One Moral Imperative

By -
This week I had a wonderful breakfast with one of my dearest friends.  We have known one another for about twenty years.  As is typically the case for the two of us, what was supposed to be an hour meeting turned into more than two hours and resulted in a complete overhaul of our calendars.  I would have it no other way.  I simply love our conversations and frankly cannot wait for the next one. 

Somewhere in the middle of our time together we drifted into a theological conversation about issues within the church and our culture as a whole.  Then this statement was made across the table and stopped us both in our tracks as we considered its implications. 

"There really is only one moral imperative after all." 

Without saying another word, both of us understood what was meant.  Nothing else was said.  Nothing else was needed.

Concerning this moral imperative, the author of 1 John wrote, "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).

The Apostle Paul echoed, "And I will show you a still more excellent way.  If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends" (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:8).

And it was reflected in Jesus' actions and words over and over again. 

However, somewhere along the way, we have allowed the moral imperative of love to get crowded out by our favorite list of do's and don'ts, smothered by our pet projects and damped by our preferred soapbox. I admit that I find it is much easier to fall into these old, familiar and comfortable habits than to be reminded of the covenant of love I am called to live into each and every day.

As much as we would like to dismiss this conversation as tired and cliche, when we really consider its implications, it should stop us all in our tracks.

What would our church, our world, our lives look like if we allowed ourselves to remember our one true moral imperative and lived our lives as if it were true?

Would enjoy hearing your thoughts...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persistence is her name (a poem)

By -
Persistence "firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition." Persistence is her name. She stands when it would be more convenient to sit. She sits when others wish she would move. She moves when action is demanded. She speaks because her voice shall not be silenced nor stolen yet again. Persistence is her name. She has birthed nations. She has ended wars. She has toppled empires. She has nursed change. Persistence is her name. Mercy is found in the milk of her breast. Empathy is seen in the tears on her cheek. Justice is felt in the sweat of her brow. Righteousness is coursing in the blood in her veins. Persistence is her name. Difficulty will not stop her. Obstacles will not stand. Opposition will not cause delay. Trouble will not linger. Persistence is her name. Nevertheless, she persisted; for Persistence IS her name. — bshivers
Read more

Lent: Walk - John 5:1-18

By -
Image
JOHN 5:1–18 1 After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay many invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12 They a
Read more

Actively Giving Thanks

By -
Image
Land acknowledgement: I live on the ancestral lands of the Kickapoo and the Miami. They were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands. This Thanksgiving, I have found myself thinking about what it means for thanksgiving to be an active exercise instead of something akin to a passive counting of blessings.  What if my thanksgiving were not just a self serving activity?   What if my giving thanks actually led me to something more than keeping a tally of the ways in which I have been #blessed throughout the year? What if it was more than a naming of the results of my privilege and advantage? What if it was more than a list of the same old things that I know I should be thankful for but often take for granted because I can? What would happen if my thanksgiving actually spurred me to action? What would that look like? Perhaps an active thanksgiving would result in a process of discovery of who/what is on my list, of who/what isn't on my list, of who/what is ignored, of who/what I hav
Read more