Saturday, October 18, 2008

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The Crazy Love of God

This past week, we celebrated my oldest son's 21rst birthday.  Wow, where has the time gone?  That's a whole other discussion, but, in the usual round of cake and presents and cards, he received a really nice birthday card from my parents in which they said a lot of wonderful things and one thing that they said really caught my attention.  They wrote:  "We love you like crazy!"  In our family, we say "I love you" a lot, often with additions like "bunches" or "truckloads" or "tons."  "Like crazy" fits into that just perfect.

A week ago, I wrote a challenge on "Finding Myself in the Love of God" (see the October 11/08 Challenge).  At that time, I found and read one of my favorite stories about the amazing and abundant love of God but didn't include it in the challenge I wrote.  "We love you like crazy" in my son's birthday card, inspired me to revisit that story.

The story is related by Brennan Manning, a former Franciscan priest, and happened during a retreat that he was conducting for Catholic nuns.  His version of the story, and I have well-used this story in my own preaching and teaching, is found in his book entitled, The Signature of Jesus.  One morning on the retreat he arrived to find one of the young nuns particularly excited.

"Father Manning," sister Catherine blurted out, "I had the most amazing dream last night.  Would you like to hear about it?"

"Of course."  What else could he say?

"Well, I dreamed that I was at a school dance.  Everyone at the dance had made a circle around the dance floor so they could choose a partner and dance to the first song.  By the time everyone was done choosing, I was the only one left standing alone.  No one had chosen me.  Feeling rejected and alone I looked up to see a strikingly handsome young man enter the room.  From the moment he entered the room, his eyes were fixated on mine.  Determined, he walked straight toward me, crossing the middle of the dance floor.  As he passed each couple, they stopped and watched as he walked up to me and asked me to dance.  My heart was beating wildly.  I was swept into his arms, and we began to dance with abandon across the floor.  As we danced I couldn't help but notice his hands; they were scarred as though someone had driven nails through his hands.  Just as I was beginning to recognize this man, he suddenly leaned over, put his lips right next to my ear, and whispered, 'Catherine, I'm crazy about you'."

Manning says that everyone at the retreat, himself included, was moved to tears.  How else can we respond when we really get a picture of how much God loves us?  Yes, Yes, He is crazy about us!

You would have to be crazy to send your one and only beloved son to die for a race of people who seemingly could care less!  You would have to be somewhat crazy to allow yourself, the Almighty and All-everything-else God, to be killed by the people you made — the Creator for the created — so as to satisfy your own demands for justice and righteousness.  I sometimes think that God would have to be crazy even just to love me, never mind all the rest of the people in the world.  And he was!  He is!  Crazy about me!  Crazy about you!  Crazy about every person who has ever lived or ever will walk on the face of this planet!

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us" (1John 3:1).

And he invites each of us to come and dance with him the dance of life.  And he whispers in our ear, "I'm crazy about you!"