From the moment we are born, when we take our first breath and life begins, we are being conditioned. We are being shaped, formed, re-formed and transformed. We are always becoming.

As children, it is usually our parents—or our guardians—who decide who and what conditions us; at least, at first. But, as more people enter our lives—-grandparents, aunt/uncles, family friends—-church members, Sunday School teachers, teachers, coaches, friends—-the sources of our conditioning becomes ever wider. And let us not forget: Technology. Technology brings many voices into our conditioning. Many voices and perspectives that now have access to our ever growing and learning minds, hearts and spirits. 

And it is our conditioning that then determines how we live and move and have our being. Even more so than the circumstances of our life. Because our conditioning—how we have been shaped to see and understand; how we have been formed to receive and process—-our conditioning determines how we manage/deal with/live through the circumstances of our life. Be they fortunate or unfortunate; joyful or disastrous—-we respond and manage all of our experiences based on our conditioning. And here’s the Gospel Truth that we sometimes try to avoid, Beloved: We don’t control all the circumstances of our lives. Neither does God.  What God does do is show us, teach us, invite us to be Conditioned by Love. Because, once we become of age and have the capacity to choose,  HOW we are conditioned—by who and what we are conditioned--IS in our control.

And here’s what God knows about this existence, this creation, and about us as human beings. There are really only two forces that condition us: Fear or Love. And truth be told, throughout our lives we are conditioned by both. But, we do have the power and agency to decide which force we feed, and therefore, which force will feed us, condition us, shape us.  Beloved, I have come to understand discipleship—all these stories and ways of being that we see and know from the Jesus story—-all these practices, rituals, symbols and images of the Church—-our discipleship is really about choosing Love to condition us and also, allowing Love to be what re-conditions those parts of us that have been shaped and formed by Fear.

Now, I am well aware that this is not always true. Some churches, some religions, and at times in our own church history, fear has been used to condition its people. But look at where that has gotten us. 

Fear conditioning results in conflicts and disputes, envy and anger, vengeance and violence. Fear conditioning shapes us to see stranger as enemy and difference as dangerous, so we circle the wagons and live in silos. Fear conditioning leads us to live and move from scarcity, leading us to grab and hold onto as much as we can for ourselves because we are afraid we won’t get what we need….or what we want. Fear leads to division, hate-mongering, lies and nationalism of every kind. We become afraid and demonize anyone and anything we don’t understand.

Love conditioning, on the other hand, leads to collaboration and cooperation. It leads to unity and unions rather than diversion and division.  Love conditioning shapes us to see stranger as kin and kindred, to know diversity as a strength. Love conditioning shapes us to trust that there is enough—because we remember that we are called to break it all open so it can be shared. We enact that truth every Sunday. Take, bless, break, share.

This is what the Christ is trying to remind those disciples of long ago when they realized that their leader was no longer going to be with them in the near future and they began to worry: Wait! What’s going to happen to me? And they began to fear which among them might get to be the leader. And that fear leads to self-centeredness and grabbing for whatever they can.  Fear broke them apart as a community and turned them into a disputing  group of individuals. Each one looking out for himself.

But the Christ says: look at this child. This one who has no prestige in this society. This one who has no power, one of the lowest ones when it comes to status because a child is simply one who serves. This is the One the Christ says you should welcome. Not just welcome as in “sure, yeah, you can come in, you can be here.” No, the welcome embedded in this Greek work is the welcome that one gives when receiving someone as an honored guest. The kind of welcome that includes cleaning out your house, making room, providing the seat of honor—our best food and drink—thinking of the guest and what that guest may need or want even before they reach your home. This is a welcome of radical hospitality.

This kind of welcome comes from Love conditioning instead of fear conditioning. In a fear-conditioned world or society, this upside down kind of hospitality that Love demands sounds impossible. Maybe even crazy. And yet, it is this way of being, centered and grounded in Love, that God tells us restores all of creation—which of course includes all of humanity—back to wholeness, wellness, sustainability. Because in God’s Kingdom, as Christ tells and shows us—serving others is what deserves the highest prestige. Not being served.

Beloved, in 44 days our nation will have an election. Local elections, state elections, nationwide elections. Electing our next round of SERVANT leaders. Love means we participate if we are eligible—because elections set policies, laws and procedures which govern us as a people.  Love doesn’t expect us to elect servant leaders who are of the same faith as us. That’s not the test (in fact, that test is not allowed according to our Constitution). For we who are followers of the Christ, we are looking for leaders who have been love conditioned rather than fear conditioned. And here’s the telltale sign: Fear constricts and Love expands.  So if the leader’s concerns are constricted to only some, they are moving from fear. If the leader’s concerns are wider and expansive, inclusive and ever-widening—that’s a leader leading from Love. A Love conditioned leader. As voters, let us be love conditioned and look for servant leaders who fight for more than “whoever best meets my needs and wants,” and elect the ones who are seeking to bring wholeness and wellness to the widest circle possible. 

And Beloved, let’s keep our eyes on our purpose: to not only become Love conditioned, but as a community, to be conditioners of love. That’s what we promise at Baptisms: that we will provide gatherings and opportunities, teachings and rituals, music and liturgy—that will be those voices and experiences of Love which shape each one of us as individuals—and all of us together as community—to be agents of Love, and the always becoming disciples of Love. 

You are Beloved for God is Love; You are Beloved of God. 
You are Beloved for God is Love, for God is Love.                         
                                                       Sung to tune of “The King of Love My Shepherd Is”