A bit of a fixer-upper

This is an adaptation of the short reflection I gave this morning at chapel. Sadly the Frozen reference wouldn’t have worked with the congregational age range today so I left it out. However - who else has managed to work Trolls and Thomas Aquinas into a sermon!!




Romans 13:8-10

8Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.



Love is such a powerful word that has so many connotations and meanings. It can be a force for good and a means by which great deeds are done. Yet sometimes it feels so hard to love people particularly when we are in pain or frightened. Here in the hospital we are quite often thrown together with people who become our neighbours quite simply because of where our bed is or because we share an illness. And the call to love your neighbour as yourself can seem just a step too far when you are out of your comfort zone and away from those who love you. Yet it is in these times and in situations we can truly fulfill the law that St Paul was talking about in today’s reading.




Likewise there are times when we are out of our comfort zone that loving someone is not so much a fulfillment of the law but that which just comes naturally. I think of soldiers I served with during the war in Bosnia who acted with such love and compassion for those we were trying to protect. A love that could potentially have cost the soldiers their lives. I think of those here in this hospital who despite their own pain and fear, show love to the young doctor or newly qualified nurse, the patient who has no family who for the time they are on the ward becomes a part of another patient’s family, included in visits and deliveries of sweets or newspapers.




In Christianity the practical definition of love is best summarised by St. Thomas Aquinas, who defined love as "to will the good of another," or to desire for another to succeed. This is the explanation of the Christian need to love others, including their enemies. As Thomas Aquinas explains, Christian love is motivated by the need to see others succeed in life, to be good people.




I think there is no finer way to sum up all of the above than in the wise words of the Trolls of Arendelle…






We’re not sayin' you can change him
‘Cause people don’t really change
We’re only saying that love's a force
That's powerful and strange
People make bad choices if they’re mad
Or scared, or stressed
Throw a little love their way
(Throw a little love their way)
And you’ll bring out their best
True love brings out their best!

Everyone’s a bit of a fixer-upper
That’s what it’s all about!
Father!
Sister!
Brother!
We need each other
To raise us up and round us out
Everyone’s a bit of a fixer-upper
But when push comes to shove

The only fixer-upper fixer
That can fix up a fixer-upper is

True! true!
True, true, true!
Love (True love)
Love, love, love, love, love
Love! (True love!)
True...




No matter why we are in this chapel today, each one of us, no matter of our ills, worries or fears, has the potential to fulfill each day that most important of laws, to love one another. For it is in this way each of us will bring love to this world, this place and to and for one another.