Prompt thought of the week:
Sometimes the things we think offer love actually seek to bind us, preventing us from being full and whole and offering our best love to the world. The story of Lazarus, whose funeral shrouds trail him out of the tomb, offer us a metaphor of new life as we recognize that true love is that which unbinds us, that wants for us more, not less, freedom and life. Jesus says to us, “Come out!” Walk! Live! Love! Shed your funeral clothes and offer your deepest self, your deepest love, for the world. Of course this kind of love can be dangerous, as we will see as the events of Holy Week loom closer. But the price of continuing to look for love in the wrong places is higher than the blessing of life lived boldly.
The hymn “Love Lifted Me” has been running through my head for the last week or so. It started when the worship team settled on the theme of “Lookin’ For Love” for Lent. I could not recall much of the lyrics except the chorus, so I went to the hymnbook to find it. Surprise, it’s not in the current hymnbook, nor the previous one, nor even in some Presbyterian hymnbooks we inherited from my mother-in-law. Eventually I looked on line, where the hymn was easy to find. I’m not partial to the first verse, which states: “I was sinking deep in sin…very deeply stained within.” I gave up believing that I was born sinful and needed saving a long time ago. However, the second verse speaks strongly to me of the joy of living a life focused on Jesus and his teachings. Here is the full text: “All my heart to Him I give, ever to him I cling, in His blessed presence live, ever His praises sing, Love so mighty and so true merits my soul’s best songs, faithful, loving service, too, to Him belongs.” Then the chorus: “Love lifted me when nothing else could help.” When I experience challenges in life, it is Love that lifts and carries me through the hard times.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for sending messages of love to me when I need them most, and allowing me to also be your agent of love to others.
Pat Hitchcock