Spring is in the air and things are blooming everywhere. There is no shortage of the evidence of God's timeless and unconditional love. It was in this spirit that I found myself when “All You Need Is Love”, a song from The Magical Mystery Tour, came through my speakers this morning. The Beatles were asked by BBC to write something with a simple message that could be understood by everyone around the world. It could not be misinterpreted. Love is everything. The song went on to top the charts after being performed on the first global network link on June 25, 1967 (the beginning of The Summer of Love). 400 million people in 26 countries watched and listened. “All You Need Is Love” has been rated as one of the top 500 songs of all time. How incredible that this music would have such an impact. Why would that little phrase resound so clearly with so many people? Perhaps it is so important because it is the real defining truth of our existence.
Love is one message that is contained within all of the religions and spiritual practices throughout time. We are taught, asked and commanded by God to love one another. We are told to be compassionate above everything else. It is the way to heaven. Jesus is pressed by the lawyers of his day to define the most important law of scriptures. His response is taken from The Torah and The Shema when he says “You shall love The Lord your God will all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” The Qur’an of Islam begins with a definition of God as “infinitely good” and “all merciful”. Love appears 69 times in the text. In Buddhism, the practice of universal loving kindness or mettà is called ' the Godly way of living ' or brahma-vihàra. It knows no revenge. It is one of four gradually upgraded qualities of love. Collectively they are also called 'sates of unbounded or magnanimous living'. Prema, or elevated love, in Hinduism is a sacrament. It is unfortunate and perhaps tragic that the caretakers and gatekeepers of many religions have seemingly lost sight of the great treasure that lies within our traditions. They have become fundamental, functional, fractional and extreme with an overriding sense of who gets out and who gets in to their religions and to eternity. They have discounted and diminished love.
The creation of a loving community was at the heart of the formation of Christianity. Symbols and stories of compassionate, unconditional love abound. Love is the central theme in the story of God, Mary, Joseph and the birth of Jesus. The gathering of apostles and multitudes of followers all speak to the path of spiritual redemption through non-judgmental acceptance. The Beatitudes tell us how to live in an abiding community of love. They ask for humility, comforting, gentleness, kindness, justice, mercy, purity of heart and peacemaking. It is hard to argue with those directives. Jesus’ radical concept does not create systems for power and money. There must be membership, exclusion, unforgiveable sin and fear in order to have institutions which yield great influence in those areas. I was cautioned by a minister not long ago that “love is the baby’s milk of our religion. The adult Christian cannot continue to live on milk alone. There is more to it than love you know.” I beg to differ. “All You Need Is Love.”
