Love is an essential part of being human. Just think of all the songs written about it: "All You Need is Love", "Love Me Tender", "I Just Called To Say I Love You", "One Love", "Endless Love", "Can't Help Falling in Love", and "What's Love got to do with it?" just to name a few.

What does love have to do with the spiritual quest? Many of us spend a part of our lives or all of our lives searching for a romantic partner- someone to share our journey through life, perhaps to create a home and raise a family together. Most love songs are written about the emotional highs and lows of that search. Singers croon about having finally found someone to make their life complete or moan about the pain of betrayal and sorrows of a broken heart. Although most of us can identify with the romantic drama of love songs, and have a personal experience that fits into the lyrics, our daily life is usually not so extreme.

Love takes many different forms. David Blanchard rightly points out that we can look for love in all the wrong places. If we collect evidence of love in our lives like greedy children counting valentines, we can fail to recognize the kind of love that sometimes arrives in plain brown envelopes. Sometimes love is frilly and colorful. Sometimes it's as sweet as a box of chocolates. However, if we expect love to be a constant thrill or to shower us with adoration and praise, disappointment is highly likely.

Beyond the thrill of infatuation and romance, love can hold a deep transformative power. To love or be loved by another person means being known, understood, accepted, seen, connected, and to give and receive freely. This type of love can be a part of an intimate partnership and is also found in many other kinds of relationships: friends, familial, neighbors, teacher and student, religious community.

Each religious tradition holds some teachings about love. During wedding ceremonies, there are often specific passages that instruct the couple on how to create a righteous marriage. As the couple goes through the rite of passage, it is also an opportunity for the married guests to reflect upon and recommit themselves to their marriage vows. A wedding is a covenant- a public formal promise to share life together.

However, each religious tradition holds teachings about the practice of love in a broader sense than marriage. Today, I am going to explore the insights of our Jewish and Christian heritage as it relates to the spiritual quest for love.

So, I am going to tell you a story from the Jewish tradition- a creation story that perhaps you have not heard before. The source is the Kabbalah, an ancient text of Jewish mysticism.

"In Kabbalah it is said that before the impulse arose to manifest creation, God was only in the form of Eyn Sof. When this infinite unmanifest divine emerged from concealment to become revealed God, the illuminations pouring into the vessels became too powerful for the vessels to contain. When God became manifest, there was so much light emanated all at once and the light was so strong that the vessels could no longer contain all the light that flowed into them, so they shattered. There occurred a breaking of the vessels, the husks. These shards became the source of matter. The bits of divine light remained captured among these outer coverings, which were nourished by bits of light. Now today, there are holy sparks scattered throughout all creation. The bits of divine light called the holy sparks provide the life-force for the entire world of husks of appearances." (Ana Matt, Judaism coursepack, p. 26)

This bit of ancient wisdom is even more wondrous if you consider the Big Bang theory of Science that our universe began with an explosion. Like in our reading last week, human beings are made of stardust. Or at the other end of the spectrum, if you think of all the atoms in constant motion that make up our bodies, this church structure and all matter. Holy sparks, indeed.

The reason that I include this story in a reflection about love is because of another important Jewish concept called Tikkun. (You may be familiar with the Jewish magazine of the same name published by Rabbi Michael Lerner.) Tikkun means to mend, repair, heal or transform the world. God needs human beings to manifest the holy in the world. Judaism believes that human beings are co-creators with God. This is why many Jews are very active in politics and social justice work. Active engagement with the world is a way of working in partnership with God to actualize the divine on earth.

The shattering of the vessels means that there are holy sparks within every person and all of creation. It also acknowledges that the holy is scattered, broken and incomplete. The longing of God and of humankind is to draw out the hidden divine spark from the outward husk of appearances. The holy sparks are everywhere but hidden. This ancient Jewish wisdom asserts that it is our duty to raise the holy sparks that are trapped or unmanifest in beings, things, and situations. Through holy living, the sparks are restored to their source. The Kabbalah asserts that when all the sparks are reclaimed for the holy, the Messiah will come. Therefore, each person has an important role to play in helping to bring about the messianic age. Acting rightly then is not a matter of individual attainment but to bring about the greatest good. I invite you to consider when you have seen or participated in uncovering holy sparks in yourself, another person, being, or situation.

Christianity arose from the Jewish tradition. Jesus preached and lived a radical form of love based upon the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Christian Scriptures emphasize two essential commandments: loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Through out the gospels, Jesus shows loving care to the most unlikely people: he cleanses a leper, befriends a prostitute, he touches and heals the outcasts of society. Here is a passage from the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus addresses a large crowd:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your God, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your God is perfect." (Matthew 5:43-48)

Loving your enemy is truly a worthwhile spiritual path. People have different expectations and goals in life. Sometimes these goals and expectations come into conflict with the objectives of other people. The conflict can give rise to feelings of anger that can lead to acts of aggression or hostility. Loving your enemy then means seeing beyond the situation to those holy sparks in the other person. Engaging in dialogue instead of direct conflict or indirect scorn.

I invite you to consider times in your life when you were able to love your enemy. What was it that helped to transform the situation? How did you or the other person repair, mend, or heal the conflict? A Christian concept that captures this transformation is "metanoia" or change of heart. If we are able to give our adversaries, the same respect and compassion as our friends, it would be possible to live without hatred. Certainly this is an idealistic goal, but one which ripples outward from each human heart, to our neighborhoods, towns, state, nation and world.

Stephen Mitchell writes in his book "The Gospel According to Jesus" that one of the words in the Sermon on the Mount is often mistranslated. He asserts that the original language which is usually translated as "perfect" really means "whole and complete". This changes the tone of the passage for me. Instead of "Be perfect, therefore, as your God is perfect." It would read "Therefore be whole, as your God is whole".

Love is a spiritual quest for wholeness. The hug, which Fred read about earlier, gives us a physical sensation of connection- both giving and receiving an embrace. May the ancient wisdom of the Judeo-Christian tradition, inspire each one of us to live with arms wide open to others who may cross our path and through our living may we uncover the holy sparks within us and among us.