“And so, it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them. We can love completely without complete understanding.”
– Rev. Maclean, A River Runs Through It
Dear church family,
One of my favorite books is Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It. I am the father of sons and a Presbyterian pastor living in the mountains, so this shouldn’t surprise you, as Maclean’s story takes place in a very similar relational and geographical setting. Towards the end of the book (and the film based on it), Norman’s father, the Rev. Maclean, delivers a sermon in which he reflects on a struggle within his family. In it he shares those potent words in the quotation above.
Let those sentences wash over you, especially the last one: “We can love completely without complete understanding.” The Rev. Maclean said this in regards to his son, Paul, who struggled with gambling and alcoholism and died too young. As a father, what could he have done? What’s within his control? The Pastor is racked with confusion. Yet in the face of uncertainty, he learned to love.
This is my hope for myself, you, and our church family today: that we would learn to love, and love completely — even without complete understanding.
It’s no secret that these are difficult days and we’re all stretched thin. Other people, even those we live with and know, will elude us. They will rub us the wrong way. They will do things we do not agree with or that we do not understand. Heck, I, as your pastor, will do things you do not agree with or understand. What can we do? What are we in control of? We can love completely, even without complete understanding.
Notice, this doesn’t mean we should turn off our brains. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t engage in healthy arguments when the time is right. This certainly doesn’t mean we should say yes to blatant evil or sin. I am not saying any of these things. But I am saying we can grow in love – love that flows from the heart of God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we can let this love be the guide, the rule, the plumb line that keeps everything else in check.
Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
This is the spirit behind our upcoming book study. Starting September 8, we will be reading A Gentle Answer: Our “Secret Weapon” In an Age of Us Against Them by Scott Sauls on Wednesday nights. Join us. Even if you can’t make it, I encourage you to get the book and read along from afar. Sauls does a wonderful job of naming the challenges of our present age with humor and hope. You may not agree with everything he says. You may not understand everything he says. But I hope you will see how he points us to Jesus, the only one who truly loves completely – and in whom we can learn to love as well.
See you Sunday,
Blake