Love and Prayer

My dad, Chuck Keppel, recently found a collection of my Grandfather's sermons from the late 1960s. I'm hoping to transcribe and upload them - and this *cough* rather dusty blog is a great place to do so.

Love and Prayer

October 29, 1967
Rev. Lucian T. Keppel

"If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." ~John 14:23
Text: Romans 12:9-21

I am very happy to be back in the school situation, observing the direction or trend of scientific thought in our social sciences today, but my years of independent study of Christ have helped. Thirty years ago the atheistic tendencies of Freud met very open or ready minds that were filled to the ears with "straight-laced" Victorian ideas of what was right, proper, and ethical, so far as thought, word, and deed in public were concerned. Then the excessive hedonistic forces of humanism and Dewey rocked our homes with their "permissive" approach to child raising - a "fad" from which we are suffering now in the uninhibited, frequently violent outbursts against social practices with which many young adults - individually or in collective groups - disagree - even to the point of rioting.

Of interest to note concerning many of these followers, is the fact that they tend to be - at times - very religious - from a Judean point of view. I mean, they will affirm a strong belief in a God of justice, who, through them, is realizing the justice in which civil rights was conceived. This God of Justice - the pre-Christian authoritarian God - demands that men be ready and willing to fight to see that "justice" reigns. Of course, many wars, in the name of this God, have been fought to determine what, really, constituted justice.

But now there is emerging through, or out of, the neo-Freudian, existentialistic, personalistic  group of social scientists a definite trend of thought, which, while not backing Jesus' thinking about the reality of a Spiritual God who is all knowing, all powerful, and all wise, at least recognizes a spiritual essence in man as over against his strictly materialistic make up. For Freud the idea, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" was the whole story of man. For a psychologist like Eric Fromm (one of these "emerging" social scientists), the Christian God transformed the jealous, despotic God of the early Ten Commandments into a God that ceases to be considered a super person, but becomes the symbol of the principle of unity behind the manifold phenomena that makes up our lives - the vision of the flower which will grow from the spiritual seed within man. God has become now the symbol of principles - of truth, justice, and love. That is, God is truth; God is justice; but God is also basically love - which raises the level of significance and value of the other two.

These scientists did not go much beyond this. God, these men felt, could not have a name - something like God's answer to Moses' plea for a name, when he said, "my name is nameless; I am that I am!"

Recently, however, (perhaps as an outgrowth of this modern skepticism which so many of us are watching with considerable anxiety), there is emerging a school - or rather a trend - in the direction of virtually Jesus' own beliefs. These have not focused as yet into a set pattern of theories or hypotheses, but their writings reflect a full recognition of the spiritual essence of man that runs parallel to, interacts with, but is separate from man's physiological being - and the source of this "spiritual" unity of the "soul" of man with the "soul" of his maker is love. Now they recognize love as God - (but not the God of any Christian sect) - in its highest sense - Spirit!

Communication with this God-Spirit by man is possible; but must be learned with much greater intelligence and determined practice than the large, large majority of so-called Christians is showing or is inclined to show today. Jesus' teachings and demonstrations were keyed to a theme He frequently mentioned, that the Good News of His relationship with God was tied up in forgiveness, personal communication, grace, faith, and humility. All individual prayers must reflect such convictions; but even these convictions could not of themselves produce the inner peace He promised to all who really followed Him. Basic to all prayers - and indeed to all response to life's stimuli was a new power Jesus alone introduced and demonstrated - LOVE, in its third dimension: not love for wife or child; not love for relatives or friends; but love for neighbors - all neighbors, even those who are enemies. Such an unselfish love must also include an equal share of love for the self, in which God has also placed a portion of His own essence, just as He did in all other human beings.

Here, then, is the initial basis for personal prayer to a personal God whose actual form is Love's Spirit. How foolish it would be to treat such a spirit as if it were part of a "super man." Such a Spirit-essence of intelligence can reach us- or we can reach it - only through the intelligence God gave us - the same, intrinsic, human soul that no scientist has been able to explain away on a materialistic basis, though many have tried to do so.

