Love is work not convenience

 It is clear with the events over the past week, from the invasion of Woolworths in Melbourne and the subsequent violence on the beach to the extreme violence at Bondi that our society both in Australia and worldwide has no conception of love. The theme for this week in our final Sunday prior to Christmas is precisely that 'love' and in the turmoil of life we are unable to express the concept in truth.

It is often too little too late when it comes to love.

For the majority of those at the Melbourne invasion, predominantly teenagers and perhaps some twenty year olds, the concept of love is likely to be the lovey dovey portrayal of romantic love (eros) found in modern cinematic explorations and the story lines promoted by Mills & Boon. They have no conception of anything else as that is all they are fed by parents and society. The concept of a love (agape) that cares for those around them is something that cannot be conceived of. Thus they show contempt for everybody and anything so long as they obtain immediate gratification through violence or theft. For those that come from faith backgrounds the enormous misunderstanding of their own scriptures has to lead us to mourn the loss of profundity and understanding that is common in many faiths around the globe.

The Christian understanding is based on love which goes beyond the misconceptions generated by the romanticism of what is promoted as love. Christian's, and all faiths of the book, promote the concept of what is proclaimed as agape. This is a love that transcends the boundaries that humanity puts in place to segregate, categorise and hate. We deal with the political rather than the reality of love as Christ commands of us in the incarnation that we will celebrate in days. Everything we do and say is often motivated by our own political agendas and fear rather than seeing the situation through the eyes of love. If the country of Israel does something morally against their own religious beliefs for which they are justly criticised, such criticism becomes labelled as being politically antisemitic because a) we have no understanding of our language and b) we follow the politics of separation in order to raise tension and destroy love.

At the end of this week of extreme violence may we begin to reflect on our own words and our own actions when we consider our communities. Christians need to grapple with the meaning of agape rather than dwelling on eros. Any person in a relationship that has managed to stay together over 20 years and longer knows the struggle associated with love. It takes time and effort on the part of two people to make this work, so how much more does it take for us as a community to bring such love into the world. In the current epoch it appears that that effort and that time is too much for us. Society has said that everything is convenient and you do not have to put in effort. If it does not work out move on to someone or something else to find your happiness.

In Matthew's gospel this dilemma between convenience and work is presented to Joseph (Matt 1.16 ff). The easy convenient route that he was about to take or the harder route that shows love. Joseph understood what God was asking and was willing to take the risk. In our lives as individuals and as a corporate entity are we willing to take the risk that God places before us. The one of convenience which allows the world around us to crumble under violence and enmity or the road of work that opens the heart to love and understanding building community in an age where the other is shunned.