{"id":609,"date":"2012-11-04T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2012-11-04T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=609"},"modified":"2019-11-26T11:56:51","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T16:56:51","slug":"living-with-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2012\/11\/04\/living-with-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Living With Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 12: 28-34<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the full service.<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the sermon only.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.\u00a0 And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.<\/em><\/p>\n

In three days one half of these United States of America will be profoundly disappointed and personally despondent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We just don’t yet know which half.<\/p>\n

Half of all advertisement is wasted. \u00a0We just do not know which half. \u00a0$1 B of the $2 B spent on this Presidential election was, if not wasted, at least offered in a losing cause. \u00a0Again, we today do not know which half.<\/p>\n

A herd of elephants, a pride of donkeys, a country of these United States, more States and less United, these days.<\/p>\n

You will, faithful listeners to Marsh Chapel, on WBUR, and otherwise, you will vote. \u00a0I have no doubt about it. \u00a0Good. \u00a0And you have endured the preaching of the gospel this fall, from a venerable pulpit, and from a fallible preacher. \u00a0Those especially who responded to the sermons on Biblical Justice, 9\/16\/12, and on Generosity, 10\/14\/12, both in harmony and dissonance, have, like love, ‘suffered long and been kind’.\u00a0 Thank you for your forbearance.<\/p>\n

Given though the division, not to say war, between the states, or better said, within the states, or more precisely put, in the heart of Franklin County, just north of Columbus, Ohio, the home of Ohio Wesleyan University, a small Methodist college for small Methodists and others, incorporated in 1842, we may wonder, come this Sunday, whether the Gospel–love of God and love of neighbor–speaks to our incipient disappointment.<\/p>\n

By the way, in case you had not heard, the whole election comes down to the single vote of one persona, of a young mother, a 2001 OWU graduate, with two children, who themselves will soon attend OWU, living in anti bellum home, four bedroom, shared driveway, on North Sandusky street, in Delaware, Ohio, across from the old ATO house, who attends Asbury Methodist Church, and is vice president of the Junior League. \u00a0I believe her name is Mary. \u00a0Or Martha. \u00a0Or both.<\/p>\n

Let me suggest that the Gospel speaks, to us, right now, in love. \u00a0That is one thing about love, divine and human. \u00a0It never ends. \u00a0Campaigns will cease. \u00a0Candidates will emerge or retire. \u00a0Slogans will be put away, to be unearthed again. \u00a0War chests will empty. \u00a0Celebrations will come and go. \u00a0Discouragement will be reborn into denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, then, it may be, acceptance. \u00a0Some who are elected may learn that the position for which they graciously offered themselves is not exactly heaven on earth. \u00a0Some who are defeated may discover that in losing they were not so much denied as spared. \u00a0Not so much denied something as spared the actuality of it. \u00a0We can be proud of those who will offer themselves for leadership and service, knowing the odds against them. \u00a0Especially those who come up short, 49% not 51%. \u00a0We owe them far more than we usually admit.<\/p>\n

What would love of God and love of neighbor look like, Wednesday, November 7, 2012, the day after a national slugfest?<\/p>\n

Well, who knows?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, in part, I believe that the Markan Jesus’ summary of the decalogue, evokes something particular in us, this Sunday. \u00a0Love. \u00a0Love God. \u00a0Love. \u00a0Love your neighbor. \u00a0Love. \u00a0Now, there is also a neighboring verse that affirms love of enemies, of contestants and opponents, the consequence of love of God and love of neighbor.<\/p>\n

Those who have listened to Marsh Chapel sermons these years, my own and those of my esteemed predecessors, know full well that this pulpit does not take lightly the consequences of political learning or lack thereof, social virtue or lack thereof, and spiritual piety or lack thereof. \u00a0I refer you to the sermons just mentioned and preached some weeks ago. \u00a0Real, dire, real, dreamlike, real decisive matters are at hand Tuesday. \u00a0So, go and vote.\u00a0 The freedom of the pulpit encourages you, your own true identity in faith exhorts you, today\u2019s Gospel itself leads you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And what a Gospel reading!\u00a0 As was beautifully rehearsed from this pulpit last Sunday, Mark is a Gospel of Conflicts.\u00a0 In particular, Mark is a gospel wherein Jesus argues, with vehemence, with disciples and with opponents (scribes, Pharisees, and others).\u00a0 Since the river Jordan in Mark 1, Jesus has been at daggers drawn with the scribes, in particular. In 1:22, in 2:6, in 3:22, in 7:1, in 11:18, in 11:27.\u00a0 And we haven\u2019t even gotten to the Pharisees yet.\u00a0 All of sudden, today, SURSUM CORDA, HEAR THE GOSPEL, Jesus meets a peacemaking scribe, an irenic soul, a kind opponent.\u00a0 Matthew and Luke will twenty years later erase, as if using an \u2018etch a sketch\u2019, this memory of kindness.\u00a0 Their scribe is a testing, testy type.\u00a0 But not here in Mark.\u00a0 In the heat of the battle, there is a quiet, kind conversation.\u00a0 Like those stories of Union and Confederate soldiers, across the line of battle, pausing to sing Christmas carols together, on Christmas eve. Like a Republican governor and a Democratic President finding something shared, something in common, in the teeth of a great storm. \u00a0Something deeper, even than conflict, than power, than hatred, than self, is here.\u00a0 In the presence of a scribe!\u00a0 Of whom Jesus says, of this good scribe Jesus says, \u2018you are not far from the kingdom of heaven\u2019!\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, but most days, if I could go home with that report card, I would rest my feet and rest my case.\u00a0 \u2018The scribe sees with insight and hears with understanding\u2019 (Marcus, 842).\u00a0 In love\u2014and the scribe sees this\u2014God is grabbing ahold of the world, and of us, again.\u00a0 A little Deuteronomy, and a little Leviticus, and a little love of God and neighbor.\u00a0 \u2018Neither tragedy nor triumph, but trust\u2019, we heard last week.\u00a0 And again today.\u00a0 \u2018Fall in love with the world again\u2019 we heard last week.\u00a0 And again today.\u00a0 \u2018The healing of our faith is still possible\u2019 we heard last week.\u00a0 And again today.
\nHold onto free speech.\u00a0 Hold on to your own-most identity.\u00a0 Hold on to peace, like a river.\u00a0 And go and vote your conscience.<\/p>\n

