wHen lovE doeS not a-b-o-u-n-d. Philippians 1.9

I had been looking ahead, anticipating talking about love in today’s Morning Briefing … Paul’s love for the Philippians, and because of his heart full of good will for them, how it was his earnest desire that their love would continue to grow and deepen and … well as he said himself, “I pray that your love may abound more and more…” So yesterday, I sat there on the stationary bike at the gym, looking up from the Scripture rubber-banded to the rack in front of me, staring off into space thinking, ‘well, why wouldn’t their love keep growing?’   And then… ‘hmmm….well, why does love get hindered any way?’ 

Moving on, I had things outlined in my mind, just the way I was going to proceed.  (Yes, it seems that no matter my activities, I am always carrying notes with me, and chewing on ideas in the back of my head—sometimes wrestling with notions about various things, and piecing things together…)  So, when I left the gym this morning, I was ready to go.  But rather than sitting down at my computer to start today’s briefing, I decided to hem a pair of pants before heading out for two ministry meetings; I would write a bit later.    All that to say, I had the local news on the radio as I did so; otherwise, I never would have had the ‘luxury’(?) of  hearing the coverage of a most dreadful local police/criminal case.

Here’s the story: in early July, a homeless man died . . . allegedly at the hands of city policemen.  An investigation ensued, and today, the district attorney held a news conference to announce the charges, and the reason for them.  [It was somewhat unusual for me to catch something like this, particularly the ‘live’ coverage of it…]  With careful attention to detail, the DA described the video coverage of one policeman, in particular, demanding that the schizophrenic, homeless man—known by these policemen, and most folks in the community—follow his instructions to sit first this way, and then that … and though the man was obviously confused, the officer donned rubber gloves, made fists, and told him he was “going to _ _ _  him up”, and then did…complete with help from another officer who tased him, and then, beat him in the face eight times with the taser gun …

I felt physically sick as I listened.  ‘Oh, God, this is so sad . . . this was all so avoidable,’ I breathed, as I pressed a crease into my pants.    Let’s just take the one policeman, viewed by 151 witnesses and captured on three videotapes, doing more or less what I described above … whatever in the world took place in this man’s life that he would conduct himself like this toward another human being?  What made him think that the life of this man was worth nothing?  What made him think he had the right to wield life or death that day, while charged with the task of ‘protecting the public’?   ‘Oh God, forgive us … how we have erred in our esteem of life!’

Segue back to our passage when Paul said, ‘I pray that your love may abound …’   What happened to love in this batterer’s life?  Was love limited to his wife, his mama, his children?  Or does he not really know how to love them, either? 

Oh, I suppose this case especially breaks my heart because of the time I spent in Long Beach, coming alongside homeless, often mentally ill people … because of listening to some of their stories, because of so many of them being so terribly misunderstood.  And somehow in the midst of their ‘being misunderstood’, to others they were devalued as human beings; they ceased to be “fearfully and wonderfully made” as our loving Creator said they were!  See, I get it … when you do not know folks personally, you can see them en masse as ‘the crazy homeless’, or ‘those lazy beggars’, or ‘derelict addicts’ … when the truth is, NO ONE WOULD CHOOSE THAT LIFE.  No one would choose to go to sleep with his head on the concrete, sweatshirt rolled up beneath him.

So, what happened to Mr. Second Degree Murder/Mr. Involuntary Manslaughter Policeman with regard to LOVE?   I do not know.  But I will tell you what did not happen.  He did not grow up knowing a loving God, because if he did, his heart would not be void of love and compassion for God’s children.  He does not now walk with a loving Lord, because he could not ever mistreat His creation with no conscience …  those two are mutually exclusive!  Why, you cannot walk with God, and hate the lives of others, to the point that you would hurt, harm, nay . . . even kill them!

So, like Paul, “I pray that YOUR LOVE may abound more and more …” your love in God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ … your love, one for another, that you may grow in grace and love.  And I pray that you as grow in the love of God that you will give it away … that it will spread and be an all-consuming fire in a world that can be cold, hate-filled, and most un-lovely.

Go and LOVE,

Christine

PastorWoman.com