The Love of the Holy - Hosea 11:1-11

My mouth shut at the intensity and depth of her question. “Didn’t you hear me?”, the patient asked. “What is the nature of God?” The only thought racing through my mind was “Huston, we are not in seminary anymore.” In an attempt to buy myself some time I asked her what she thought the nature of God was. That attempt failed as she spun the question right back at me saying, “I asked you first.” So I said what was on my mine. “I think God is lover of all and the only true embodiment of a love that we can never understand. And that love binds us to one another in community.” “Hummm….” The patient pondered. “I agree with the first part, I think God is love in its truest form, but the second part about community, that my dear is the Holy Spirit.”

As I was reading today’s scripture passage in preparation for this weeks service, the story I just told you about kept running through my mind because the scripture is all about how God loves us. And really that’s the entire message of the book of Hosea – we may never be able to deserve God’s love but it is lavished upon us, even when we turn our backs on the One who loves us the most.

Hosea tells us of the anguish we cause God when we run from Love. Anywhere in today’s scripture passage where Israel is mentioned, let us insert ourselves into the story. When we were children, God loved us and we loved God We may not have had the vocabulary to define God, but we had eyes that recognized God’s love for what it is, pure. But as we became older, our eyes got a bit cloudy. We plugged our ears and closed our eyes in attempts not to see God. Maybe at first, this wasn’t intentional. Maybe at first we just became so distracted by a new person or thing in our life that we spent a little less time being captaviated by the awe-inspiring nature of God’s love. Or maybe we intentionally ran from God because society was telling us that it was childish to run after love, especially a Love that didn’t include instant gratification.

Whether it was a slow process of distancing ourselves from God through distractions or an immediate and conscience choice to flee from God in order to give into the things that brought us pleasure, we all were apart from God at one point or another in our lives. The further we wondered the louder God called for us to come back, but we were content in our own created universes so we didn’t want to listen. We didn’t listen for so long that we actually forgot how to hear. We stumbled through our own haze and we forgot how to see Love for what it is, the nature of God alone. At some point we each realized that something was missing in our lives, especially as we felt this uncomfortable and growing hole in our heart and soul. It’s that missing puzzle piece that Dr. Jones talked to the children about last week, the place where only God can fit. We tried to fill the hole with things that used to bring us pleasure – money, sex, being busy, shopping, alcohol, we each had our own personal addiction, even if we would not have named it as such. But the adrelene from the thrill of running from God soon became empty as well, and the tangiable signs of the pleasures that we once had, began to disappear. We set up our own little alters are reminders, but they only became dull and lackluster.

We became blind to love as we started taking credit for what only God could be doing. We forgot that God gave us every good gift that we’ve ever had. We casually forgot that it was God who taught us to be stewards of our resources and showed us how to do each simple thing that lead to who we are today. We may be able to dance now, but its only because God taught us to walk and gave us the music to move to. But we dismissed the vastness and depth of the wonderous things that God has done in our lives, making us selfish and callous.

We became slaves to our own selfish desires as we kept pushing for our own definitions of love. Even then God tried to relieve us from our burdens and give us tender hearts through grace, but we put our yolks back on because we would rather be heavy-laddened and maintain our pride then repent. It didn’t take long once our pride got in the way for us to become upset with other people. We went to war to prove ourselves, instead of laying down our weapons for peace. All the while, God is still calling us, and we are still turning away, too caught up in our pettiness with others to realize that God’s overarching love is still present, if we would only take the time to recognize it.

This past week I heard a new children’s story for the first time. It was entitled, “You are Mine” by Max Lucado. Over the past few years I’ve renewed my love for children’s books as I look at the pictures for new insights and listen intently for different lessons. The basic premise of the story is that there was a community of wooden figures called Wimmlets who were all created by Eli, the master carver. The Wimmlets liked to play, and worked hard in order to enjoy the simple things in life. Almost all Wimmlets had two toys that they liked to have – a colorful box and a ball. Life was good until one day, when two of the Wimmlets started to think about having more boxes and balls. They inevertently started a new standard by which to measure other Wimmlets – who had the most. Many of the Wimmlets started to do silly things in order to collect balls and boxes. They sold their furniture and their homes to get money for boxes and balls. They gave up time with the friends who they used to play with their box and ball toys with in order to have more time to work for more boxes and balls. And the cycle continued. And it seemed that with each passing days new rules were being created to see who was better then the best Wimmlet.

Unbeknowance to the Wimmlets, Eli was looking down on all of their activity from his house on top of the hill. Eli was becoming very distressed because he hadn’t created the Wimmlets to fight with one another or to collect things to the point where they didn’t have any joy. The Wimmlets had put their passions in front of their purpose to the point where even what they used to love had become a mark of disdain. Worse, the Wimmlets carried all of their boxes and balls everywehere, which they were not designed to do. They were un-necessarily burdening themselves and Eli just couldn’t understand why, sicne he had something so much better for them. He loved them and called them his own. Does the story sound familiar? What boxes and balls are we collecting in our lives that are blocking out view of God? How have you turned your back on God?

If the story ended there it could be pretty depressing. If we had just turned our backs again and again on God, there wouldn’t be much of a story, let alone a story of Love. But it doesn’t end there. God continues to chase after us. God will not give up on us because Love never fails in its purest form. God may be angery for a period of time, but Love does not act out on anger. Instead love patiently waits for the day when we will realize our errors and return. And when we come back there will be a celebration that welcomes us back home.

One of my biggest struggles while working at Hershey Medical Center is trying to figure out why I am so uncomfortable around patients who have done stupid things. The results of what happened to them aren’t really accidents because they knew what they were doing wasn’t the best idea, but they also aren’t intentional acts, especially since no one would expect something bad to happen to them. Sometimes I just want to shake the patients who think that it is a good idea to ride a motorcycle, without a helmet, at around 100mph, while intoxicated. But while working on this weeks sermon I realized that we are all like that in one way or another. We sometimes do foolish things that get us into a lot of trouble, but God’s grace covers all of that. We may still get hurt, but it is not God’s punishment for us, but a chance for redemption. Even when we intentionally screw up, God’s love does not fail and meets us right where we are. Like a family re-united by a freak trauma, its sometimes the love that comes out of the ugliest situations that captures us, finally. God does not cause our pain, but can still use it to communicate a message of divine love beyond comprehension and forgiveness for our foolishness.

One of my favorite books when I was little was “I’ll Love You Forever”. It tells the story of a mother who loved her son, even when he didn’t want her love or did silly things that he knew that he shouldn’t do. And still, even in those moments when the mom was probably stressed beyond what she thought the capacity of her love was, she would sing to “I’ll love you forever, I’ll Like you for always. As long as your living, your mommy I’ll be.” What a beautiful statement that God continues to sing over us today. Even when we are unlikeable, even when we turn our backs and run away, God still sings to us, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, with no exceptions, your Lover I’ll be.”

So may we open up our ears to hear God’s love song over us. May we release the repentances from our mouth that are needed. May we thank God for a love that we may never understand. And will we turn our direction around, to make sure that we are oriented towards a Love that can Catch us even when we stumble.