i've been pondering on love lately
here's some stuff i've found
why we need a new definition of love from the centre of attachment web site okay in true ange style i'm just gonna cut and paste huge chunks.
This artical mainly talks about love from a parenting angle, but as i read it it struck me how "christ like" love really is, maybe when love is spoken of in the bible it is the below kinda definition, wow that cool!!
just slot in ...church person /or church community or humanity or your family or mongrel mob guy next door or homeless lady you get the idea
man!! us 'churches' are so letting the side down
While it remains clear that society’s teachings about love are not enough to keep children safe, it is now equally clear to me that the abusive parent and I are not as different as I once thought. We all feel out of control. We yell, we behave badly, we regret our words and responses. We act according to our own needs and impulses, forgetting the sanctity of our children’s needs and the mutuality of our relationship. And, most of all, on our worst days, we all cling tightly to the consolation that we love our children. We assuage our guilt and soothe our fears with the hope that our feelings of love will be enough. We refuse to face the reality. Love is not just a feeling and the feeling is never enough.
i guess we dampen the guilt with saying stuff like "thats what the deacons are for"or "i sponsor a child" when really it's just going on the
feeling that we are loving our nieghbour with out actually living out the true definition.
To love another person is to accept the need to protect, to trust, to acknowledge and to honour. To love is to abandon our fears and embrace compassion. To love is to move beyond mere feeling into the world of action, embracing a basic desire for others to be happy.
i guess the christain motivation would be that it's an outpouring of Gods love that he showed in human form (his son Jesus).and that we are told to reflect that?!.
When next in a bookshop, take a look at the advice for parents on the shelves. Most of it boils down to strategies. Strategies of avoidance to stave off ‘bad’ habits, strategies of control so we remain in charge and strategies of disharmony which pit our needs against our children in order to fashion our lives into what we think they should be. Yet the only strategy worth pursuing shepherds compassion and guards connection. It is not strategy, but active love. Each family must find their own way, attuning to their particular rhythms and needs against an unflinching backdrop of bold love for each other. We don’t need ways to manage our feelings. Instead, we need to act faithfully to them.
We all know that our feelings cannot erase our behavior. We must remind ourselves, sometimes constantly, of what is important, of what matters, of who we love. Holding that awareness in mind does not make us immune to mistakes. It can, however, move us into apology and reconnection after missteps and misjudgements. If we can acknowledge that we are all capable of failure, we open ourselves to the idea that we are also capable of forgiveness. And of being forgiven. We must be brave enough to hold both in our hands and weigh them equally.
we must grow to know our children/or nieghbour and begin to understand ourselves. We may come to understand that our reactions and motivations have been prejudiced by past confusion, ancient wounds or bad advice. So we begin to untangle truth from old fiction, to fathom our true potential.
retro-vision i guess, but conciously figuring out our beliefs/values and where they stem from. (italics is mine)
I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. ~Mother Teresa
love has intensity and power that surpasses reason and understanding. Love – real love - comes not just with a thunder of feeling but with a commitment to the life of another. Real love encompasses compassion. Real love abandons fear. The mere feeling of love will never be enough. We must grow its meaning and expand its reach. We must grow the word until it rises like bread to fulfil human longing and human potential. We must allow ourselves to grow with it.
i know this article wasn't written to be taken in this way but i couldn't help it.wow if Christians could do this eek you might have a revolution. Actually honestly looking out for others, i guess it'll transform lots of relationships around us , with our neighbors and with our Sunday pew sharers and with our bubba's and children.
but i guess it'll be chucked in the
too hard bin or the
too radical or the
far to challanging to change my way of thinking bin
so we'll be blobbing out in our comfy chairs trying to get the theology stuff in our heads before we start living the love stuff.
but i guess in the end it'll be the love stuff that'll be questioned at the last day not the "what you don't believe it took exactly 6 days to create the world?" stuff
as put well by this guy
here"So here we are standing in this great line, and Jesus will ask us, “Did you feed the hungry?”
“Well, Lord, I’m an Episcopalian, and I was baptized and on the cradle roll.” “No, I understand, but I want to know, did you feed the hungry? Did you give your resources to help those who were in need? Did you volunteer in a soup kitchen? Did you support policies for the poor? Did you give someone water?” “Well, Lord, you know I got to synagogue every Sabbath.” “No, I understand that, but I want to know did you give the thirsty water? Did you find a way to provide clean wells and use your technology for clean water not only in foreign countries, but those in your own country, your own city? I want to know did you treat the stranger with justice?” “Well, Lord, you know I’ve been a Presbyterian. In fact, I’m a charismatic Presbyterian and I speak in tongues.” “I understand that, but what I want to know is did you stand up for the rights of the stranger? Did you stand up for the rights and the dignity and the acceptance of the alien? Did you stand for those and the one whose gender, whose sexual orientation, whose race or views, or culture, was different from yours, or from the majority? And what about the sick and the dying? Did you work for health care for the most vulnerable? Were you mindful of the pandemic in the world of AIDS/HIV? Or what about prisoners? Did you affirm society’s proclivity to throw away the key and forget about those in prison? There’s so much that God wants to be done for the world God loves, have you done any-thing? ....Anything?
this is another great speech on the topic or christain love.
When Mother Teresa was asked “how is it possible for you to discover Christ under the appearance of alcoholics and drug addicts, as you say you do?” she answered this way.
“None of us has the right to condemn anyone. Even though we see some people doing something bad, we don’t know why they are doing it. Jesus invites us to not pass judgment. Maybe we are the ones who have helped make them what they are. We need to realize that they are our brothers and sisters. That leper, that drunkard, and that sick person is our brother because he too has been created for a greater love.
This is something that we should never forget. Jesus Christ identifies himself with them and says, “Whatever you did to the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” That leper, that alcoholic, and that beggar is my brother. Perhaps it is because we haven’t given them our understanding and love that they find themselves on the streets without love and care. I believe that we should realize that poverty doesn’t only consist in being hungry for bread, but rather it is a tremendous hunger for human dignity. We need to love and to be somebody for someone else. This is where we make our mistake and shove people aside. Not only have we denied the poor a piece of bread, but by thinking that they have no worth and leaving them abandoned in the streets, we have denied them the human dignity that is rightfully theirs as children of God. They are my brothers and sisters as long as they are there. And why am I not in their place? This should be a very important question. We could have been in their place without having received the love and affection that has been given to us. …. I think we should examine our own conscience before judging the poor, be they poor in sprit or poor in materials goods.” (One Heart Full of Love, p.130, emphasis mine.)
1 John chapter 3 (NLT)
16 We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. 17 But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help - how can God's love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 19 It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth.
His words in
Mathew 25:31-46 are chillingly clear that our actions toward the “poor” will have consequences. Verses 34-40 read, “Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me….. I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Jesus told those who did not do these things, “depart from Me, you who are cursed….”
Colossians chapter 3 (NLT)
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful.
16 Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.
The deeper truth is known as Gandhi once said to us, that the problem in the world is that Christians is Christians won’t be Christian. Humility, service, love, respect, this is the calling and the witness of Christ.so much energy spent on trying to make ourselves look good for God and the other Sunday people (outward appearance wise and through trying to make it sound like everything sweet)trying not to offend/challenge anyone by saying what you actually believe.(this seem's like lying than loving to me)
it's late I'm tired and going to bed now...... enough with me writting sermons.. more doing... more heart and soul..amen
