God Loves Us!
We hear that.
We say that.
God Is Love.
Faith. Fullness.
Faith Mantra.
We speak of the Love that God has laser focused on us and the Cosmos.
Jesus, we say, pursues us as a Lover.
We are, in most of our imaginings, the object of God’s Love.
God is the Subject from Whom that Love flows.
” Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine,” the Song says.
” How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your breasts are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle
that browse among the lilies.
Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
I will go to the mountain of myrrh
and to the hill of incense.
You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
there is no flaw in you.”
These are words that we imagine come from the heart and mouth of the Lover of our souls. Passionate! Lustful! Erotic!
We see this Love as originating and flowing from Heart of God primarily in one direction.
Yeah, we say that we love God.
Why?
Well, because God first loved us, of course.
Then we try to explain how much work we do for God because we love God.
Didn’t Jesus say that those who love Him would obey him?
Our expression of love devolves into doing stuff.
What if we were to actually love God AS God loves us?
What if we take the place of Lover with God as our Beloved?
Then would we not chase God? Consciously? Passionately?
We would say to God,
Awake, north wind,
and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,
that its fragrance may spread everywhere.
Let my beloved come into his garden
and taste its choice fruits.
Would we not be like the Beloved in the Song?
All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.
I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
Could we even imagine saying to God,
Under the apple tree I roused you;
there your mother conceived you…
His left arm is under my head
and his right arm embraces me…
My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him…
This is the language of Love.
This is the language of Relationship.
Lustful?
Yes!
Erotic?
Absolutely!
Let us shed our prim and proper sensibilities.
We must not allow desire to be stuffed in a neat, little Victorian box where it lies stunted and impotent.
If God is indeed the Object of our Love,
Express it!
Live It!
Embrace it!