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8th Letter – Return To Love

Posted Sep 1 2010 by Jonathan Brink in , , with 2 Comments

Today’s post is my contribution to the Eighth Letter project, which invites participants to compose letters to the North American church in the spirit of John’s seven letters of Revelation.  A handful of these letters will be chosen for public reading at the Eight Letter conference in October.

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To the Church in North America,

Much love you my brothers and sisters.  Our journey is about remembering.  It’s about discovering what has always been true.  As we enter a new age, one defined by media, social networking, and a longing for life, we’re beginning to see a change in culture that is unprecedented. People are beginning to question everything, including what it means to be a follower of Jesus in a unstable world.  In the midst of this doubt, people are longing for answers to the most fundamental questions of the soul.  What does it mean to be human?  Who am I?  And, what am I supposed to do?  But deeper than that, we’re all wondering, is there anybody out there who will love me?

The answer is yes.

I invite you to return to love. Return to the beginning of time, to the words that inform your soul and define your dignity. Return to the declaration that is imprinted on every human mind, “It is good.”  These are the very words of God, and inform the heart of love.  Love is simply a judgment of good.  These words inform our judgment of each and every person we encounter. Love reminds us that there is nothing we can do to lose the love of God?

God’s love can’t and won’t change because it was never dependent on circumstance.  We can’t change what was true.  But we can forget what is true.  We can judge ourselves as outside of God’s love and create a reality that blinds us from God’s love.  Much of the problem we encounter is biological.  As human beings created in the image of God, we do what God does.  We create and we judge.  But unlike God, we’re bent towards seeing ourselves as unlovable because we assume God is like us.  We’re bent towards seeing love as dependent on tangible things, as conditional. Once we enter into the space of doubt, our minds are biased towards thinking God can’t love us.  So we run.

Thank God for the cross.  I implore you to remember that the cross is not defining God’s statement of love. Grace was always true, from the beginning of time. The cross is God’s defining statement that reiterates the love that was always there. Thank God that Jesus was willing to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God will always love us.  God never loses site of good.  God never forgets his own words.

So we embrace love because it is the defining act of humanity.  To be human means getting the judgment right.  This is wholeness. When we love we are remembering who we are. It strips the blinders off to the one thing that gives us peace, what is true.  We know its true because it produces something valuable. It allows us to rule over the body in a way that produces life.  Love allows us to step into the spaces of pain and suffering, and remained undefined by it.  It allows us to give without the necessity of obligation or receiving.  It allows us to see past the constructed identities of black or white, Muslim or Christian, American or African, or homosexual or heterosexual, to the one true identity that informs the soul, one of child of the living God. It allows us to rule over the self in a way that produces Shalom.

When Jesus simplified everything to the command of love, He was giving us God’s original structure.  Everything came down to the simplicity of love.  We’re free to do anything but we’re guided by love.  To love was a return to God’s rule, to the Kingdom of God.  When we love we’re revealing heaven in our midst.  To love is to see the God image in each and every human being, including ourselves.  Love validates our own dignity as much as the other.

So I invite you to return to love so that you may experience life in its fullest. Much love.

Your brother, Jonathan

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Updated: Rachel Held Evans turned this into a Synchroblog.  You can read some of the letters from participants below.

Rachel Held Evans: Lets Build Bigger Banquet Tables.

Michael Mercer (imonk): A Letter to the North American Church

Sarah Askins: Removing the Make-Up of Perfection

Alise Wright: My Letter to North American Churches

Alan Ward: Alan’s Epistle to the Church in North America

Blue Collard Daughter: More Walk, Less Talk

Amanda Mac: To the Church in North America, Canada

David Henson: A Good Death

John Armstrong: My Letter to the North American Church

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About the Author

Jonathan BrinkI am an business development and communications consultant. I am also the senior editor and publisher for Civitas Press. I recently published, Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole, New Christianity. (Civitas, 2011)View all posts by Jonathan Brink →

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  • Leonardo

    Heaven is free and goodnnThis 85 year old couple, having been married almost 60 years, had died in a car crash. They had been in good health the last ten nyears mainly due to her interest in health food, and exercise. nnWhen they reached the pearly gates, St. Peter took them to their nmansion which was decked out with a beautiful kitchen and master bath suite and Jacuzzi. As they “oohed and aahed” the old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost. nn”It’s free,” Peter replied, “this is Heaven.” nnNext they went out back to survey the championship golf course that the home backed up to. They would have golfing privileges everyday and each week the course changed to a new one representing the great golf courses on earth. nnThe old man asked, “what are the green fees?”. nnPeter’s reply, “This is heaven, you play for free.” nnNext they went to the club house and saw the lavish buffet lunch with the cuisine’s of the world laid out. nn”How much to eat?” asked the old man. nn”Don’t you understand yet? This is heaven, it is free!” Peter nreplied with some exasperation. nn”Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol tables?” the old man asked timidly. nnPeter lectured, “That’s the best part…you can eat as nmuch as you like of whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven.” nnWith that the old man went into a fit of anger, throwing down his hat and stomping on it, and shrieking wildly. Peter and his wife both tried to calm him down, asking him what was wrong. nnThe old man looked at his wife and said, “This is all your fault. If it weren’t for your blasted bran muffins, I could have been here ten years ago!”nnHAHAHAHAHA!!!nn Men in Heaven – Who is the Head of the Household?nnAt the end of the age when all the believers were standing in line waiting to get into heaven, God appeared and said, “I want all the men to form two lines. One line will be for the men who were the true heads of their households. The other will be for the men who were dominated by their wives.”nnGod continued, “I want all the women to report to St. Peter.”nThe women left and the men formed two lines. The line of men who were dominated by their wives was seemingly unending. The line of men who were the true head of their household had one man in it.nnGod said to the first line, “You men ought to be ashamed or yourselves. I appointed you to be the heads of your households and you were disobedient and have not fulfilled your purpose. Of all of you, there is only one man who obeyed me. Learn from him.”nnThen God turned to the lone man and asked, “How did you come to be in this line?”nThe man replied, “My wife told me to stand here.”nnJesus and Moses plays golfnn Moses, Jesus and an old man are golfing. Moses steps up to the tee and hits the ball. It goes sailing over the fairway and lands in the water trap. Moses parts the water and chips the ball onto the green. Jesus steps up to the tee and hits the ball. It goes ailing over the fairway and lands in the water trap. Jesus just walks on the water and chips the ball onto the green. The old man steps up to the tee and hits the ball. It goes sailing over the fairway and heads for the water trap. But, just before it falls into the water, a fish jumps up and grabs the ball in its mouth. As the fish is falling back down into the water, an eagle swoops down and grabs the fish in its claws. The eagle flies over the green where a lightning bolt shoots from the sky and barely misses it. nStartled, the eagle drops the fish. When the fish hits the ground, the ball pops out of its mouth and rolls into the hole for a hole-in-one. nJesus then turns to the old man and says, “Dad, if you don’t stop nfooling around, we won’t bring you next time.”nnMoses and BushnnOne day, two planes land at an airport. President George W. Bush gets out of one. A man wearing a white robe gets out of the other and starts walking away. The Pesident catches up to him, and says, “Excuse me sir. Are you Moses?” the man keeps walking. The president follows him. “Excuse me sir. Are you Moses. The man keeps on walking. The president runs ahead of the man and stops him, repeating himself once more. “Excuse me sir. Are you Moses. finally, the man stopped and replied, “Yes, but the last time i talked to a bush i ended up wandering the desert for 40 years.nnn

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