Perfection in Love

Today we continue our series ‘all about love’ inspired by bell hooks. We’ve looked at what love means, which is to help people grow spiritually; we also looked at violence, and lying. Then we looked at loving yourself and finally, last week was divine love. We wrestled with how we actually get to the point of loving a divine being, or whether we could even be loved by God. The secret was in the kind of relationship we have. If its an I-it relationship, as Martin Buber calls it, where we treat God and others simply as a means to get what we want, then we’re doing it all wrong. Instead we have to seek an I-thou relationship. The key to meaning and purpose is to value others for who they are right now. Too often we are looking back, longing for a different life, longing for people to be different from who they are. None of that moves us closer to divine love. When we value others rightly, we’ll find ourselves encountering the image of God in others all around us.

Now we look at what is perhaps the most important question in all of Christianity. All of our conversation about love has been building to this single idea, this single concern; can we be perfect? Can we love all the time, in every situation, toward every person we meet, even toward God? And I’m sure half of you are already thinking, “of course we can’t be perfect. What kind of ridiculous question is that?” Well, my friend, I invite you to listen to what Jesus has to say about it. This scripture is going to be read by Laurie, and it comes from the Gospel of Matthew. It is part of Jesus’ most famous sermon, the sermon on the mount. He shares what real discipleship means, to avoid anger, how to live a life of integrity and even to take the path of non-resistance. Here he goes even further, not just in saying to accept the bad behavior of others, but to literally do the opposite. Instead of hitting or hating them back, Jesus says to love your enemies. This is Matthew 5:43-48. Hear now the word of the Lord.

Matthew 5:43–48 NRSV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

And from

1 John 4:18 NRSV

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

Let’s pray: God may we be an inclusive community passionately following Jesus Christ. Help us to not only understand what it means to have perfect love, but to pursue the love you have for us with all of our hearts. Renew us and remake us as we pursue you. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Last week my family and I had the chance to go to the Greenwood Lake Airport just a few miles from us for the Annual Airshow. As the national anthem played a skydiver unfurled an enormous American flag and planes did circles around him leaving colored smoke trails behind. It was a beautiful start to some unique aerobatics. Besides loops, the jets did some hammerheads and Immelmanns. At one point a prop plane landed on a moving truck. The evening was capped with a very dramatic firework display that included a plane shooting flames off both wings. Our boys loved it, but I almost ruined the evening when I said a little too loudly that I really wanted to see a plane crash. Of course, I didn’t mean it in a sinister way. I didn’t want someone to fail or get hurt; I just thought ‘how interesting would it be if a plane crashed. I’ve never seen that in an airshow before.’ My wife Emily thought I was being awful, and perhaps I was, because the more I thought about it, the more I realized if I were in that plane, I definitely would not want the pilot to crash. I would want him or her to be completely successful and in total, masterful control of that aircraft.

In fact, if you told me I was going up in a plane with a pilot who had ever crashed, I think I might be especially nervous on that flight. I want to ride with the pilot who has never crashed; who has always been perfect. I bet that’s true for you, too. Imagine you are looking around for a doctor to do a serious procedure on you. I bet you aren’t looking for the doctor who is fifty percent successful, or even ninety percent successful. You want the doctor that’s nailed it every time with one hundred percent accuracy! Don’t leave it to chance; get the guarantee for success.

Now for things we can measure, that makes a lot of sense. Choose the person who is so skilled and so practiced they get it every time. But I bet there are other things you might want to consider, too. For instance, if you found the perfect doctor to get your procedure right, but also discovered they took unfair profits, treated their staff like dirt and thought they were God’s gift to humankind, I imagine that would give you pause. I know I would keep looking. I don’t want to support someone who has such obvious flaws. So perfection, then has to mean more than just our technical ability. There’s another dimension to it. We see the same thing happen in religion. We can measure certain things to see if we are getting “faith” right - are you feeding the hungry, are you providing clothing and shelter? Do you care for orphans and widows? This is the basics of what it means to be a religious community - to help others, particularly those who can’t help themselves. But what if someone feeds the hungry and as they walk away think to themselves, “aren’t I so great? I am helping someone else. That makes me such a special person. If only so and so could see me now.” That’s all wrong. Suddenly you’ve slipped into a twisted, broken version of religion that’s no good to anyone. That is far from perfect.

