Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Recent Posts

About

Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

God As Love

Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.   –1 John 4:8

God_is_love
   The last three words in the Apostle John’s first letter, "God is love," are, to my mind, among the most important in all of the Bible. John tells us "who" God is. He doesn’t describe God as male or female, but as an all encompassing loving energy. Earlier in the same letter, John also writes that God is light and this serves to amplify how Love shines into this world. We know this light. We have seen it’s brightness and felt it’s warmth.
   For America’s caregivers, the majority of whom are female, it may be comforting to consider a sense of God as the power of Love rather than as simply a male father figure. Thinking of God as Love has opened a whole new way of thinking for me and I hope it will illuminate your life as well…   

   As I have written before, imagine if you replaced the word "God" with the word "Love" throughout the Bible? Jesus, for example, becomes the son of Love. We, also, become children of Love: brothers and sisters who were touched at birth with the divine hand of Love.
   Some of the Old Testament language that describes God as fierce, frightening, and punishing seems less fearful, and perhaps less credible, as we re-imagine God as Love. A male, God-figure might ask Abraham to offer his son Issac as a "burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you."  But would Love ask this of Abraham? Similarly, would Love send plagues of locusts and disease as "punishments?"
   At the same time, we know that Love, and life itself, ask a great deal of us. Love calls us to do many hard and painful things and life itself is constant tribulation for so many of Love’s children. It is the notion of God as some kind of male king who threatens hellfire and damnation that has always troubled me.
   After all, some may fear God, but should we fear Love?
   That is the reason I advance this idea of God as Love for caregivers. If the Apostle John is right, and I believe he was and is, Love is not to be feared but embraced. Love is the energy that holds hope, courage and joy. Love is the only force that makes caregiving worthwhile.
   "God is Love." What wonderful news.

-Erie Chapman

   

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4 responses to “God As Love”

  1. Tom Knowles-Bagwell Avatar
    Tom Knowles-Bagwell

    Your meditation this morning, Erie, reminds me of a poem by e. e. cummings.
    i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
    my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
    i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
    by only me is your doing,my darling)
    i fear
    no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
    no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
    and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
    and whatever a sun will always sing is you
    here is the deepest secret nobody knows
    (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
    and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
    higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
    and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
    i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
    “God is love.” “. . . this is the wonder that is keeping the stars apart . . .” (i.e., the wonder that is structuring the universe). Thanks for the reminder this morning.

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  2. Karen York Avatar
    Karen York

    I was raised with the notion of God as being Love and Fury. It’s very difficult at this point in my life to view God as only love. However, my daily journey and meditations are leading me there.

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  3. liz Wessel Avatar
    liz Wessel

    Beautiful poem Tom thanks for sharing it.
    We live in a world of polarities; night and day, light and shadow, right and wrong, male and female, us and them. In an attempt to comprehend God’s magnificence, we tend to relate to what is familiar in our world. When reading the bible I prefer to seek the spiritual meanings of the word rather than to interpret the parables literally. As our lives unfold in continual state of flux and change, we try to create secure and solid ground which may limit our perceptions. For me, the realization that “God is Love” is a very illuminating and universal truth. For in God we are all one, there is unity, compassion, forgiveness, and Love. A Love that does not create barriers of division, separateness, and alienation but an awareness of God’s reflection in each person we meet. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly, that is the miracle and wondrous news of Love!

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  4. D.Montalvo Avatar
    D.Montalvo

    I am reminded of how great God’s love is.
    John 3:16 – God so LOVED the world that He gave His only son to die for us. For me there is no greater love than that. It is an example of how I should walk throught this journey of life – giving myself no matter how difficult it may be at times. Caregiver – giving of one self.

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