Now, since the foundation of our souls is the same as that of which God is compounded, i.e. love, no communication (no attempted prayer) can bear fruit or be effective unless it springs out of - or originates in - this same spirit substance which we call brotherly or holy love. Holy in this sense, means separate or apart from the human characteristics that have limited love to such a low, sensual level in so many lives today. 

From our discussion one can see that developing our life reactions and our communications through the guidance of prayer, grounded in holy or godly love, is not quite as simple as running up to our earthly father and asking him childishly for something we want to have. Yet, the very fact that we can see in a spiritual power a force that - even in our own experiences as a church group - has been able to rise above natural law and produce unquestioned miracles - this fact, I say, should be sufficient to make us sense at least part of love's nature, and of our ability to participate in it. Surely it will be at least as intelligent as we, a condition that calls for humility from us; it will demand a voluntary degree of giving (without strings) on our part, since it was similarly given to us purely out of "grace + love"; it will further unify our behavior toward this God as well as toward all our fellow man to be grounded in a love that must inculcate the elements common to all forms of love mentioned before. These are care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge. When these elements are coupled with the traits of forgiveness, personal communication, grace, faith, and humility, we have an atmosphere that is charged with an intriguing way of life and thought. This means, care is shown by us as the active concern for the life and growth of that which we love. The responsibility we must assume today is often meant to denote something imposed upon us from the outside. But responsibility - in its true sense, is an entirely voluntary act; it is any response to the needs expressed or unexpressed of another human being - to be responsible when we pray in love means to be ready to respond!

Respect is an element, a thesis component of love, that prevents the deterioration of responsibility into domination and possessiveness. Respect is not fear and awe; it denotes in accordance with the rest of the the word (respeciere = to look at) the ability to see a person as he is, to be aware of his unique individuality... Respect thus implies the absence of exploitation.

Knowledge involves still more practice with respect and presupposes careful thought before love's power can be fully unleashed. To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge. Knowledge could be empty if it were not motivated by concern... The knowledge which is an aspect of love is one which... penetrates to the core... I may know that a person is angry, worried, (or more deeply) that he feels lonely, worried, is anxious, or feels guilty. Prayer, of course, is a familiar presence which coupled with faith will bring about those miracles that we so often seek. 

Thus, prayer and love are mutual exercises that are basic to spiritual identity with this power we call Love. Frequent use and practice of these to communicate with God's essence is extremely rewarding and challenging. In its intelligent-love-centered form it can produce tremendous results. Please join us all in regular practice.

The revealing statement by our Founder will add new interest and dimensions to our prayers and prepare us for the answers that the spiritual power of God can give us. Let's listen to the reading of CJK's Love and Prayer:

"Prayer is Love's language toward God. No truer or more profound conception of the highest type of prayer can possibly be held. Every question as to the actual meaning and value of prayer finds its ultimate answer in this understanding of it. We pray because we love. When we love we cannot help but pray. We do not first ask: "Well, what is the use of it anyway? To what extent can I expect a direct and definite answer to my petitions? Can, indeed, the God of Law and order reach in and change the direction or results of the unfailing processes of nature, the law of cause and effect?" No, we do not first ask that. We may, indeed, never understand that very clearly at all. But we do pray because we love!

We love God for what we know of Him. All that is beautiful, noble, pure, honest, gentle, loving, righteous, eternal -- that is God. Throughout the ages men's highest conception of deity progressively trended in this direction. Then came Jesus. And God became not only more marvelously holy and beautiful, loving, forgiving, restoring, but He became more intimately and gloriously personal. Father, very near, very patient, very holy, very generous, very mighty in restoring and empowering love -- that God became through the life and ministry of Jesus. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."
That Father men could love, and do love, whenever He is so revealed to them. And when they see Him thus in the gentle glory of His personal Fatherhood, they pray. Love must become vocal. Love cannot remain silent. The highest faculties of speech are reserved for the expressions of purest Love. 

But have you thought of it, that while loving makes prayer possible, so also does praying make Love grow, for it is love's expression. All our emotions strengthen as we give them outlet.

Try this in your own experience."

(Rev. Charles John Keppel)