Love Actually - 14 November 2007

is a great film. I am generally a fan of the writings of Richard Curtis and this I think is one of the best. Humorous on a level that doesn’t require a massive amount of thought, yet also quite touching. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, it is worth spending a Saturday night watching it.

Without giving too much of the plot away, Curtis manages to cleverly weave numerous different love stories through the film culminating in the school play being attended by the Prime Minister where he has an intimate back stage moment, and most of the stories come together in the last 5 minutes. Whilst that’s all lovely and there is a happy ending, there are some shallow and deeper moments – the girl who just wants to bed the boss being a particularly shallow point, the girl who sacrifices a relationship to be there for her mentally ill brother, more about the love for fellow man, and the man who realizes on the spur of the moment just before Christmas that he is in love, flies to Spain to profess his love for the owners daughter in front of a full restaurant and wins her heart. Needless to say, he wins for the fact that he has stepped out ‘in love’.

One of the basic human requirements is to be loved, and it is something that generally all of us seek at varying different levels. It gives us self esteem, confidence and acceptance that people like us for who we are. People who don’t feel loved often have issues with confidence, have little self worth and seek attention in a desperate attempt to generate that ‘love’ feeling. It’s often counter productive.

As Christians, we are called to love others, unconditionally, something that we all find challenging at times. Jesus had many examples of this, the woman at the well being a good example. Here was a woman who was despised and outcast from society because of her history, and went to the well in the heat of the day to avoid people, and yet Jesus accepted her for who she was, rather than being critical of her. The reaction he got was very positive and led to the conversion of an entire village in one go.

How is it that we show love? Well, it takes different forms. Take ‘Refresh’ in the town centre on a Friday night for example. Here is an operation that seeks to reach out to people at a point where they are probably quite vulnerable with the amount of alcohol they have consumed and often willing to talk. I suspect that deep down a lot of the people passing through are seeking love in one form or another. By demonstrating God’s love for them, we are acting as witnesses for what we believe, and so our riches store up in heaven.

So, today, can I encourage you to go just slightly out of your way or comfort zone, and demonstrate some love to somebody that you otherwise wouldn’t. You never know, you might enjoy it, and the reaction might also surprise you.