Love Is the Cure

Elton John has recently written a book entitled, Love Is the Cure.  He wrote the book to raise money for a foundation that is funding HIV/AIDS research.  But Sir Elton, who has been knighted by the Queen of England, does not place his hope for a cure in medical breakthroughs so much as in changed hearts. 

          “Love is the cure,” could be a slogan to address many other ills in our world; a sentiment that has appeared in many other expressions –

·        What the world needs now is love, sweet love.

·        All you need is love.

·        If there’s ever an answer, it’s more love.

·        Love will find a way.

And there is much in Christian scripture that resonates with and supports these ideals –

·        “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

·        “As I have loved you, so you should love one another.”

·        “God is love.”

So, with all this hope in the power of love, why do we have such a hard time actually loving one another?  If we really believe it, why don’t we do it?

          The simple answer is that we are all sinners who fall short of the mark.  For those of you for whom the concept of sin seems backward and unenlightened I challenge you to find another explanation for why even the best of us still can practice a little deception with our spouses, envy of our neighbors, prejudice against our co-workers, etc.  Most of us are not lacking in education or proper moral training.  Most of us know better than to do some of the things we do.  But we still do them.

          And then there are the things we don’t do which we ought to, or could, do – what Christian tradition calls, “sins of omission.”  The list here would be even longer. The way we turn a blind eye to the needs around us is a testimony to the pervasiveness of sins of omission.

          Why don’t we love one another?  Because we are sinners.

          But Christian teaching tells us that God loves us anyway, willing to die in order to demonstrate how much.  This is what we call gospel – good news.  We are sinners, but God loves us anyway, and God’s hope in the gospel is that if we grasp this divine love and it becomes a part of our wills, or as scripture puts it, a part of our “heart, soul, mind and strength,” then perhaps we will learn to love the way God loves.  Wouldn’t that be something?

          I find that most of us need constant exposure to the message of the gospel in order for it to sink in.  Oh, there are those who seem to be changed into radical lovers seemingly overnight.  But most of us need to hear the gospel over and over again.  We are stubborn.  Scripture says we are “stiff-necked.”  Scripture also says we are being changed from one degree of glory into another.  Being changed by degrees takes time, and constant attention to the basics.

          Wade Page, the extremist white power musician who recently killed several people at worship at a Sikh temple, did not overnight become an ideologue willing to kill others.  The change in him happened by degrees, with constant exposure to the politics of hatred.  If we are to overcome such evil in the world it will require the same persistence, but with a different message, of love being shared intentionally, daily, unceasingly.

          Maybe we should write it one hundred times on the blackboard.  Love is the cure.  Love is the cure.  Love is the cure . . . . . . . . . .