Hymn: “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee” – 12th
Century Latin HymnAttributed to Bernard of Clairevaux
Translated
by Edward Caswall (1814-1878)
Typical Tune: ST. AGNES
In our hierarchy of relationships, we have three categories
that we seem to group together: friends, family, and loved ones. These often
show up in obituaries or other lifetime articles; here, one of them shows up in
the last line of an ancient hymn text… from nine centuries ago!
Our ‘loved ones’ seem to be those with whom a deep level of
love is shared – reciprocated. This is probably the highest form of friendship
and familial connection.
As of today I have 1,078 Facebook friends; some of
those are family, some are friends, many are simply acquaintances… and a few
are loved ones. I am Facebook friends with John Grisham, Johnny Depp and Dolly Parton, but we
do not have a mutual appreciation for one another; I’m pretty sure they don’t
read my blog!
I am a loved one of Jesus Christ… and he is a loved One of
mine! We share a reciprocated relationship: I
am his, and he is mine. I fall into that classification of people mentioned
in today’s hymn-line, as do many (if not all) of you who read it regularly! WE
understand the love of Christ: the width, the length, the height, the depth –
the total volume! Paul put it this way:
“I pray … that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted
and established in love, may have power, together with
all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this
love that surpasses knowledge.” (from Ephesians 3:16-19)
Fellow loved ones: while you and I may
be total strangers, we share the love of Christ; we are fellow-enjoyers of his voluminous
affection. Only WE understand that. Let us not simply sit around in a circle
and speak to one another about this warm relationship – although we probably
don’t do that often enough; rather, let’s tell someone outside the circle in
order that they may count themselves among Christ’s loved ones.
The love of Christ? Who can understand
it? Only his loved ones!
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