Some of you will know the story of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church. He was intimately familiar with this struggle in religion. He grew up the son of a preacher in 18th century England and always tried to do his best to please God. When he was in college he got his friends together to study the Bible and then later to regularly care for those in need. First it was visiting with the imprisoned. Soon it involved meeting with the poor and taking up a collection on their behalf. Later they began caring for children and hired a tutor to make sure they were properly educated.

This was all well and good, but at the root of it was a sense of inner searching. John Wesley never felt like his actions were ever good enough. He did all this good for others, but all along questioned whether any of it made him right with God. He was still pursuing the divine love that we talked about last week. Well, eventually things for Wesley go from bad to worse. His father died, and after tending to the family, was offered the opportunity to go to Georgia, here in the United States. He was sent to be a priest in the budding city of Savannah and had to spend a couple of months at sea crossing the Atlantic. The storms were terrifying, with the mainsail splitting in half and water pouring in and below deck. The English passengers all screamed in terror, but the German Moravians, a different kind of religious group, quietly sang and prayed. He noticed their faith had something his lacked.

As Wesley gratefully arrived on land, things continued to get worse. He found his entire parish drunk, despite alcohol being outlawed and his strict observance of religious rules rankled the city. It didn’t take long before formal charges were brought against him, particularly after he denied communion to a young woman who got married in secret. She was married in secret because John Wesley wanted to marry her, and she knew it. When the charges were brought to court, Wesley decided he would simply slip aboard the next ship to England and be done with America. (You might be wondering at this point ‘why did we start a church with this guy as our founder?’) Wesley still had to cross the Atlantic. The ship had nearly sunk last time and this trip would be no different. As storms raged, it was again the quiet faith of the Moravians that stood out. They knew divine love and were at peace. Wesley wanted the same.

Back in London he had what is known as his “Aldersgate experience.” This whole time he felt like he was doing all the right things, helping people, especially the poor and marginalized, but never sensing for himself that he had real faith. He loved God, but he didn’t believe in his heart. He didn’t trust God - his trips across the Ocean proved that clearly enough. So as he wrestled with his own salvation on May 24th he heard Martin Luther’s preface to the Book of Romans and as he heard the words of how God changes the heart of those who put their faith in Jesus Christ, John Wesley felt his own heart changing. He said, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Overwhelmed by this new reality he sang and danced and finally had no fear of death. It was the beginning of something truly extraordinary. As he shared the good news of this new reality and its availability to everyone he could, two things happened. 1) the traditional church kicked him out. They refused to let him preach in their churches, and 2) Wesley decided this good news was too good, too beautiful and too important to not share with as many people as possible. He started preaching everywhere people would listen, even in the streets. Thousands started hearing him every day, and thousands were converted. But that wasn’t the point. The goal wasn’t to have a big crowd or have a big following - he was simply obsessed with sharing God’s love, and that led him to pursue more deeply loving others the way that God loves us. He knew his faith earlier in life was weak. It was full of fear, crossing the Atlantic, fearing for his salvation; it was all proof that he did not love the way God loves us, because perfect love drives out fear.

So he kept at his good deeds, what he called works of mercy. He kept visiting the poor and sick; but now he wasn’t doing it worried about whether he was good enough. He wasn’t worried about whether God loved him or if he was saved. He knew it; he was assured of his salvation because of this powerful experience, and because of it, he helped others even more; he loved them even better than before. He was sure he was on the right path; so he got organized and eventually the Methodist Church was born.

Now the one thing, the one thing that makes us distinct from all other churches is not just our pursuit of spiritual growth. All churches promote that in one way or another. What makes us different is that John Wesley wasn’t satisfied with the malaise, the spiritual laziness he found in the church, so he did something about it. He told folks, look being a Christian isn’t about lounging around. There is important, serious work to be done. In fact, this work is so serious and so important that its not just for a few of us to do; this is for all of us. We are all called by God to grow as deeply in our faith as we can. And Wesley put a name to this consistent pursuit. He called it perfect love. It goes by other names: entire sanctification, second grace, Christian perfection. I grew up calling it baptism in the Holy Spirit, but the point is there is a moment in our lives where everything changes. Not only do we choose to follow Jesus, and I hope everyone here and watching at home has chosen to follow Jesus, but we can choose every day to follow Jesus more closely. We can grow in our holiness, grow more consistent and faithful in reflecting Jesus, and love others every day in every action we take. It doesn’t mean we are perfect, it doesn’t mean we stop doing things out of ignorance, but it does mean our whole lives are dedicated to this pursuit. That’s perfect love.

