Nothing you confess could make me love you less—I’ll stand by you.
That lyric really grabbed me the very first time I heard it. Since then, I always stop and listen to Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders sing “I'll Stand By You.” The lyrics express something my soul responds to. They speak to something deep within me.
Have you heard it?*
“I’ll Stand By You” is about someone struggling with some of life’s most difficult challenges. It’s about experiencing deep sadness, suppressing anger, encountering the darkness of this world—some of it within oneself. That’s hard stuff, stuff most of us at least recognize, stuff we may even have experienced ourselves. If that were the whole song, it would be very sad, indeed.
But there’s more. The lyrics pair each hard thing with a response.
The song is sung by a person who loves the one facing all those problems. The singer’s responses? When you’re sad, don’t be ashamed to cry. Let me into your sadness with you. When you’re angry, don’t hold it all inside. Come talk to me about it: I get angry, too. And when that darkness falls on you? I’m not afraid to go into your darkest place. And, most important, I will stay in there with you. I will never desert you.
Over and over, the singer declares: No matter what you suffer, no matter what you’ve done, “Nothing you confess could make me love you less. I’ll stand by you.” If that sounds to you like loving your neighbor the way Jesus taught, I think you’re getting to the heart of the matter.
This week's Exodus passage is, on one level, all about the Ten Commandments. But you can’t rightly divide those few verses from the entire story of God’s involvement with the Children of Israel. Until the time of Jesus, most viewed God’s commandments as restrictions—a long, long list of “don'ts.” But when we view them through the lens of Jesus defining the greatest commandments, we see that all of them are, one way or the other, about love: loving God and loving our neighbors.
Something happened when I first heard that song. I immediately knew two things. First, I was not that kind of person. Second, I very much wanted to become that kind of person. Kurt Kaiser, one of the cornerstones of modern Christian music, once told me: “You can live your entire life by a wonderful lyric.” I took that to heart and decided to make “I’ll Stand By You” my wonderful lyric to live by.
Can I do that? It comes down to whether I can love God, willingly receive love from God, and then love others with the love poured into me by God. That’s been and will likely continue to be a challenge. But, while I’m growing in that direction, there is one thing I can do: If you need me, I’ll stand by you.
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IMAGE: Adobe Express
* Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders sing “I’ll Stand By You” (video with lyrics):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca5WJ8zWVTs
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Friday morning is DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast! Join us at 8:00 for an amazing hour of scripture, fellowship, prayer, and food. We're still on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place.
The food costs, but the laughter is free.
Blessings,
Steve
**Contact me for the Zoom link
NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Find them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=162
Print them from here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper22.pdf
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Psalm 19
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:7-15
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
Proper 22 (27) (October 8, 2023)
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