Love changes everything? - 15 November 2007

Yes, well spotted, yet another song title, by amongst others, Sarah Brightman and Michael Ball. The great thing about this theme is that I could go on for weeks as so many songs cover the love angle. You’ll be glad to hear someone else is doing next week!

So, does love change everything? I would like to argue the case that yes it does, providing it’s genuine. Yesterday I mentioned Refresh and how this is demonstrating God’s love in a small way to people who are probably at a point of some vulnerability. Below are the lyrics of the first verse of the Michael Ball version:-
Love, love changes everything
Hands and faces, earth and sky
Love, love changes everything
How you live and how you die
Love, can make the summer fly
Or a night seem like a lifetime
Yes love, love changes everything
Now I tremble at your name
Nothing in the world will ever be the same


Yes, it’s a lovely melodic tune sung reasonably well and you are probably humming it right now. If you analyse it closely, it’s reasonably correct. Faces of people that are loved are generally happier. I’m struggling a bit on the earth and sky bit, but it does change how you live and die, particularly where God’s love is involved. The romance of ‘eros’ love can make the summer seem like a long one.

At St Matthews, we have seen demonstrations of how love changes everything. Without massaging our ego too much, I believe that our love has changed things. The ‘40 days of purpose’ exercise last year and ‘Revive’ this year, both focused on New Bilton, has opened up new opportunities that otherwise we would never had. Many people struggled to understand why we were doing it, and said as much, and wanted to know what the catch was. Sometimes, people didn’t want to accept our demonstration of love because they thought it was going to come with strings attached – back to my point of a few days ago, and it often took time to get through that barrier.

Today’s point is slightly different and requires a bit of vulnerability. In my experience, people can be reluctant to receive gestures of love, sometimes as a matter of pride, or just don’t want to be seen as receiving help. Can I encourage you to be more open to this. We talked yesterday about giving love, but receiving is just as important and often the more difficult because of barriers that we put in the way – it can be frustrating for those who are the givers!

So, if someone offers you something in love today – take it, and enjoy the fruits. Remember, it makes the giver feel complete as well.