By Susan Wordal
In the last few days, I’ve been thinking about religion and what it means to be Christian. I always thought I knew the answer. Being a Christian means to love one another as Christ has loved us. In whatever words you find this statement, whichever gospel you read, this is the basic commandment, the basic lesson from Jesus, who carried a message from his Father to us. But are we, as Christians, really living out that message?
I believe many do understand the message, and live the message. And yet, of late, I see things on the internet, whether in Facebook postings, or campaign ads or news stories, and I begin to wonder if we really comprehend what Christ was trying to tell us.
To begin with, I have to go back to one fact: Christ was a Jew. I’ve never seen anything in any Bible verse I’ve had occasion to read that tells me he turned his back on his upbringing. Rather, he took that rich history and spiritual belief system and began to use it as a base from which to spread a message. The message was: God loves you and God is love. If you accept God, then the path to salvation is open to you as a disciple. Christ wasn’t trying to create a new religion, or put one religion above another, as far as I can tell. Rather, the message was to open yourself to God, by whatever name you call God, and open yourself to the knowledge that God is love, and through each person’s actions others may also know God as love.
When I was in college, I was exposed to a series of Bible verses. The one which I find most impactful, and one which has been read in various versions at many weddings I’ve attended, is 1st Corinthians 13. Looking back on this verse now, with some 40 years of life experience, I see some things about this particular set of verses that speak to me in new ways.
The beginning starts: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 3, 1 NIV. In other words, regardless of what language you speak, if you don’t begin from love, then what others hear is the rough equivalent of so much noise. The verse goes on to talk about prophecy and knowledge but, without love, you are still nothing. And if people give to the poor or do something purely so they can boast, but do so without love, then they gain nothing. Hmmm??? I’ve always thought this was a profound message. And yet, I’m not entirely sure, as fallible human beings, we fully understand this. Of course, we can but try and hope we eventually get it right more often than not.
But one of my favorite parts of this verse begins with 1 Corinthians 13, 4 NIV: Love is patient, love is kind. The list goes on. It rejoices with truth, it protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. It doesn’t fail. It isn’t self-serving or self-seeking, it isn’t anger or motivated by anger, it doesn’t keep track of wrongs, it doesn’t delight in what is evil.
When we are children, we learn the simple concepts first. I don’t remember what I did as a child, but I remember having to teach my children, and I’m sure I had to learn the basics as they did. I’m sure there were things my parents said over and over to me as I said them to my children: Touch gently, don’t hit your sister/brother, say you’re sorry, be kind to others. As we grow up, just as the verse says, we put the reasoning of childhood behind us. But the message of those childhood lessons should not be lost. It should evolve as we step into adulthood and continue to evolve and guide us throughout our lives.
One of the most difficult parts of this message in 1st Corinthians is about seeing in a glass darkly, but then face to face, or, seeing only through a mirror but then face to face. It’s obscure, thus difficult to interpret, but at the same time, I find this part to be profound. What we project to the world will be how we are known. If we project a desire for power, a desire for self-aggrandizement, a desire to be the one in control, then we are not operating from a place of love and caring. The reflection is the person. Thus, the reflection should be one of love and acceptance, of tolerance and judgment restrained by love. (Easier said than done, I know.) Then and only then will we be seen as we are meant to be seen. As we should see ourselves. As we are seen by the Creator (not just the Father, but a more encompassing and less gender specific Spirit), we shall be seen by the world if we remember that love comes first.
So, as Christians, we should embrace those in our world - whether they identify as Christians, or Jews, or followers of Islam, or simply as spiritual - with the love we also seek to have shown to us. We should embrace the freedom to worship according to our personal convictions and our relationship with the Creator, whether the Creator goes by God, or Allah, or Adonai, or Akai Murat. We should respect others for their differences, and look for common ground.
And then I have to look at my own profession. I have struggled for years with how to act from love and be seen as motivated by love when I have to prosecute people, put people in jail, and hold people accountable. How do I counsel clients when there are 2 sides, or even more, to a dispute? How do a represent a governmental entity, or any entity, when that entity is seen as rigid or controlling? It’s not easy. But I began by learning that it is the action, not the person I was addressing. My role is to hold individuals (or an entity) accountable for what they do, not who they are or who they claim to be. My role is not to judge the person, only the action that brings me into it. My role is to advise my clients on options and explain the ramifications of those options and then let them make the choice. My role is to try to see the many sides of an issue and attempt to find the way forward which honors as many viewpoints as possible. Again, this isn’t an easy task, and it’s not a simple task. It is a thankless task at times. And you don’t always get it right. Accepting that makes it easier to do the job. Accepting the job makes it easier to work from love.
But ultimately, there are these three: faith, hope and love. But the Greatest of these is Love.
1 Corinthians 13, 13 NIV