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God’s love is the ‘yes more “ancient”’ that Derrida (1992:296)
championed, the Yes we are to iterate and reiterate in our
lives. Amen, Amen. So let Love Be. That is the constant refrain which needs to sound and resound in, under and through
all biblical worldviews regardless of diversity of language,
culture and emphasis. Let Love come is a yes-saying that
bears witness – witness calling to witness, testimony to
testimony – across the abysses that divide us from one
another. Bearing witness in this way is an event testifying to
the blessing and gifting that is life in God’s world.
To love or not to love: that is the question. Taking seriously
that we are gifted and called to be image-bearers of God who is Love deepens immeasurably the meaning and scope of the mandate in Genesis 1:28 to ‘be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue’ it. Whatever we do – sexually,
culturally, institutionally, environmentally – we are to fill the world with the glory of God’s presence – that is God’s love – so that love has dominion. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’, confesses David in Psalm 24:1. That fullness is love, the very fullness (the pleroma) that Paul confesses in Colossians 1:19 dwells in Christ, the ‘fullness’ of which we have all received, ‘from grace to grace’ (Jn 1:14).
Hallelujah, in the Spirit of Christ, we know that in spite of sin and evil, in spite of the killing fields, we are not alone, God-is-with-us, Emmanuel: the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, was crucified, arose from the dead, and will
come again. Eros – God’s cosmic love – is the energy creating
all things, sustaining them, drawing everything together. It
is the gracious healing process at the heart of reality, making and remaking connections. Love is happening, and continues to happen in the world. And we are invited – still more, we are called – as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ to share in his sufferings for the redemption of the world. Putting our ears to the ground, opening the cockles of hearts in acts of respect, vigilance and longsuffering, we are to listen for the cries of the heart – for what is being witnessed to and confessed in and through words, views, and concepts that may be very strange or upsetting – that can lead to the miracle of connection.
What a challenge, what a mission! It is my prayer that we can together go forth with a daring and tender love. And whatever we do, may we do it in the name of Love. Let Love come again and again. Viens, oui, oui. The world is waiting!
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to acknowledge that he received a KIC grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2011. The funds received contributed to his conference and travel costs, as well as the page fees for this article.
Competing interests
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationship(s) which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
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