I’m thinking of a chart I grew up with showing the journey of faith. Usually we think of accepting Christ as the point of our salvation (cross) and along the way we grow in our faith. Then, eventually, we die and in heaven we are made perfect in Christ. But Wesley said, no, you’ve missed a step. There is a goal to, in this life, always walk in God’s love, loving others as God loves you. He would point to this passage in Matthew 5, “be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” He would say, “why would Jesus command that if there was no way for us to be perfect?” The goal is spelled out right there - don’t just love your enemies, don’t just pray for people who hurt you - love perfectly. I’m sure you feel it at least sometimes; when all seems right with the world, when your heart feels full. Somebody could come in a whirlwind and it won’t knock you out of that place. You just keep loving and you respond with poise and grace and mercy. Wesley is saying you can do that all the time if you work at it and keep growing spiritually.

Some folks will object to this. They say you can never be perfect, you can never be like God. Well, whether you can or can’t, I think the pursuit of such a goal is definitely right. My objection is actually in the chart that shows spiritual life as nearly always upward. Sometimes life, even in Christ can be difficult. It can be painful. Just this past week we got word about a member of our church having a very serious form of cancer. That is devastating and can destroy a person’s spiritual growth. I’ve often struggled with the analogy you hear sometimes of a person who is climbing up the mountain of spirituality, as if we only get closer to the top, always getting better at being spiritual. Maybe there are slight detours or false starts, but its always up the mountain. I’m not a fan; I’d much rather think of our pursuit of perfect love as a journey on the open sea. Plenty of people will tell you they know the right way to love, the right course to the destination. But if they can’t handle their sailboat? If they don’t know a jib or port or know how to navigate by the stars? Don’t trust them. That’s like the basics of love: helping the poor and the orphans and the widows; that’s the obvious, measurable sign of love. But if folks have that down, I’m not really sure if we can know if someone has perfect love or not. I think that’s part of faith. None of us can see the shore. We are all sailing the open sea, using our experience and wisdom to love God and love others as best we can. Let’s hope that our support of one another, and our ongoing pursuit of perfection is drawing us closer to the life God would have us live.

Let’s close with this. There is a treatment program called Camp Moriah in the deserts of Arizona. Often, troubled teens are taken there by their parents hoping for some kind of transformation in their children. They have a good reason to hope for this; the camp is run by an Israeli and a Palestinian man that would otherwise be natural enemies. The Israeli man’s father was killed by Palestinians, yet despite this they are friends and run the camp together. It’s that kind of story that gives the parents at least a little hope for their children. But on one particular day a couple dropped off their daughter, Jenny, at the camp and the first thing she did was run. See, the parents didn’t tell Jenny where they were taking her. They just got her in the car and went. When she heard where they were going, she waited until the car was stopped and then she bolted. What made this even worse was that she didn’t even have any shoes on when she left. She was running through the hot city street in Arizona barefoot.

As soon as the counselors for Camp Moriah saw this, they took off after Jenny. They ran after her, up and down the streets. When they called out to her, she started screaming about how her parents had betrayed her. She started crying, but she didn’t stop running from them. As they slowed and talked more, the counselors noticed that Jenny’s feet were bleeding. All that running in the heat was really hurting her, so Mei Li, one of the counselors, asked if they could have someone at least bring her shoes. Jenny said no, so Mei Li took her own shoes off. She said to at least take hers. Jenny refused, but the other counselor, Mike, took off his shoes as well. Jenny kept running from them, but they kept after her for three more hours. Their own feet were torn and bloody as well, and when Jenny finally stopped, and they told her about the camp, about the wilderness and living off the land and how fun and interesting it was, Jenny changed her mind. She said she’d go; so they got her a ride back to the group and she joined them for forty days at Camp Moriah.

Now you might be wondering, why did they take off their shoes? What good did that do? They just injured themselves for no reason. But in that action they are showing the height of love. They extended the invitation to her; they joined her in her world to say “we care about you. We want the best for you, we share God’s love with you.” This is what every interaction with others could look like. Every day we could invite others into God’s love, just as Jesus did in his sacrifice for us. We could be the Mei Li and Mike’s of the world, taking our shoes off not for the sake of needless suffering, but to engage others in the midst of their pain, to invite others into a perfect love with God always at its center. This is the call - perfection in love. Love in every action we take to the glory of God. Amen? Amen.