Love in Times Like These
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Consider that love is our greatest source of hope.
One is not certain if or why or how.
One wants a Teller now:
Put on your rubbers and you won't catch a cold
Here's hell, there's heaven. Go to Sunday School
Be patient, time brings all good things--(and cool
Strong balm to calm the burning at the brain?)
Behold,
Love's true, and triumphs; and God's actual.
— Gwendolyn Brooks
1 John 4:8
Whoever does not know love does not know God, because God is love.
Matthew 16:27
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
Food for Thought
How do you write about love in times like these, and why do we talk about “times like these” as though they are unprecedented?
We must. And they aren’t.
Earthly principalities long ago and for millenia have proven fickle and fragile, corruptible, and subject to all manner of abuses. I hate to say it, because I believe that people are beautiful and capable of so much goodness; truly, we are. But power can do a number on people, and too many times throughout history, it has claimed the hearts and souls of individuals and nations. What’s the saying – anything is for sale if the price is right? How much is our soul worth?
There are moments, when it feels like anything of love we could possibly offer could never be enough in the face of so much pain and loss, soulless corruption and greed. There are many days, especially of late, when I feel swollen with grief and disbelief, anger and disappointment – it just sits itself right down in my gut and sinks me, and shrinks me leaving me feeling so small and powerless.
Sadly, my experience is nothing new to this world. I have been privileged not to know this feeling all too often over the course of my life, but for many in the world, they have always known it. Jesus was one of those.
Jesus lived in times that probably felt disappointing and left him in disbelief. I know he got angry. He moved in the midst of disease, of scarcity and hunger, of hard-heartedness. He witnessed violence against his friends and community, and disregard for those society would not claim. He held his community as they held the lives of their children, their mothers, their brothers, their neighbors before him – pleading and praying for mercy, for change, for healing, for time, for miracles.
I don’t know if Jesus ever considered giving up on this world, but I follow him because he didn’t. Jesus did what he could where he was. He worked miracles of love for those around him as he encountered them. He advocated and preached and proclaimed love and forgiveness, he lifted up the least worthy in the eyes of the world as examples of faith and blessedness. He just kept on going – kept on shining love on the world.
He knew the challenges they faced would not be overcome entirely. “The poor you will always have with you,” he reminded his followers. And he was right – rulers continued to reign, and claim the authority and power of God, continued to turn their agents of war, violence and oppression on their own people, scapegoating foreigners and those who were different, including Jesus followers – including Jesus – continued to sacrifice children and the most vulnerable of the world on the altars of narcissism and cupidity.
And yet, Jesus’s answer to it all – was to love. On his last night with his disciples he gave his disciples a new command. “Love one another,” he told his disciples. “As I have loved you, so you must also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
And that is how love happens – with and for one another, one small act of generosity, of grace, of concern, of attention, at a time. And that is why love matters more than anything else. For as long as we can witness one act of love, we know that all is not lost – something of God is still there, among us and with us. It is a force that whether small and tender, or loud and fierce grows from heart to heart with the capacity to change the world if we let it. And so we must write about love. We must sing about love. We must paint about love, and draw and create about love. We must be about love and honor it in all that we are and hold, because love has always been our only hope in times like these. Because love can reclaim a soul, love can change a heart, love can heal the world, if we know it. If we share it. Love can save us – and I pray that it will.
The next time you are feeling heartbroken for our world, think of a way you can send love and encouragement to those around you — use our free printable valentines to serve as simple reminder to let others know they are not alone and that they are deeply loved!
This is a cold time of the year – are there folks in your community that could use some warm gifts of love? Shelters and churches often accept donations of socks, mittens, hats, and handwarmers for our most vulnerable neighbors.
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
Oh Love,
May we who bear something of your image be a part of your work of love in the world. May the love we witness give us hope enough to carry on.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
What in your own life has been difficult to hold in these times?
What is a moment of love that inspires you and gives you hope?
What gift of love do you need at this time? What gift of the heart can you offer another to remind them they are loved and are not alone?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Think about how love shows up in the world around you. How do you feel when you notice or experience those moments of love?
How does love change the world for you?
What do people need to know they are loved? How can we be messengers of love to others?
Meet This WEek’s Writer...
Rev. Daryn Stylianopoulos is originally from North Carolina, but has called Boston, MA home for nearly twenty years. Daryn is an advocate for the marginalized and works against injustices in her community. She believes in creatively cultivating a spirit of cohesion, welcome, and healing in the world. A lover of art, music, gardening, and, most of all, family, she often looks to these for inspiration in her work and ministry. Daryn is on staff with American Baptist Home Mission Societies serving as Program Director for the Nurturing Children Initiative, and also serves as a Baptist pastor in the Boston area. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Boston University School of Theology.
To hear more from Daryn throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!