Pentecost+14/Proper 18A (Romans 13:8-14)

Roughly speaking, the principle of Ockham’s razor states, “Don’t add unnecessary assumptions to explain something.” The simpler, the better. This principle, of course, doesn’t apply to everything but at least for our Christian faith, I think it works. Considering how our theological ideas and languages tend to make things difficult (or to make God more difficult or distant at worst), the principle of Ockham’s razor forces us to cut to the core of our Christian faith. At least, it questions us, “What really is the essence of our Christian faith?” When this fundamental question is ignored, we Christians get lost on our way to the way of Jesus. 

St. Paul in his letters to the Romans which we hear this morning goes right into the essence of Christianity: Love. There’s no greater teaching than love in our Christian tradition. This simple teaching is something that we already know. Because we’re so used to it, it seems this teaching of and call to love is somewhat taken less seriously. Every single Christian knows love is the highest value they’re to keep. 

85% of the 116th congress, which is 456 members, are Christians. We as fellow Christians might want to ask whether their core value as both a Christian and a politician is love and how love influences their political and policy decision-making processes. Without having to actually look at a single data, we might somehow assume love is not reflected in whatever most of these 456 members of the 116th congress do. While this assumption is unfair to some faithful politicians and is quite biased, it can reflect what we see in our current American political scene and what we think about it.

There’s a reason why I bring up this uneasy topic of our American politics in this reflection. Right before his teaching on love which we read, St. Paul talks about governing authorities: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” (Romans 13:1) Paul’s view on governing authorities is not the essential teaching of Christianity though it may have been true in his time. What’s more troubling is not so much about his view on politics and authorities. It seems to me lots of Christians pay more attention to his relative advice than Jesus’ actual teaching and commandment of love. When love is emphasized in decision-making, it might be easily brushed off or considered unrealistic. It’s like love may be kind but is never popular in our culture. Love can be put on hold because love is patient!

I often wonder about this lack of consideration of the essence of Jesus’ teaching and its somewhat ineffectiveness in our lives. Why so often do we forget about this teaching of love, and how can we follow it? We may not have been the one and only generation of Christians who do not faithfully follow this teaching. The Romans to whom Paul writes in his letters would’ve been just like us, which is why he talks to them about love. Paul’s diagnosis of this spiritual apathy is clear: “...you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.” 

This past Sunday, we talked about what it’s like to be in union with God. Connie brought up how difficult it can be to experience that union during this pandemic. This realistic assessment of our situation is crucial to make sense of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Betsy shared her experience of being one with God in her contemplative observation of plants, flowers, and animals. To wake up from sleep is to be aware of God’s union with us. When our minds are focused on only one thing from 11 million pieces of information of unconscious processing per second and 40 pieces of information of conscious processing per second, we experience a sense of peace and restoration. This moment of clarity and serenity is when God who is always present is revealed to us. When our God-consciousness is awakened, we’re in union with God. This is also when we go out of ourselves that we experience a great joy of self-forgetting. No second thought about ourselves exists. No self-doubt. Not a chance for self-hatred to sneak in. 

Now, bring this experience to when we interact with other human beings. Imagine we’re not distracted from anything but are solely focused on this one person we’re encountering. This full attention to the person is an act of love. We empathetically listen to and are fully present with the person. In this very state, we and the person are in God’s presence, being united with and in God. Thus says Jesus, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20) Our personal spiritual practice of being in union with God extends to our neighbors. This then is how we put on the armor of light and what putting on Christ looks like. Amen.