The Capacity to See
November 15th, 2009Sunday’s Reflection
LOVE IS THE CAPACITY TO SEE both the good and evil in people but to love the good; to see both the excellent and mediocre but to encourage the excellent; to see the wellness and the sickness and to strengthen the wellness. Before all else, love is the capacity to see everyone and everything as interconnected, “held together” in one cosmic embrace.
- Robert Corin Morris
Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words
From p. 31 of Provocative Grace: The Challenge in Jesus’ Words by Robert Corin Morris, Copyright © 2006 by the author. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission of Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Share your thoughts about today’s quote. Visit the comments area.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more.
- Hebrews 10:25, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for public servants and veterans. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Praying with Eyes Open. Many of us were taught to close our eyes when we pray. Praying with icons is an ancient prayer practice that involves keeping our eyes wide open, taking into our heart what the image visually communicates. Try praying with icons.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Lucretia Mott (November 11 ).
- Lectionary Readings:
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November 15th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Indeed – the Father’s love sees the sin and embraces the sinner. I know that my love is lacking and I desire that my love would be a welcoming love, not a judgmental love. I used to pray 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for my love – because those characteristics did not describe it. If anything, they were the contradictions of those characteristics. I think I will be venturing back to 1 Corinthians today. A prayer that never gets old.
November 15th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Like a loving pre-school teacher, God expects us to hold hands until we arrive safely to our final destination.
November 15th, 2009 at 8:01 am
The idea expressed in the quotation is familiar and it is easy to see where it comes from in the Bible. Jesus’s encounters with people, such as the woman at the well, or the rich young ruler, demonstrated that he could see the good and bad in individuals and he loved them anyway. He felt compassion toward them.
The hard part of understanding the quotation is the interconnected part and applying that to 21st century life. “Held together in a cosmic embrace” smacks of liberalism and the big brother government which is rampant nowadays. The sound view is to consider what the Scripture says about unity, i.e., we are one in Christ. This is in the Gospel of John and elsewhere.
People are misled when they start believing that the government is the one holding everybody together. Who really wants to be embraced by government? Some seek personal responsibility; more do not, I fear.
Jesus came to save sinners. The church and the body of Christ, not government, are called to minister to them. Jesus told individuals, not government, to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Jesus put the focus on individuals, not groups of people, and he did not minister to people on the basis of what group they were part of. He did not talk to the woman at the well because he was interested in providing special treatment for women. The same can be said about lepers, or Roman soldiers, or rich young rulers, or tax collectors. Jesus’s focus was on the individual and saving one person at a time.
Government does not save one person at a time. It cannot. The so-called social services that it provides are not a substitute for the body of Christ. The people that believe otherwise are flat out wrong.
Promoting big government and the notion that government is the answer, either by providing health care or housing, is the response of people who are seeking power for themselves, and promoting themselves at the expense of taxpayers. Proponents of big government are not really compassionate. They are seeking power and they are full of contempt for individuals.
I sound judgmental. Instead of focusing on my needs or me, I should focus on the needs of others and consider what God is calling me to do.
Government is permitted by God. Look at King Saul, or “render unto Caesar. . ..” Government, even republics, are not called by God like individuals are.
November 15th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
It is easy to love the lovable. But we are called to also love the unlovable.
We are to look beyond what we see, the obvious, the differences. To look for and see the deep of a soul.
In that place are we not all the same? Creations of God needing His love whether we acknowledge that need or not. And do we not find that love of one another in the acceptance and encouragement of who we are warts and all?
May we all come to reflect the love of Christ. Knowing we are imperfect beings in need of love–His and each others.
November 15th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Hey Gail… can we pray for the people of big bad government, show them some love. Remember “Before all else love is the capacity to see everyone and everything (you and big bad government included) as held together in ONE embrace
November 15th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Hey Paul, absolutely. We are called to pray for those in authority, and that includes big bad government.
Gail