I’m a big duty and responsibility guy. It’s probably my Midwestern upbringing, but it’s important to me to show up on time, do what I said I was going to do, and play by the rules. These are all good things; when we live out our commitments our families and communities are stronger. I know, too, that living only by duty and commitment can become soulless and empty. Think of the couple who’ve been married for decades and stick together out of the duty of their commitments but don’t have any love for one another. They have no joy and there’s nothing attractive about their life without love.

Brother Lawrence, in the third conversation recorded in The Practice of the Presence of God, mentions that some don’t progress in their faith because “they stick in penances, and in particular exercises, while they neglect the love of God.” What Lawrence is saying is when a life of faith is only about doing certain things, without any love for God, then its growth is limited. The things we do, if love isn’t an ingredient, are like soup without the stock; I guess you can still eat it but it’s not really soup.

I know I get wrapped up in the things I have to do. I have lots of duties as a pastor, stuff that I do in doing my job. I do them, but if there’s no love for God or for people in the doing then what good am I doing? I’m that way with spiritual disciplines, too. I can do the work of prayer or bible reading, but if there’s no love of God in it, then I’m only checking off things from a to-do list that doesn’t really do anything.

I’ve known people in church life who turn up for the work and join in worship and prayer, who sit through the meetings and stay late putting up chairs. When I think about them I think not just about what they do, but I think of their love for God and for the people there, and I know that’s in everything they do. To me that kind of work with love is what makes a difference. I hope that same love for God and for people is in whatever I do too.