What is Love?

When I hear that phrase I immediately think of Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan and Jim Carey

I've been thinking about the term "love" lately, because
-I am recently engaged and preparing for marriage,
-This recent blog, "Marriage isn't for you" has been popping up everywhere
and
-I recently posted scripture about "love" challenging students at Gordon

I think the Greeks defined the concept of love very well. They had four different terms for love and each had its own very different definition. Love was relative to the context of the relationship and situation. In English love is relative and left for interpretation.

These are some examples of how we hear the term love in our everyday interactions:

-I love pizza
-I love basketball
-I love you as if you were my brother
-I love (so and so person)

All of these statements use the term love, but our understanding and interpretation of love is constantly changing with age and experience, along with the fact that we hear it everyday, in so many different contexts, it creates a jumble in our heads.

So if we are called to love others as we love ourselves. What kind of love is Jesus talking about?
Love others like I love In and Out Burger? Or love others like I love the Raiders? Or love others like I love my fiance'? Or some combination of all of the above? How is it even possible to love everyone? That takes, time, energy, money, and those are all finite things.

Love can be shown in so many different ways. For starters, why don't we just try to be nice to people. I find myself sticking out in a good way, because I generally try to be patient with others, try to smile, and ask simple questions like "how is your day going?"  Doing simple things like showing the barista grace at your local Starbucks, because your order isn't out as quick as it ought to, might get you a free cup of coffee (it happened to me).

But the more serious and deeper your relationship is with someone, the more deeper the expectations are for the amount of sacrifice, patience, and understanding you have to give to that person. The hardest part about this is that we're not supposed to keep tabs or records of this love.

If my parents kept record of all of the dirty diapers they had to change, the amount of times I threw up on them, or the lack of sleep they sacrificed during the first 4 years of my life, I don't think I could ever repay them. And that's only the first 4 years of my life! What about the next 14 when I needed new clothes? Or a new CD, or the things I took for granted like a place to live and food. They loved me, so that I would be able to be in a position one day to love others.

Now it's my turn. It's my turn to love my students and work hard for them, so that they can feel more welcomed and included on campus. It's my turn to love my fiance as God loves her. To make sacrifices for her and not expect anything in return (This is very HARD, by the way).

As God sacrificed his only son for our sins, and expected nothing in return. I am called to love through graciousness. Love through patience. Love through listening and to Love through putting someone else before yourself.

To the Gordon Community

    

As I read through different status updates, and tweets as an outsider looking in, the campus climate in regards to issues of diversity seem shaky at best. This is disappointing to say the least, considering I spent the last couple of years working with minority students on campus. I can't help but feel guilty for leaving Gordon for another opportunity when there was much work left to be done. My heart hurts for the students. The minority students who are left to endure, and try to piece together what is happening on their campus. I'm sorry that you have to go through little micro-aggressions throughout your daily lives. I'm sorry that there are not a significant number of minority faculty and staff in which you can confide and find comfort in on campus. I'm sorry that you have been given so much responsibility to educate the community in efforts of diversity with limited institutional support and resources.

I hope you realize that your voice and opinion matter. I urge you to please continue to pursue administration and make them aware of the things that are happening on campus. If incidents are not reported, it is easier to keep blinders on and not realize the lack of inclusiveness. If Gordon truly  "strives to graduate men and women distinguished by intellectual maturity and Christian character, committed to lives of service and prepared for leadership worldwide," than they must

-teach intellectual maturity in the classroom from diverse perspectives
-teach Christian character from a deeply rooted position of reconciliation

Which leads to the majority students on campus...
Matthew 22:36-39 states:
³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

There is a wide spectrum for where you can lie in regards to your understanding of diversity. No matter where you are on the spectrum,  please ask yourself, how are you loving others as yourself?
I'm sorry that you have not enjoyed Chapel worship. I was actually on the selection committee and thought that I was doing the right thing in helping to select Mr. Mooney-mccoy. After such positive responses to the Gospel Choir and gospel music I thought the campus was ready to be challenged and be exposed to a different style of worship. I really do understand that you may not be comfortable with the type of songs that are being played.

But do you realize that this is something that our minority students go through everyday? This feeling of being exposed to something that is foreign, this feeling of not having control over something that use to be "normal", this feeling of "ugh, what is this, I don't know what this is, so I don't like it," these are small sacrifices of moving towards reconciliation. In order to love others, even if they aren't the majority population, means listening to them and learning what is important to them. It means giving up a position of privilege at times,  it means humbling yourself to learn a new song, and it means realizing that there are several ways to worship God.