All You Need is...
The opening song of the play (and movie) Rent asks the question, "How do you measure a year?" The song goes on to offer a list of possibilities: in inches, in cups of coffee, in laughter, or perhaps in sorrow. I think each of us might use these criteria to measure time. We ask things like, "How long has it been since so and so died?" or "When was it we had to carry that wood up that hill?" We all have different ways of measuring life.
Yet the song goes on to ask one final question with regards to measuring a year. "How about love?" This is actually the answer the song settles on and is the underlying current in the whole production. And while you may or may not like the musical or the movie, the question is a deep one. Why don't we measure time through love? Why can't we measure our accomplishments by demonstrations of love?
I suppose that the song haunts me a little. Partly because I hear in it someone asking the question that I believe Christ already sought to answer.
Several years ago, there was a rock band who came out and made a fateful statement in a live performance. They said they were going to sing a song about God. They explained that since they were going to sing a song about love, that they were also singing about God since God is love.
They were booed off the stage.
But their statement is straight out of the New Testament. In 1st John 4:8 we read that "anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." I guess that this just doesn't go over that well in rock concerts. But it also doesn't seem to always go over well with Christians, either.
It seems that we tend to look towards the future with fear, seeing all the possibilities for doom (which are pretty evident), yet failing to hear that there is another option in living and in measuring the years that have been and the years to come.
I think that love is too often an over-used word. Perhaps we Christians need to reclaim it as a word of power and hope, not just a sloppy term of affection. It is a word used to describe and define God. Shouldn't that tell us something about the nature of the word? Jesus calls us to love one another, even our enemies. Why? Perhaps because he believes that we should be taking God seriously and therefore reflecting God in everything we do.
Perhaps if we measured a year in our attempt to be loving (dare I say, Godly?), we might think of life in a whole new way. It also might move mountains, if not churches, in unimagined directions.
How about love? It held a powerful place in the teachings of Jesus. It was a word used to describe God. Maybe it should be a compass for our actions. If nothing else, perhaps it should hold a powerful place in our hearts as well.
Yet the song goes on to ask one final question with regards to measuring a year. "How about love?" This is actually the answer the song settles on and is the underlying current in the whole production. And while you may or may not like the musical or the movie, the question is a deep one. Why don't we measure time through love? Why can't we measure our accomplishments by demonstrations of love?
I suppose that the song haunts me a little. Partly because I hear in it someone asking the question that I believe Christ already sought to answer.
Several years ago, there was a rock band who came out and made a fateful statement in a live performance. They said they were going to sing a song about God. They explained that since they were going to sing a song about love, that they were also singing about God since God is love.
They were booed off the stage.
But their statement is straight out of the New Testament. In 1st John 4:8 we read that "anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." I guess that this just doesn't go over that well in rock concerts. But it also doesn't seem to always go over well with Christians, either.
It seems that we tend to look towards the future with fear, seeing all the possibilities for doom (which are pretty evident), yet failing to hear that there is another option in living and in measuring the years that have been and the years to come.
I think that love is too often an over-used word. Perhaps we Christians need to reclaim it as a word of power and hope, not just a sloppy term of affection. It is a word used to describe and define God. Shouldn't that tell us something about the nature of the word? Jesus calls us to love one another, even our enemies. Why? Perhaps because he believes that we should be taking God seriously and therefore reflecting God in everything we do.
Perhaps if we measured a year in our attempt to be loving (dare I say, Godly?), we might think of life in a whole new way. It also might move mountains, if not churches, in unimagined directions.
How about love? It held a powerful place in the teachings of Jesus. It was a word used to describe God. Maybe it should be a compass for our actions. If nothing else, perhaps it should hold a powerful place in our hearts as well.
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