I LOVE YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

The Episcopal Church has been running a campaign for the past decade or so which says, “God loves you.  No exceptions.”  It is absolutely true.  It wouldn’t be a bad slogan for the Catholic Church to kick around.  It is defiantly a part of our theology and perhaps not expressed often enough.

 

Jesus, of course, demonstrated this.  Did he limit Himself to just loving those who got straight As in school and only crossed the street at the crosswalk?  No.  He hung out with prostitutes, talked with Samaritan women, and cured a Roman guard’s servant.  God loves every one of His creation.

 

The problem is with leaving the statement there.  God does love you.  But what does that mean?  Coming to realize that God loves you requires a response.  Love requires a response.  “This is me, love me or get away” is not part of the relationship of love.  Jesus loved the prostitutes but he didn’t love them because they were prostitutes.  He had something better in mind for them.  To have an encounter with Jesus was to know that God loves you.  But is also an encounter with the perfect being.  Part of His gift to you is to lift you up, raise your dignity, your sense of worth, to expand your freedom, increase joy, and push you toward the ideal.  Who in Scripture did Jesus leave exactly as they were?  Those that had no intention of changing never became part of His circle.  That does not mean that He did not love them.  He even loved the soldiers putting Him to death, but if He couldn’t work with them, He moved on.

 

When the Catholic Church says, “Jesus loves you, no exceptions,” she does not mean, “So therefore you need not change one iota.”  It means, “Jesus loves you and He wants MORE for you.  More life.  More freedom.  More healing.  A greater capacity for love.  A broader notion of who you are.  Love with God is a relationship that requires a response.  It will not leave you stationary.  (If it does, something is very wrong.)  This is ride to someplace beloved one.  Get ready for a journey.”

WET BABIES

A number of years ago when the fault lines in the Episcopal Church first started to become glaringly public, the Episcopal archbishop of Washington D.C. was asked by an NPR correspondent about his views on the changes taking place within his denomination. He had two interesting comments. One was, "The only people who like change are wet babies," and, when confronted with the notion that many of the positions he was taking had clear prohibitions in Scripture stated, "Don't argue Scripture with me. You can make Scripture say anything you want it to."

Wow.

So much for Sola Scriptura.

Today the PD reports that one of the largest Episcopal parishes in Colorado has decided to leave the Episcopal Church. This is quite a thing to be living through; the brink of a modern day schism. What a historical event. And sad. Yet another division within the body of Christ.

All the more reason to tenaciously hold on to Sacred Tradition which informs Scripture, which in turn informs Tradition. These are the two pillars that keep the bark of Peter on course, the guiding lights that guide her true whenever she may stray.

And she does. Another beautiful safeguard however is the papacy, the magisterium, and the faithful. Even divine institutions have human beings as members and as such they are swayed by evil as any men are. Throughout history, corrupt individuals, revolutions, popular heresies, suppression and persecution have always caused hardships and lapses of faith in one of these branches, but one or two of them remaining faithful have always carried the day and brought us safely back to shore. Man! This Church is an AMAZING institution!

Speaking, however, of our own blemishes, the PD reports today of the Diocese of Cleveland's response to the accusation against former bishop Anthony Pilla from Joseph Smith who himself is accused of financial misdeeds with diocesan funds. The trial of Mr. Smith does not even start until August. It is going to rain mud all summer in Cleveland.