Where is my love to go?
(Image  wildpixel / iStock / Getty)  Ive had the privilege of experiencing ministry in many settings. Ive spent time in a rust belt postindustrial community and in a commuter suburb. Ive served in an outer-urban housing project and in a shabby-chic urban village. Ive enjoyed a prestigious university chapel and a world-famous church at the center of a global city. But theres been one consistent thread throughout: peoples powerlessness. In every setting, Ive sensed that ministry is about encountering people in their powerlessness. Some powerlessness is obvious: a person cant find a place to sleep or a job to feed their family. Some is subtler: a Nobel prize winner cant find a way to translate the findings that brought such acclaim into a product that can address a basic human need. Most people know what Christianity is supposed to be about: its about the powerlessness of guilt, and how Christ wipes that guilt away, enabling us to live freely, now and forever. But not many people struggle with guilt in such a straightforward way. In my experience, people are mostly depressed by failuretheir own shortcomings and their inability to be able to put such gifts as they have to work in making things better for themselves or others. If I have one simple message to this large majority of people Ive met in my role as a pastor, its to stake less on such measurable outcomes that are perpetually out of reach and channel more energy into relationships that can be had and fostered today. Samuel Wells Samuel Wells is the vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and author of Learning to Dream Again and A Nazareth Manifesto. See All Articles Jun 16, 2021 issue  Which leaves me vulnerable when a person says, Ive tried that. I met such a person in the last year. In fact, weve never actually met, in the prepandemic sense: weve simply spent many hours together in groups on online conference platforms. Such groups have gone deeper than any Ive led before. Somehow the virus, the face-to-face nature of the online platform, and the comfort of being in ones own home have combined to make people more willing to share profound truths about their lives and deep yearnings. And so it was that I shared what I took to be the big reveal about Christianity. When God settled on the single most significant thing of all, it turned out that thing was being with us as a human being just like us. Not to change us, but simply to be with us. And what we discovered from God being with us was that the most surprising thing about God was that God is relationship: theres nothing in God thats not relationship. Relationship isnt the way God does or communicates something more important; it is what God fundamentally is. So there. But one group member wasnt impressed. What dyou mean, relationship? he retorted. I thought Id make it simple, more vernacular. Love, I said. Its all about love, about being with one another. He could. Big time. He got angry. Dont talk to me about love, he sneered, almost spitting. My partner left years ago. My family lives miles away. And my last dog just died. . . . I loved that dog. It was, I had to acknowledge, a litany of failed relationships. So much for my version of the heart of all things. But he hadnt finished. Wheres my love to go now? he almost shouted, the other group members seeming to fade into the background as he focused his angerwhich, like much anger, was an expression of hurt and painon me. Tell me that.  Some questions genuinely seek an answer; others are meant to end a conversation. I wasnt sure which kind this one was. But you spend your energy in ministry seeking to create circumstances where theres enough trust to generate a moment where it feels like a persons whole fate and destiny is on the line. When such a moment arises, you cant walk away from it. So I took a risk, and said, gently, Imagine eternity from Gods point of view. Imagine God having all that love pent up like you have right now. But the difference is, Gods got that love all pent up potentially forever. Gods like you. Gods thinking, Wheres my love to go? So God creates the universe. But Gods got still more love to give. So God creates life, and makes humanity, and calls a special people. But thats still not enough. Gods got yet more love to give. So God comes among us as a tiny baby. Gods question Where is my love to go? is perhaps the most important one of all time. Half the answer is the creation of the universe. The other half is the incarnation. On Christmas Day we find out why the universe was created. It was created for us to be the place where Gods love could go.  In case I hadnt made myself clear, I added one more suggestion. So when you ask yourself, Wheres my love to go? youre getting an insight into the very heart of God.  The pandemic has been about many things, but one above all: powerlessness. Its been an intensification of lifes fragilities and limitations. Weve felt fearful, lonely, and disappointed. Weve not been getting an easy answer to this question. Were getting something else instead: the discovery of what its like to be God, who asked the same question and came among us to complete the answer. What the pandemics given us is an opportunity to dwell in the very heart of God.