L IS FOR LOVE — OF WHICH WE NEED MORE.

Three things last:
faith, hope, and love,
but the greatest of them
is love.  ~ Saul of Tarsus, Christian Apostle

Hatred does not cease by hatred,
but only by love; 
this is the eternal rule.  ~ Gautama Buddha

Bear, being short on time, but wanting to "hang in" with the A - Z Challenge, will be brief.

I was asked sometime ago by a friend, how to define the word "love," as it appears in the Bible. He was really unsatisfied with a lot of the current language that is being used.

I said perhaps compassion would be the best word in our time and place.

He wrote back, saying, "Yeah. That works."

I'm not thinking of erotic attraction or friendship. The love I'm considering in intentional. It doesn't depend on liking, or not liking, a person or people.

That's why it runs all the way of simple kindness to complex justice, which has been my point for the last couple of days.

J IS FOR JUSTICE — ANOTHER SIDE OF LOVE

An advisory

This post is coming to you in pieces. I know what I want to tell you, but I haven't had time to put it together. 

It's been a busy day; a good day, with lots of things happening — so nobody needs to worry. Extra sleeping, shopping, new work, cleaning up. J has run away to San Francisco, via Vancouver, where she met up with her high-school girlfriend. It's pretty safe letting those two out together.

Thinking Justice

I think of justice as complementary in nature love. If you say you love someone, the very least you will do is see that person is treated in a fair and just matter. With a justice that goes beyond the letter of the law. The Hebrew prophets, including Jesus, often spoke of the importance of treating people justly.

Another way of looking at this is by seeing justice and love as two sides of the same coin. That is the approach taken by Joseph Fletcher in his 1966 book Situation Ethics: The New Morality. Fletcher argues that love ad justice are the same thing, and he says "justice is love distributed."

Thinking Beyond Justice

There is one other thing that fits with this. Beyond love and justice, there is also kindness in our personal relations. I'll deal with that next.

I IS FOR INTERRUPTIONS — AND WHERE WE GO FROM THERE

The Times, They Are A-changing'

Yesterday was an interesting day.

Meaning? Though I have been retired for a while now, I have gone back to work. As of yesterday. I was with a group of people I knew. It was pretty much the case that they said, "Well?" and I said, "OK."

So, for the third time, I'm going to be serving as a temporary pastor of a big, downtown church in River City.

In my retirement, I decided to take take part in this congregation's life and work on a regular basis. Our minister has experienced some challenges with his health, and will be away for a while. And like the cardboard set in a broken window, I'll be the "substitute" until he returns. (Perhaps not the best image, but I cannot think of another at this point.) This is a congregation of people who I have known for about 30 years. Working there as minister feels like I have come home, again. And there are other clergy, retired or in other occupations, who are connected to this congregation. They are going to help with the work. My responsibility is to co-ordinate various activities, to be sure that someone is on hand to lead a variety of services (including weddings and funerals).

But . . .

This is going to mean a change to what I normally do. Until I adjust to my new circumstances, you may not see me in the blogsphere as often as usual. I'm not going away. Certainly I'm not going away mad. I'm simply "reconfiguring my activities." (Oh, isn't that a phrase?!) Meaning I'm changing my priorities for a while. There may be some interruptions in my blog presence.

Life Is Good

I'm not sure what will come of this, but I am eager for the challenge. I pray that this will be a blessing to the congregation, and to me. I would appreciate kind thoughts and prayers during this new venture.

Blessings and Bear hugs to you!