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302 State St. Suite B
Oshkosh, WI 54901
(920) 230-1313
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| The Hidden Teachings of Christ inspirational newsletter is available to its readers free of charge. And the programs and services offered through Authentic Freedom are available to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay. Many have asked how they can help to support Authentic Freedom Ministries in their commitment to making these services accessible to everyone.
Barter is ALWAYS welcome, and financial contributions can be made in check or cash payment to the address above. The recipients of these services thank you.
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Divine and Human Love
There is a lovely, yet dangerous reading that is frequently proclaimed as part of modern-day weddings. This reading presumably states the kind of love a husband and wife are expected to have for each other, while reminding those attending the ceremony of the kind of love that we are supposed to be striving for. Personally, I love this reading, but I see the danger in setting up this kind of expectation of human love. The reading (which may already be familiar to you), goes as follows:
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
1 Cor 13:4-13
I call this reading dangerous because of its ability to plunge us into a state of despair when we realize that we have fallen short of these expectations of love. I shudder at the number of times I have found myself impatient, less than kind, jealous, arrogant, rude, quick-tempered, or harboring resentment toward my partner, or toward any other human being for that matter. Even more dangerous than the judgment I hurl upon myself is the judgment I hurl upon my partner or any other living being when they too fall short of these ideals. The temptation in the face of all this hurling is to set these ideals aside as simply impossible, and quit trying all together.
The good news about this reading (contrary to popular belief), is that the author, Paul of Tarsus, was not speaking about human love, but instead was speaking of the love of God - (agape, in the Greek language in which Paul wrote.), specifically God's love of us and the invitation for us to remember this love as our Divine inheritance, and the very nature of our truest selves. The invitation as we face the areas within ourselves where we have forgotten this love is to be open to the gift of God's grace to heal those places of inner woundedness so that we can once again remember the love that we are. As we grow in awareness and acceptance of this love, only then are we able to reflect this Divine love toward others and approach the capacity of love portrayed in the reading above.
copyright 2010 Lauri Lumby Schmidt |
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