Do It In Love

This week, I've been praying the following collect with the Anonymous Peggins as we do Morning Prayer:

O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we
do is worth nothing; Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our
hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace
and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted
dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son
Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

We don't get to hear this particular one very often because we don't usually get a full eight weeks of "ordinary time" before Lent. So, I have taken pleasure in hearing this one again and again. It reminds me of the song I've mentioned before here on the blog, "Love is my Religion" by Ziggy Marley.

I don't condemn, I don't convert.

This is the calling have you heard.

Bring all the lovers to the fold.

Nobody's gonna lose their soul.

Love is my religion.

All you need is love.

I heard that song every time I went to Gainesville for my continuing education training in working with those who had been through trauma. One of my classmates would play it during our breaks at lunch, and it was a great reminder of the work we were embarking on as healers. The "religion" of massage therapy is one grounded in love. The love we show through our touch is one that gently makes contact and connection with the person on our table in places where our clients may be unaware that they are hurting. Or possibly they are holding pain in their body. We make contact with people in the areas of their body where they hurt or have gone numb.

This is what I imagine is a very "God-like" approach. The love poured into the heart, and flowing out through the fingertips to meet people where they are feeling pain, or even where they may feel joy. The closer I move to God, the more I believe God moves through me, in my hands to bring love to the world. The more I can stay "in love" the more I can share it with clients and others with whom I run across during the day.

Pour it into my heart, so I can do all that I do in love.