Hurt

This week I got the following email from parishioner Jerry Robinson in response to my sermon. I hope you find it as moving and thought provoking as I do:

If I were writing a blog, here would be an entry for this week:

The sermon at church Sunday was interesting. It is usually about scripture, but not this time. Two rabbis were having a drink. One asks the other "Do you love me?". The other answers: "Yes, I love you". The first one asks "Do you know how I hurt?" The second says: "No, I do not know how you hurt". The first says: "Then how can you love me, if you don't know how I hurt".

The preacher asked "Do we love God, and do we know what hurts God?"

I asked him at coffee hour his answer to the question. He said that his view is that when we neglect poor and suffering people, and when we harm the earth, we hurt God.

My answer is that we cannot hurt God; when we do not hear or heed the spiritual voice inside, we only hurt ourselves and other people. Also, when we dwell on the past, and when we do not forgive, then we hurt ourselves and other people.

Also the first rabbi's answer prompts the question: how can you know how I hurt unless I tell you. To tell you how I hurt is to expose my vulnerabilities to you. To allow you to love me, I must have the courage to let you know how I hurt, and expose my sensitivities to you, trusting that you will not hurt me.

If to love is to know and be known, then it also mean to allow myself to be known, and my weaknesses, sore spots, and vulnerabilities to be known. To have that trust requires courage.