Silly Love Songs (Aren't So Silly)

I discovered something profound when reading an article about love songs that appeared in the Harvard Crimson newspaper a few years ago.  

I don't regularly read the Harvard Crimson, but that first sentence was a doozy, and it felt good to write it.  A good first sentence, especially one like that, doesn't happen that easily.  

So, I was reading that particular article because I had searched for information on why there are so many love songs or songs about relationships.  Then, I found the following statistic that absolutely blew my mind. 

From 1960-2010, 67.3 percent of songs in the Top 40 of pop songs referenced love and relationships, and 29.9 percent referenced intimacy and desire.  If you are even slightly good at math (which I'm not), you can quickly determine that 97.2 percent of the most popular music for fifty years had to do with love in some form or another. 

That's a lot of songs about love. 

Which begs the question, why is that?  I have a theory if you'd like to hear it. It has to do with the fact that love is perhaps the most potent emotion universal to the human experience. 

Every single one of us has had our hearts broken at one time or another.  Or, at the very least, have had our feelings of love pushed to the very limits.  And sometimes, there is nothing like a song to capture the essence of those feelings in a way that makes sense of even the most senseless, heartbreaking moments.  

But how do we learn what it means to love when love itself seems to have vanished from our innermost being?  How do those who say we follow Jesus find that we can't seem to muster love for those who would return our love with hate?  

We go deeper.  We go deeper within ourselves and into our ideas about a faith centered upon God's love through Jesus, who "loved and gave himself for us."  

Cynthia Bourgeault captures this beautifully when she states: 

"This world does indeed show forth what love is like in a particularly intense and costly way. But when we look at this process more deeply, we can see that those sharp edges we experience as constriction at the same time call forth some of the most exquisite dimensions of love . . . qualities such as steadfastness, tenderness, commitment, forbearance, fidelity, and forgiveness." 

In moments of hardship, love may feel like a weight, pressing down on our hearts and challenging our essence. Yet it is within these difficult circumstances that love reveals its most profound virtues. 

The struggles we face often sculpt the raw material of our characters, teaching us patience and resilience. Each trial becomes a forge, crafting the attributes of steadfastness and commitment that form the foundation of enduring relationships. 

In 1 Peter 4:8, the following verse often gets misinterpreted:  "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins."

The Greek word for "sin" here is hamartia, which, strictly translated, means "a fatal flaw that results in a missing of the mark." The connotation has to do with an archer taking aim at a target, but something wrong in the setup results in a miss. 

The idea is that when we love fully, we don't miss.  

When we dare to hold on to love amidst adversity, we cultivate a deeper fidelity and forbearance toward others. In this way, our weary hearts grow tender, equipped to offer forgiveness, understanding, and grace.

Life will inevitably present us with challenges that test our resolve. During these trials, the genuine nature of love can emerge, often in unexpected forms. Rather than recoil in fear or disappointment, we can rise to the occasion, demonstrating a commitment to love that transcends the initial discomfort. 

As we embrace love in its entirety, even when it is hard, we enrich our lives and contribute to a more compassionate world. Every act of love, however small, has the potential to create ripples of hope and transformation. 

Let us remind ourselves that loving fiercely in challenging times is a noble act and a profound declaration of our humanity. 

May we hold onto love with tenacity. Let it be the light that guides us, and watch as our willingness to love through hardship changes our hearts and the world around us. Together, let us affirm that love, especially in times of difficulty, is the ultimate virtue that binds us all.

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen.