Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Morning meditation - God doesn't just love you, God loves you abundantly


"If we knew how much God loved us, there would be no sin."

Thomas Merton

If we knew how much God loved us we wouldn't have to spend a life time proving that we are okay. We wouldn't have to spend a life time lying, cheating, envying, stealing, and exploiting others because we would know we are okay just the way we are. We wouldn't have to spend a life time competing, exploiting, manipulating and using others because what would be the point?

If we knew how much God loves us there would be no point to sin, it would have no meaning, because we would be living constantly in the shower of God's boundless Grace.

Historically, Universalism has taught this, but it has been lost in our modern culture. People are not given a theology which insists on their inherent worth and dignity and the inherent worth and dignity of God's creation. Does the support for choice, i.e., abortion, support a theology of inherent worth and dignity or detract from it? Does the support for assisted suicide support a theology of inherent worth and dignity or detract from it?

Does ministerial abuse support a theology of justice, equity and compassion in human relations or detract from it?

The ultimate question as we live our lives is "What would love have us do?" And if we lived in our lives authentically in response to that question, Thomas Merton is right, there would be no sin. But there is plenty of it, all around us and in us and between us and the root cause is our sense of inadequacy, the original sin, which is born out of a deep seated belief that we are not loved. If Unitarian Universalism is to grow and experience its power in the world, it must develop a theology of God's love for us. I don't hear it in church on Sunday. I don't read it in UU publications. If I were looking for it in more academic texts of UU intellectuals, I don't know where I would find it.

I know that God loves us and me not just a little, but abundantly and I have my life to prove it, but I have a difficult time convincing others that God loves them because they seem too damaged, but I hope that we can change the culture so that all people know that they are loved.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for this thought-provoking post.

    It is possible, I think, to see the abundance of God's love in every sermon, in every publication, in every academic text and conversation one can find.

    I believe a veil of fear keeps us from seeing it. Occasionally, the veil lifts and we can experience this love, and, even more occasionally, we can share the experience of it with others.

    In the presence of such love, proving and convincing seem irrelevant.

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  2. Hi Jim:

    You have excellent points in your comment. To what extent do people have to be taught to see love? I am reminded of the Foreigner song, "I wnat to know what love is..........."

    I think people are sometimes so damaged and full of fear as you say that they cannot see it.

    I was reading a Buddhist commentary the other day which said that happiness may be being grateful for what we have and not always striving for more, better, etc.

    I went to the barber shop today to get my hair cut, Tuesday, and I said to the barber, maybe I'll take the day off as a vacation day but I feel guilty. He said, do you work to live or live to work? Take the day off. I did.

    Is this loving myself?

    All the best, Jim, and thanks for your comment,


    David Markham

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