Love One Another

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another."

John 13:34 (NRSV)

This morning’s sermon at North Nashville’s Metropolitan Interdenominational Church, titled How’s your Love Life?, challenged the congregation to follow Jesus’ new commandment. The Senior Servant reminded us that this verse appears between a passage about betrayal and one about denial, and he spoke of Christ’s love as being pure. Both the Word and my pastor’s words reminded me of my human frailty, of my inability to love all wholly and unconditionally. It’s not for want of trying, but in every phase of life I’ve been faced with one individual or another whose presence and demeanor, perhaps the way he or she conducted him- or herself around me, left me feeling judgmental—and righteous in that judgement, even though none of us is fit to judge the other. In recent years, sometimes when I’ve wrestled with this aspect of my personality, I’ve discussed it with my mother-in-law—a very wise woman from Memphis, Tennessee, who has seen more in her lifetime that I might hope ever to see. “We all as filthy rags,” she tells me. “It’s in the bible. None of us is fit to judge.” When stumbling over judgmental feelings, I frequently hold her up before myself as an example of how to live, and then I strive to be better.

In church today, our pastor—home after a week of appearances and activities at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session focused on drug policy (Metropolitan Church’s interest being the ways in which drug policies influence the rates of HIV infection)—left us with three points to consider, all central to his work during this past week. (1) Do no harm. Although a given in harm reduction work, policy makers often lose sight of this principle in favor of appeasing constituents and appearing tough on crime. (2) Glorify the Lord. As a tireless faith leader, our pastor gently yet firmly reminds policy makers and others of what is right in the eyes of the Lord. (3) Love radically. That’s a hard one. As a radically-inclusive congregation we seek to be “inclusive of all and alienating to none,” and we are an interesting mix of humanity. While I can welcome you, or anyone, into the church—it’s outside, in my own life, that I stumble.

Lord, give me the strength and discernment to love more fully, more purely, than my human heart would have me love. Amen.

Faith is a Journey

Photo by Bri'Anca Jordan

Accepting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior came late in my life. Although I was raised in a church it was a Unitarian church and we spoke of one God. The church was walking distance from our house, we did not even think of driving the few blocks. Being good neighbors and stewards of the earth, we always picked up any litter we found along the way. Our church was located next to our branch library and the first elementary school my sister and I attended. A large Catholic church was located practically across the street from the library, but in our household the trinity was a foreign concept. It remained foreign throughout the first half-century of my life.

The town where I was raised seemed to be predominantly Catholic and Jewish, or at least those were the kids easiest to identify because either they attended CCD classes and got confirmed at some point or they attended Hebrew School and had a bar or bat mitzvah celebration. For my sister and me, Sunday School was held on Sunday mornings for the little kids, and when we got older we graduated to choir practice on Thursday afternoons and then attended the adult worship services on Sundays (sitting in the choir loft, of course). As an adult I drifted away from church and organized religion, and for some years even away from God. But upon moving to the heart of the Bible Belt, on land that is truly in God's country, I could no longer deny the existence of a divine creator and I welcomed God back into my heart. What a relief!

These days I belong to an Interdenominational church located in Nashville, Tennessee. I attend fellowship suppers and Bible Study classes on Wednesdays and worship services on Sundays. We live about an hour away from the church, and for this reason I do not participate in Saturday activities including choir practice. When we first joined, I regretted that joining the choir would involve such inconvenience; now, I am content to sing along with the congregation. (Blessedly this congregation is light years away from the rigid New England traditions in which I was raised, wherein the congregation sat still and quiet, rising only to sing hymns on cue. At Metropolitan, congregants sing or speak whenever the Spirit moves us.)

Whenever becoming acquainted with a new culture or hobby, I have always turned to literature, in particular--fiction. When establishing a hobby farm a few years back, I relied on nonfiction; however, I had spent enough of my formative years soaking in the wisdom of such authors as James Herriott and Mary O'Hara that the culture of farm life was familiar. Similarly, as I came to Christianity, I devoured the authors of Christian Fiction that line the shelves of my local library before discovering the Cokesbury store in downtown Nashville.

Today I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and converse regularly with God. In recent years I have also accepted responsibility for stewardship of my body as well as the earth. A decade ago, I was an unbeliever surviving on the Standard American Diet (which, admittedly, is S.A.D.), passionately teaching middle school English in a Boston suburb. Now I am blessed to be living on a rolling hillside in Middle Tennessee where the majority of my neighbors are bovine, where instead of pets we have livestock, and where we can eat locally and know the source of much of our food. My primary food incorporates spirituality, relationships, career and physical activity. What goes into my mouth is but secondary food. (And it is generally far more healthful than in years past.) For this outlook, I thank the teachings of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition.

Welcome to the Faithful in Health blog where I imagine we'll be covering topics related to health (human and environmental), natural living, faith, contemporary literature and well being. I am glad to be beginning this journey with you.

Blessings.