Curate Conundrums

What does love look like? It’s a question poets, philosophers and theologians have asked down the ages. Since humans have been capable of it I’m sure they’ve thought about it. What does love look like? There are so many examples in our culture, countless songs ask this question. What does it mean to love? What does it feel like when love isn’t returned? What does it feel like to be in love? The Bible is no exception. As the most human book ever written, there’s plenty in its pages about what love means, and our Gospel reading today is one of the most famous examples, of what Jesus describes the meaning of love as. Love means laying down your life. Love means being good to one another. Love means bonds of friendship. Love means living well, within God’s love, law and purposes. Love means laying down your life. For some like those who died in WW1 and WW2, that meant literally. They died to protect those that were most dear to them. This is love. Others, perhaps for us, we lay...

We come here today standing in our ancestor’s shoes.  We gather like we do every year to remember the sacrifice paid by those who have died to protect us. We don’t just remember today those who died in the first world war and the second world war, but those who have died as a result of all human conflict past and present. We remember that war, in whatever form, however just, is always a tragedy. We remember those who are our enemies, and also those who are innocent, who have died or whose lives have been forever changed by the consequences of war. Christians believe that armed conflict should be the last option, after all other efforts have been made to reconcile with each other. We also believe that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Jesus calls us to be part of his love for us, he calls us friends. Abiding in God’s love is difficult, and it is very hard to travel the path of peace, as Jesus knew. He was constantly in conflict with the au...