How Do We Love God?
The Rev. Charles E. (Chuck) Blair
L
oving God, at one level is incredibly esoteric. “Wu Wu” stuff as my friend
would say. How do we love something that often appears to our dim
human eyes distant, disembodied, contentious even?
Emanuel Swedenborg offers this:
Loving God “does not mean loving God for the image He projects but loving
the good that comes from Him. Loving the good is intending and doing it.”
(Heaven and Hell 15)
Restated, there are these good things that come from God – the good stuff
– the good stuff often even in the midst of the hard stuff. God’s love made real
into the world. Seen, heard, witnessed, experienced, shared.
Our job – to love God. Which means placing our intention behind that
good stuff and DOING IT.
In ways hard to describe, that aligns our
best intentions with God’s loving intentions.
Or more accurately, it uncovers in our soul
those loving intentions gifted from God –
God’s and ours at the same time.
We can see that all over. A recent story
featured the photograph here of a group of
fast-food workers joining a woman in prayer
who had shared with the cashier that just a few hours before she had lost her
husband. Humanity at its best. God’s loving work among us and through us. A
picture that answers in some small way, “How do we love God?”
The Rev. Charles E. (Chuck) Blair is pastor of NewChurch
LIVE in Bryn Athyn. He had taught in the Academy Secondary
Schools and was head housemaster in Stuart Hall for many
years before entering the ministry. He lives with his wife Keene
(Smith) and family in Bryn Athyn. Contact: chuck.blair@
newchurchlive.tv
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