Oh, the Lies that We Believe

What are the lies that we believe? Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest, professor, spiritual director, found his deepest sense of purpose in being the companion of a core member of a L’Arche community. He said that there are three lies we believe:

         We are what we have.

         We are what we do.

         We are what others say about us.

When we believe these lies, we forget what is the singular most important truth: we are God’s beloved. That’s right—God’s beloved. God loves us not for what we have, not for what we do, not for what anyone says about us. God loves us for a very simple reason: we are God’s children. I am God’s child; you are God’s child.

Maybe in our best moments we can believe this, but there are so many more times when we do not-- and even more times maybe that we do not even love ourselves. If, in God’s infinite triune wholeness, the love of the Three-in-One flows so freely that we—you, I—are invited to sit at the table, to come into the fellowship, into the embrace, doesn’t that say something about being beloved?

I know that there are moments when we may find ourselves deep in darkness and cannot see any possibility of light, or love. In those times even the love that is expressed for us does not feel like enough of a cord to lead us to the light. Instead, we can only think of a “final solution” that might end the pain, the darkness.

And so tonight, I weep for those who know such utter darkness, who have believed the lies. I do not condemn them. And most of all, I do not despair completely, because I believe in One who is so powerfully Love itself that even death cannot end the invitation, the embrace.

Isaiah 49:15b-16a

Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.