When I began my ministry studies I served as a chaplain intern in two different Canadian hospitals. A wise supervisor there said, “George, you are God’s man in these hospital rooms.”
I struggled with this wisdom. Upon reflection I transformed it into “George, you are Love’s man in these hospital rooms.”
YES!!
This revised form resonated with me, with my gut and my heart. Those of us in hospital encounter the joys and sorrows of life most dramatically. I could be present as Love’s man in these encounters. I could be there to pray, or console, or most often just listen.
This breakthrough understanding has helped sustain and guide me in my life and ministry ever since.
As with many others in my Unitarian Universalist denomination, my sense of my Higher Power does not fit in with traditional Jewish and Christian ideas of God. More on this below.
I strive to be Love’s man, however imperfectly. And believe me, there have been lots of mistakes, missteps and misadventures along the way. Still, for me, the call to be Love’s man gently persists.
The Love I speak of here centers on my willingness to extend myself for the care of others – and for myself as well.
For me, Love is never cancelled. I know I’ve said this in previous letters. It still bears repeating.
LOVE AND RADICAL HOPE MUTUALLY ARISING
This Love I speak of interweaves with my sense of underlying radical hope. Here’s a passage from Walter Brueggemann expressing this interweaving better than I can:
“Hope requires a Source and Agent of newness who is, in inscrutable ways, generative, who is not imprisoned in old habits or present-tense commitments. That, of course, is a theological statement about the character of God that Jews and Christians commonly confess. Thus, I begin with the affirmation that hope is theologically grounded, which of course stacks the cards at the outset. But the alternative to such an agency that stands outside present arrangements is to find grounds for hope within present life arrangements themselves, a strategy that inescapably produces the absolutizing of some power arrangements that soon or late become idolatrous and self-destructive.” (Brueggemann, 2018, p. 96)
The hope Brueggemann writes of here is what I mean by radical hope. In my heart, radical hope is interwoven and mutually arising with my gut and heart knowledge of the power and possibility of Love in my life – and in our common lives.
For me “mutually arising” means
i) radical hope and
ii) the power and possibility of Love
only exist with each other.
Love is never cancelled, and radical hope is always with us. A new day calls me to decide what I do today to further Love -to be Love’s man. And hope arises therein.
I deeply value this passage from Brueggemann. With this said, I approach this passage carefully since I do not claim to be Jewish or Christian.
However I do have a gut and heart sense that there is a Higher Power which is “in inscrutable ways, generative” and “not imprisoned in old habits or present-tense commitments.” I am very much with Brueggemann in this. Even if my understanding of this Higher Power probably differs from his.
In my own life, this Higher Power expresses itself most directly with Love and Radical Hope woven together and mutually arising.
For me, Love and Radical Hope rest “outside present arrangements” and thereby meet Brueggemann’s test.
Love and Radical Hope are not cancelled. And Love calls us urgently to change the present arrangements when and where needed. This will help further realize the Beloved Community we hope for in our lives together on this small planet.
A QUESTION FOR YOU
Now I have a question for those of you reading this letter.
What do you believe is deeply worthwhile and not cancelled in the face of ongoing dramatic change?
I believe “Love is not cancelled.” Scientists or researchers or journalists might believe “Truth is not cancelled.” Painters or musicians or furniture makers might believe “Beauty is not cancelled.” Many other expressions along these lines are possible. What is yours?
And this will not be an abstract belief. What do you sense deeply in your heart is not cancelled? What is deeply worthwhile and will be with you through thick and thin, through pandemics and the dramatic climate change happening all around us? What will be with you beyond “old habits or present-tense commitments” as Brueggemann expressed it?
If you feel moved to answer, you can do so in the comments here on Substack or on Facebook when I post this letter there.
Love to all
Rev. George Buchanan
REFERENCES
Brueggemann, Walter. A Gospel of Hope. Compiled by Richard Floyd. Westminster John Knox Press, 2018.
What is greater than the sum of our parts when we come together is imperishable. A sense of Presence accompanies it.
Generosity and its complement, gratefulness, are worthwhile and never cancelled for me.