In honor of Veterans Day
We want to take the opportunity to thank all of our veterans. Like any act of service it often goes unnoticed in the moment but it shapes our environment and to those who serve we owe a debt of gratitude. I am in a fortunate position as I am reminded of the incredible things we do for each other on a daily basis. As a grant writer for a veterans program I am often sharing the heroic stories of people who have served. It’s not just the service members but the unknown sacrifices of their spouses and children. Today, we express our gratitude to our military and their families because our freedom isn’t free.
Sacrifice and service are at the very heart of our faith tradition because it is what Jesus was all about. It is impossible to read the New Testament and not be moved by Jesus’ lifestyle of serving others. It is who he is and permeated his every action. That’s not a reputation you build overnight but is discovered in a myriad of deeds great and small, over the course of a lifetime.
No Greater Love
We are all familiar with the bible passage, “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13.
Sometimes it is in extreme situations that we can best uncover the meaning of these words. A crisis unexpectedly calls us to greatness and we discover our true nature to be able to live for the sake of others.
This type of sacrifice was depicted in the movie, “Act of Valor”. In one of the final scenes the SEAL team is trapped in a warehouse when a terrorist throws a grenade into the middle of the room. The soldiers look at each other knowing that unless one of them throws themselves onto the grenade all will die. They exchange glances, understanding what must be done. In a split second one soldier throws himself onto the grenade to take the impact. His body is lifted off the ground by the blast but his action shields his team who know this incredible act of valor will leave an unborn child without a father. It is this very quality of being able to live for the sake of others that distinguishes us as sons and daughters of God.
Finding Clarity in Sacrifice
It becomes a problem when we only see sacrificial service in extreme situations. When my father-in-law was in his final days I talked with him and reflected on life. I asked him what his best experience in life was. He replied without hesitation: being in the Navy. He shared about the bonds that are formed when you work with others day and night for a common cause that is greater than yourself.
I realized that in such extreme circumstances everything becomes clear:
• You know who you are
• What your purpose is, and
• What you are fighting for
Knowing those 3 things and having them in focus in your life is an incredible blessing.
God set the pattern for the Universe
Nevertheless, God does not want to visit war upon us so that we can become clear. The ethic of living for sake of others should not just reveal itself on the battlefield. War is a “last resort” measure. Rev Moon, for whom war was no stranger, called people to live the value of “living for the sake of others” on a day-to-day basis because it’s simply who we are.
“God set the pattern for the universe. In the ideal existence we live for others. God’s definition of goodness is total giving, total service, and absolute unselfishness. We are to live our lives for others. You live for others and others live for you. God lives for man and man lives for God. The husband lives for his wife and the wife lives for her husband. This is goodness. And here unity, harmony, and prosperity abound.” (Rev Sun Myung Moon October 20, 1973)
I love this definition of goodness:
• Total giving
• Total service, and
• Absolute unselfishness.
This is the world we want to live in because if each person is living in this way everyone is taken care of. No-one is left behind.
How do we arrive at that place where we are truly living for the sake of others, not just in heroic moments, but on a daily basis? A place where each person could feel the sense of community and connection to a higher purpose that my father-in-law experienced in the military but a place without war and it’s ensuing suffering. As the opening video reminded us no-one is left unscarred in war.
The place that God created for us to experience a life of living for others, connected to a greater purpose is the family. Our family is our team. Our family should be the place where no-one is left behind and together we do great things for God and the world. When we reflect back on our life we will be able to say that our involvement in the family is indeed our greatest experience.
Knowing Where to Point your Arrow
I don’t know whether you watched the Country Music Awards last week. It took 2 years of residency in Texas before I learned to love Country but now I am glad I do. Katy Musgrove won Best New Artist with “Follow Your Arrow.” She is incredibly talented and a great performer but as I listened to the lyrics I was saddened. She sang an “anything goes” song. For example, if your arrow points to drugs, follow your arrow. It made me reflect about where we find our point of reference? Do we follow an arrow anywhere? What is at our center? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to tell you what music to listen to. But for me, on Wednesday night, the song raised some interesting questions. If our origin is in God then shouldn’t that determine the direction of our arrow?
Knowing God
Our quest then is to know God. There is an interesting passage in the Book of Acts. Paul is trying to reach the people of Mars Hill. They worshipped many Gods but instead of judging them he complimented them on their spirituality. He told them, “For as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.” He asked them how they could worship something they didn’t know.
This is our quest too, to know God. Not superficially or doctrinally, but privately, personally, intimately. For a relationship to work it has to be reciprocal. It can’t be a one way relationship. The concept of living for the sake of others should be dynamic with each person competing in one sense to give more.
When you are in love with someone you automatically give more to that person. Your heart is to make effort, to invest. It’s natural. Through that give and take you create love. It’s the same for the relationship between God and ourselves.
You have to make effort, explore, and desire to get to know Him; searching for what matters. There’s a beautiful passage in Corinthians that speaks to this process of getting to know each other.
“No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.”
We have to learn to listen for God’s spirit speaking to us. I simply can’t believe that for God anything is OK. He cares about where our arrow is pointing. But the only way we can determine that is by discovering his heart. We have to search to know what God thinks and feels.
One of the things that I most appreciate about Rev Moon is that he made it his quest to discover God’s heart. To come to understand His experience not from the point of view of doctrine but God’s real life experience.
Rev Moon taught, “God is frustrated and broken-hearted. Nobody knows God’s painful condition but God Himself.”
“It is our mission to teach Heaven’s historical secrets and God’s suffering and to liberate God through the love of true children.”
Liberating God
Rev Moon talked a lot about liberating God. When we hear the word “liberation” we tend to think of politics and social movements but Rev Moon applied this notion to God because God is a prisoner of His own pain, as He watches His children suffer.
Remarkably, even a small child’s love can make the parent’s suffering vanish. God wants to know us and receive our love. So, how can we love him? We are not aimlessly following any arrow but are aware of our origin. We are aware of our Heavenly Parent in our lives and we want to live a life of goodness that we can be proud of.
Today, I want to invite you to take part in a special project. We can liberate God by returning love to Him as His true children. We should start an “I love God campaign” – maybe this is the transformation that the world needs.
As we celebrate Veterans Day we can express our gratitude to those who served and especially to those that made the ultimate sacrifice. We need to also remember that there is great nobility in the lesser but equally important small acts of kindness and love in the family and community.
Let’s practice the art of living for others and loving God.
