A Plea for Love

Two Letters...

To my dear friend (who doesn’t think or live like me),

Can I just tell you how much I love you?  Can I tell you that I think about you nearly every day because I wish I knew how to love you better?

Apparently, because I’m a “Christian” it’s not OK for me to say these things. And I am bereaved about this.  My heart is so broken over all the senseless fear and all the petty injustice, and all the lack of understanding among our people, our Jesus-loving people.

Yes, OUR people. Just because you live your life in a way that I don’t, doesn’t mean for a second that I think you don’t love Jesus.  He died for you.  He saved you.  You know it, and you love Him for it.

But that’s the thing.  We aren’t asked to just love Jesus.  We are commanded to love others as well. 

I’m not sure where most Jesus-lovers were on the day the second greatest commandment was taught – oh, that’s right: they were in Sin-Haters 101 down the hall. I hear they had better snacks. 

With all honesty and sincerity, I don’t know what to say. “I’m sorry,” does nothing to right the injustices. Mere apologies come far too short of eliminating unjust fears or excusing apathetic ignorance.  But I do have one thing to say. I love you. So. Much.

Do I have questions? Yes, absolutely.

Do I understand or can I sympathize? No. Absolutely not.

Maybe one day we will have a relationship where I can ask those questions in hopes that through those conversations I will achieve a compassionate understanding for you (and all those who think and live like you).

Until then, I love you.

That is all.

To my dear friend (who believes I think and live like you),

Can I just tell you how much I love you?  Can I tell you that I think about you nearly every day because I wish I knew how to love you better?

I have some questions for you:

Cannot all people created in the image of God run with abandon toward his son throwing off all the love lavished on them with such life-giving force to anyone they might meet in their path?  And above all of that, cannot all people created in the image of God do such a glorious thing no matter where they were born, or what they have learned, or how they have acted, or why they chose such a splendid life?

The answer is…? Yes! All people, created in the image of God can do these things.

So who are you to say they can’t?

With all honesty and sincerity I say, “I’m sorry,” but I can no longer sit silent and listen to your unloving, grace-voided views any longer – because I love you.

Because if I remain silent, I will continue in the course of bitterness, shame, and judgement toward you.  And then where are we? - Opposite ends of the same path, in my calculations. You against “them” and me against you. God forgive us. This. Has. To. Stop.

Where does love come from? 

Where do we find abundant grace?

You know the answers, Jesus-loving people, because you received these glorious gifts first hand: JESUS! He died for you. He saved you. You know it. And you love Him for it.

But that’s the thing.  We aren’t asked to just love Jesus.  We are commanded to love others as well. 

We don’t just receive love and grace abundantly from our Jesus, we are to sling it around dousing and drenching everyone in our path with it so that they can have just a taste of what we have been freely given.  Instead we hoard it and hide it and pour cute little cups of it at the county fair parade. 

We show it off to our friends and keep a firm grasp on it from our enemies. We do this because we are human. But God calls us to be so much more than human. He calls us to be holy.

I am not exempt from these charges.  I am among the worst. And I am bereaved about this.  My heart is so broken over all the senseless fear and all the petty injustice, and all the lack of understanding among our people, our Jesus-loving people.

Maybe one day we will have a relationship in which we can speak with security and abandon about our differences in our political views, or stances on the world, and our nuances in theology and not fear judgement or ridicule or (heaven-forbid) questioning each other’s salvation. Because these differences should not separate us, or divide our people into “us” and “them,” it should spur us on to conversations laden with love and grace that free our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit into new ways of thinking for ourselves – instead of being blindly shackled and enslaved to what we’ve been merely told to think in the past. 

Please think. Please search. Please love.

Until then, I love you.

That is all.