I enjoy the film Fiddler on the Roof and one of the most haunting of the songs in that for me is the one Do you Love Me. Tevye and his wife ask it of each other when their daughters begin to rebel against the tradition of arranged marriages. All of a sudden they are concerned that they might not love each other but as they sing this song and speak of the ways in which they have shared life together they at the end realise that they do. All across the world people need to know that they are loved so I wonder how many ways we here can say I love you?
In France they say "Je t’aime". In Mandarin they say "Wo ai ni!" I’ve even learnt how you say ..
"I Love You" in sign language.
I wonder if Dirk can tell us how you say I love you in Dutch (Ik hou van je!) Or Margaret in perhaps German or Greek.
Perhaps there are other ways of saying I love you and I want to tell you a story that illustrates what I am trying to say. I want you to help by showing me in sign language I love you when I ask “DO YOU LOVE ME” or say “I LOVE YOU” Also I want you to try and work out which character in the readings we had to day I am in the story, - or perhaps I’m speaking on my own behalf?
ANANIAS' STORY
I’m a good Christian, I’m a follower of Christ and have been for some time now. I decided that when I was asked DO YOU LOVE ME? By Jesus that I would respond as you have done to me, I would say I LOVE YOU. However I’m not very brave, I am quite happy to hide in the background rather than put myself forward. There are leaders in the church who will tell others about Jesus and who have been chosen to go and look after the needs of those who are in need, Stephen and Philip for instance. That’s alright but sometimes people get above themselves, see what happened to Stephen when he decided to preach about Jesus openly. I prefer to keep a low profile although perhaps it might be nice to have someone say I LOVE YOU to Jesus because you did what he had said and got alongside them, even though you didn’t know where it was all leading.
No I think I’ll stick to my own way of life. I’m quite happy to go to worship with the others on a Sunday, to share in the family meal with them, although now that Saul is on the rampage even that’s getting to be bit dangerous. Perhaps this evening I’ll simply stay here and say my prayers, you never know perhaps the Lord will speak to me where I am.
What’s that Lord……, DO I, DO I LOVE YOU?
You know I LOVE YOU, I’ve been going to worship you every Sunday for some time now and I have lots of friends in the Church, we meet together regularly, some of them are a bit difficult to get along with at times but we muddle through.
Well yes I know Saul has come to Damascus Lord, that’s why I’m here this evening I thought I’d better keep out of trouble.
What’s that Lord… You’ve already asked me that. Of course I LOVE YOU. But surely you don’t really want me to live that dangerously. I might be told I’m not wanted, that what I believe is not right or irrelevant. You know that I believe you are the Son of God but others don’t and some of them have ways of making things difficult for us.
You’ve already asked me that twice, what do you mean ‘DO I LOVE YOU’. You know I LOVE YOU!!
You say there’s something you want me to do for you. I already worship you and I help out where I can in the Church Family. What else is it you want me to do?
But that’s positively dangerous, Saul has been seeking us out to kill us, he has all sorts of authority to hunt us down and harm us. Surely you don’t really want me to go there and see him. He’s best left blind, that way he can’t do us any harm.
What’s that you say……… You can’t mean to say that you love Saul and are even now asking him DO YOU LOVE ME. How can he say I LOVE YOU he’s been causing your people all sorts of trouble. How ever can you love him and forgive him. He was one of the trouble makers when Stephen was murdered? How can you forgive one of those responsible for his death?
You say that you have always loved him because you created him and that you can see the potential in him and want to turn him around. Is it really worth the risk? But that means that I will have to forgive him too, it’s not just the murder of Stephen he has hurt others and he has hurt our community, how can I ever forgive him.
Why are you showing me your hands Lord, your feet? Well put that way how can I not forgive?
You promise that you are already there at work before I go that Saul is already being challenged and that all that remains to do is for me to go to him and show him how much he can be forgiven. That through me you want to say to him I LOVE YOU. You really want me to be able to welcome this stranger into your Church and say I LOVE YOU.
Well if you say so, it’s not really my style but I really DO LOVE YOU!!!