But after the voting, there remains the living, and, by our gospel, the loving in the living. What can this truly mean, come Wednesday?\u00a0How shall we love God? \u00a0By loving our neighbor. \u00a0How shall we love our neighbor? \u00a0By loving our opponent.<\/p>\n

Let me propose an exercise.\u00a0 Its details may lack something, one point or another, from your point of view.\u00a0 Fear not.\u00a0 Add and delete your own spices and ingredients later.\u00a0 Remember this:\u00a0 Jesus and the good scribe talk.\u00a0 They talk.\u00a0 They listen, and speak.\u00a0 The summary of the law they affirm, as we know, was also affirmed by Rabbi Hillel, and as a way to condense to the two tablets of ten, five each, is not unique, or even remarkable, though quite portable, and useful. \u00a0What is striking, here, is the relationship between the good teacher and the good scribe.\u00a0 They relate.\u00a0 The listen, and speak.\u00a0 In that manner, vein, and spirit, come Wednesday, consider an experimental exercise:\u00a0 consider why the other half votes the way they do.<\/p>\n

So.\u00a0 You are a liberal. \u00a0Good for you. \u00a0I commend your liberality. \u00a0But let me ask you something. \u00a0Have you given much effort of thought to why half of the humans in the lower forty-eight, plus Alaska and Hawaii, disagree with you enough to vote for the other guy? \u00a0For you liberals let me suggest three ‘l’s to consider. \u00a0I mean, if we are to love God, love our neighbor, and love our contestant, then we might want to consider why the other side votes the way it does.\u00a0 Love is for the wise.<\/p>\n

Life. \u00a0Those more to the right of you in the choir loft tend to have a strong and particular view of the sanctity of life. \u00a0Have you, Mrs. Liberal, really heard, I mean really deeply heard, this conviction? \u00a0Now, we know there are manifold ways to be pro life, as a columnist well wrote the other day. \u00a0But I wonder if, at some gut level, you have yet to appreciate, to approximate, what those to your right in the pew of life, think and say and believe, here? \u00a0It will help us, all, down the road, if you can, at least, acknowledge, in detail, that with which you do not agree, in full.<\/p>\n

Liberty. \u00a0Those more to the right tend to have a fierce and protective sense of freedom, of liberty. \u00a0O, I know that liberals love liberty and life too. \u00a0My relative asked me once, though, why I thought conservatives did not want taxes taking their money. ‘Because they believe it is THEIR money’, I said. Individual responsibility matters. \u00a0Personal holiness matters. Have you, Mr. Progressive, truly heard this? \u00a0What you do, justly or not, deserves just response and reward. \u00a0He who does not work, let him not eat, 2 Thessalonians. \u00a0For freedom Christ has set us free, Galatians 5. \u00a0Give me liberty, said Nathan Hale. \u00a0Or give me…It will help us all, down the road, if we can, at least, respectfully and sincerely say that liberty is precious.<\/p>\n

Limit. \u00a0Those more to the right of you in the balcony are suspicious of large bureaucracies and big government. \u00a0They see waste, where there should be frugality. \u00a0They see ineffectiveness, where there should be fruitfulness. \u00a0They see laziness supported, here, free ice cream given, here, a lack of rigor, discipline, and effort rewarded, here. \u00a0Who governs least, he governs best, they think. \u00a0Most of all, they see debt, endless and dangerous. \u00a0They prefer to support private non profit groups, like the Salvation Army, or churches, or private missions.\u00a0 They have not even usually resorted to quoting John Wesley–get all, save all, give all you can–though they might have done so. \u00a0Have you, Messr. Dreyfusard, adequately, honestly sized up the need for limits?<\/p>\n

