will – should – reflect that. But do people see something more than that? Can they catch a glimpse of God’s love through what we do? Does our love for those we worship with, and the Community in which we are based, shine through – or do they see sin and division?

Of course, what people see will partly reflect their own opinions and expectations, and that which they have gathered from elsewhere, which will not always reflect the love that may be at the heart of our church, but may not always be obvious. It is also important to point out that I am not saying that we should agree all the time; we do not and will not. It is more about how we disagree: do our disagreements carry even a hint of the God of Love? Do we see those we disagree with as children of a loving God? We can take those we disagree with, and create enemies of them, ensure everyone knows they are sinners, judging them for being ‘wrong’. Or we can disagree lovingly, coming together to pray and worship, acknowledging that even those we have serious disputes with are still loved by God. In short, do our disagreements bring us closer together or do they divide us even more? It is so easy to create cardboard cutouts of people rather than see them as fully human. It makes it so much easier to hate and despise them, to enact that hate. To do so can diminish the one we are against, but it diminishes us all the more. It will not stop the other person being fully human, but it may well erode our own humanity. We do not need to know them well, just to acknowledge their humanity, their beloved-ness by God; to acknowledge that there may be more to them than we can see.  

None of this is easy, and we will almost certainly get it wrong. Even then, it is more about how we respond to our mistakes, rather than avoiding them. Are we capable of apologising, even to those we do not like? These are important issues, and this is more something to provoke thought, rather than an essay in what to do. There will always be disagreements in our churches. But does the way we handle them speak to those outside of a God of Love? For me, that is the crucial point.