POETRY IN MOTION
Homily for the Second Sunday after Trinity
The Rev. Marq Toombs+ Curate
The Collect. O Lord, who never failest to help and govern them who thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love: Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle. 1 John 3:13-24; The Gospel. Luke 14:16-24
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Love (iii). A poem by poet and priest George Herbert.
// Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked any thing.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat. //
That poem captures so beautifully what I want to convey so clearly in this homily. But I know that poetry is not everyone’s love language. So let me put it another way.
I want to draw your attention to the Collect for Trinity 2 found in your prayer book and the back of your worship guide. This ancient Collect is considered by some to be one of the most beautiful in the Book of Common Prayer (JH Blunt).
Like all Collects, it has several parts: the Salutation – O God; the Adoration – who never failest to help; the Petition – keep us…make us; the Benediction – thru our Lord Jesus Christ.
Collects often work like secret decoder rings that unlock the mystery of the Epistle and Gospel and even the lectionary readings. Note the emphasis on love and reverence in the Collect and how it pulls together God’s love for us, and our love for him; God’s love for us, and our love for each other.
We hear lots of talk about love these days. Some say, “Love is love” and “Love wins”. Others say “Love hurts, love scars; Love wounds and mars any heart”. Some say, “Love is a curious thing; makes one man weep, makes another man sing.”
But what is love? How do we know it when we see it?
According to the apostle John, “By this we know love: that Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
This love is more than an emotional feeling, love is far more than a sexual vibe. This love is sacrificial, this love is sacramental. As an academic philosopher puts it: “[Love] is the will and habit of giving oneself to another in order that life and union may increase.” (Douglas Jones, The Rhetoric of Love)
“Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
This is the supreme description and supernatural demonstration of True Love.
God is Love. And in Jesus Christ Love became flesh and moved into our neighborhood, walked on our streets, slogged through our messes, knocked on our doors, visited our homes, suffered our sorrows, carried our sins to the cross, endured the shame, laid down his life, rested in the grave, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, poured out the Spirit, and now prepares a place for us.
True Love has skin in the game — and it feels, sweats, weeps, and bleeds.
True Love is life in the grip of death, True Love is light in the midst of darkness, True Love is labor in the face of despair.
God is Love in the flesh.
This love is participatory and transformative.
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
We receive True Love, and we are reformed by him.
“If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother or sister in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” Answer: it doesn’t.
It is not enough to be informed about True Love intellectually and doctrinally, we must be transformed by True Love incarnationally and practically.
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
God demonstrated his love in words and by works.
We are called to do likewise.
So "Remember this: Love is at the center of your life. The things that you do should be things that you love; and things that you love should be things that you do." (Ray Bradbury)
Love marks the antithesis between the children of God and the children of the devil.
Love is cross-shaped, not cut-throat. It is altruistic, not ego-centric. It is not focused on itself but on others.
Love lays down its time, treasure, and talent sacrificially for the sake of others – especially its brothers and sisters in the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. It is costly, not cheap.
Love is practical, not theoretical. It is concrete, not abstract. It is spiritual and physical, not ethereal or hypothetical.
Love sweats, bleeds, cries, and shares sacramentally for the life of the world.
I opened this homily on love with a poem by the priest and poet George Herbert. I want to close it with a poem by another poet and priest Malcolm Guite. This poem also captures so beautifully what I have tried to convey in this homily.
// Love took George Herbert’s hand and now takes mine,
The same quick eyes, the same wry, welcome smile,
The same spear-pierced and always-healing heart.
He turns to me and, taking bread and wine,
He spreads a table in the desert, while
I hesitate and draw back, stand apart,
Afraid, as always, of committed love.
But I have come too far to turn away,
‘So come’, says Love, ‘there’s nothing left to prove,
And nothing you need to do or say,
I am that perfect love that casts out fear,
So sit with me here, taste and see –
And find that all your loves are found in me.’ //
Again, the poets say so beautifully and succinctly what I have struggled to say so clumsily and plainly.
But it all comes down to this: Love calls us to come to the Feast, to take our places around his Table, to share in his life, to taste and see that Love is good.
This is not a time to make excuses, to stay away, or do anything else. There is nothing more important than this. There is no higher priority than this. Love compels you to come.
You have been invited by Love. You have heard the call of Love. Others have not. At least not yet. But you have and Love compels you to come. Love wants you to draw near with faith and partake of this Holy Communion. A small taste of the bigger things yet to come. Love knows what you need — and you need Jesus.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