Love your contestant by knowing her view, and affirming the parts of if that you can.<\/p>\n

Or.<\/p>\n

You are conservative. \u00a0Good for you. \u00a0I commend your conservation. \u00a0But let me ask you something. \u00a0Have you given much effort of thought to why half of the humans in the lower forty-eight, plus Alaska and Hawaii, are voting for the other guy? \u00a0For you conservatives let me suggest three ‘c’s to consider. \u00a0If we are to love our contestant we might want at least to practice saying out loud why they vote the way they do. \u00a0Love is for the wise.<\/p>\n

Choice. \u00a0When the chips are down and hard decisions need to be made, where is the liberty to be placed, where is the confidence to be invested? \u00a0Those to your immediate left in the choir loft privilege liberty, in the sense of personal choice. \u00a0The same affirmations under liberty, made a moment ago, might simply be inserted here. \u00a0We recognize varieties of pro-choice positions. \u00a0We know not everyone buys every party line. \u00a0But, Mr. Conservative, have you truly, deeply considered what it would mean–I am speaking right now mostly to the men–to have your own health choices, of the most personal and most powerful kinds, made by others? \u00a0\u00a0Just how long, Mr. Mr., would you really put up with that? \u00a0At least, can you see, why, from another perspective, choice is a deal maker or breaker?<\/p>\n

Community. \u00a0Those to your left in the pew tend to have a high view of what the common good should be. \u00a0Maybe, way down left, they are reciting lines from ML King about the beloved community. \u00a0They believe in building community, in doing things together, in sharing time and space and energy and resources.\u00a0 Or maybe they just have a memory of when their own family needed housing, needed food, needed health care, needed employment, or suffered through a Hurricane, and they think that the whole is more than the sum of the parts. \u00a0They underscore that one’s own health finally requires a healthy population, that one’s own love of country requires a love of all the people, that one’s own security and freedom finally require a modicum of the same, provided for the whole. \u00a0These lefties may have had a searing experience, up close and personal, with pain and poverty and peril. \u00a0Let those who have much not have too much, and those who have little not have too little, they whisper. \u00a0Liberty, yes. \u00a0But justice, too. \u00a0For all, in these United States.<\/p>\n

Compassion. \u00a0Those to your left in the balcony emphasize compassion. \u00a0Their sense of pride, sloth and falsehood is heightened. \u00a0There but for the grace of God, go I, they think. \u00a0Their sense of hypocrisy, idolatry, and superstition, is heightened. \u00a0They carry an acute memory of where and when things have gone badly wrong, in dispassionate ways. \u00a0Children. \u00a0Children in poverty. \u00a0Children without primary health care, who sometimes become obese. \u00a0Children in distress. \u00a0 Those just to your left, they are willing to forego a bit of frugality for the expansion of compassion. \u00a0It matters deeply to them, this fall, whether or not another 40 million people, many of them children, will have access to health care, after Tuesday. \u00a0Yes, they would rather spare the rod and spoil the child, if that means all children are fed, clothed, housed, taught, and healed.<\/p>\n

Love your contestant by knowing his view, and affirming those parts you can.<\/p>\n

Now let me close by moving from preaching to meddling.\u00a0 Maybe you think I have already been meddling!<\/p>\n

Preaching since 1976, and my May 1976 departure from North Sandusky street, Franklin County, Ohio Wesleyan, Ohio, and a year living across the street, in the old ATO house, from the one person, Mary Martha, or Martha Mary, whose single vote will decide this election, my impression is that in practice we liberals are not always all that liberal and we conservatives are not always all that conservative. \u00a0Here is what I mean.\u00a0 So, as a conservative, you believe in limited government, and think the private sector, including churches, should care for the poor. \u00a0Fine. \u00a0So, do you tithe? \u00a0The average pledge in churches is 1% not 10% \u00a0If you are so keen on limited government, a worthy goal, and think the civil society can carry the work, then why are you so limited in your giving to the churches and other eleemosynary institutions? (See what I mean about meddling?)\u00a0So, as a liberal, you believe in community, in communal benefits, in the common good, the good of all. \u00a0Fine. \u00a0Do you build community? Do you take the time to participate in all those fallible, time consuming groups? \u00a0Do you worship? \u00a0Do you take the time and energy to build up the community, starting with the community of faith? \u00a0Or do you lie in bed, or play golf, or something else, come Sunday.\u00a0 (See what I mean about meddling?) \u00a0Here is what I mean. \u00a0Let each be convinced, in his own mind. \u00a0But practice what you preach.\u00a0 That is:\u00a0 I\u2019ll expect a tithe from the conservatives and 100% worship attendance from the liberals, or, better yet, both from both!\u00a0 Devotion and service, love of God and love of neighbor, worship and generosity.\u00a0 Friends, these are things, right and left, over time that will last.\u00a0 Do these, and you will hear a divine whisper, \u2018you are not far from the kingdom of heaven\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.\u00a0 And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By the way, my name is Bob Hill, and I approve of this message!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/em><\/p>\n

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