Get out the handkerchiefs! Or tissues, whatever you use when watching a tear jerker movie! For those who are Golden Oldies or just a little younger, you may have recognised the title line: “Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be?”, the theme song sung by Andy Williams for the 1970 blockbuster Love Story, which was directed by Arthur Hiller. Personally, I remember the song more than the movie, and heard it being played many times at weddings, and, more recently, at funerals! What with Valentine’s Day, the end of the January blues, the hint of autumn in the air, and speculation about royal and celebrity romances, you may be led to think that love is in the air during these late summer months. In addition, Hollywood has produced some romantic movies, like Lalaland, to help us feel good and cosy and to brighten up our evenings. But, have you ever wondered where such ideas of love and romance come from? Where did love begin? How did it happen in the first place? This is just a short one-point article. I’m not going to take the time to go into ideas about how some anthropologists see the genesis of love in our need to protect families and communities, or how some scientists imagine it as a development in self-preservation or how others see if as part and parcel of our innate desire for well-being, or any other ideas for that matter. Most of these ideas can be summed up as trying to find an answer without the concept that God is love. My one point is a quotation from the Bible: we love because God first loved us. In other words, love is only possible because God initiated it. All types of love — love for our children, love between a husband and wife, brotherly and sisterly love, love for friends, and even love towards God himself — spring from God’s love for us. So, where do I begin? It’s God who has given humanity the gift of love. He has loved us with his sweet love story that is older than the sea. God fills our hearts with so much love one for another, with very special things, with angel songs, and wild imaginings. God is love, and that’s where and how love began.
This article was first published in the February issue of "Because" magazine: http://gracecom.church/because_magazine/. Used by permission.
