For a while now, I've been very lax in the laundry department in terms of ironing. This morning I realized my batik print tunic would need to be ironed if I wanted to wear it to church. It was under three t-shirts that also needed a press because I hadn't gotten them out of the dryer soon enough. Why not get them done too? So, I ironed out the wrinkles in my Love Is the Law t-shirt which I bought at the music event in downtown St. Paul after Gov. Dayton signed the same sex marriage bill into law. And I thought about the story behind the shirt while ironing, because ironing doesn't take a lot of brain activity.
Chan Poling, of the band The Suburbs, saw the phrase "love is the law" in a graffiti tag and liked the sound of it so he wrote a song for his band. Several years later it became the theme song for the marriage equality movement in Minnesota. Poling seemed to have this sense that this idea was significant, and perhaps under expressed, so was worthy of highlighting musically.
It certainly resonated this year. Not only in this campaign of course, for in many ways we hear of people's valuing of love, hopes that love would prevail, and stories of the power of love to restore, reconcile and heal. The thing is, that love is the law is not a new idea. It is at the core of what Jesus taught and lived. That popular culture comes up with this as a new idea, because it has not been manifested by the Church, points to a significant problem. Love for God, neighbor and self is the distillation of the Christian life. What would the world be like if love truly was the heart of faith and practice for Christians?
How did we get off track, distracted by behavioral control, dogma, social power, and so many other things?
It was then I thought of the kids on Wednesday night at church, how I talked about the temple King Solomon built before inviting them to use Legos to make part of that temple. Until 70 CE there was only one temple, that had significance for both Jews and Christians. Somehow, as Christianity separated from its roots in Judaism, and despite the biblical teaching about the people of the Church being the temple of the Holy Spirit, we started building many ornate worship spaces to be our temples. Money, status, stability, power--all of these help if one wants to build large centers for worship. And then the focus falls on the building, which becomes the church in the minds of many. Thus we forget that we as a community of the faithful are to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. We forget that love from God for the world is our missional identity and purpose.
The whole world is in need of the witness from the disciples of Jesus that we are called by love to love. We, as disciples, need to open our eyes to see how God is at work in this essential ministry, outside of, and even in spite of, the Church.
