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Agony, or struggle, for the other is an emotional act that can become prayer, if we choose voluntarily to offer that feeling to God and for the other, surrendering our lesser loving to being In Love, In Christ.
*Brian K. Wilcox. Author An Ache for Union.
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I want you to know what a struggle I am going through for you, for God's people at Laodicea, and for all of those followers who have never met me.
*Colossians 2.1, ESV
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Paul wants to communicate his love to the Church. So, he shares with the Colossians, "I want you to know...".
What does he want them to know? The evidence of his love, for he does not just love in word or thought, alone. Though he is not with them ~ for he writes that he has never met them whom he speaks of ~ he still loves them. How, in absence, in not being with them ~ indeed, never having seen them ~ did he so love them?
The key to the love he wants the congregation to know about is the Greek agon. The word has been variously rendered "struggle" (Barclay, ESV), "care" (WE), "great conflict" (KJV), and "strive" (ASV). The best rendition may be "agonized" (NLT).
"Agonized" is a good rendition in the Colossian passage for we get the English "agony" from agon. So, the Scripture can read: "I want you to know how much I have agonized for you..." (NLT).
Likewise, a key to the Scripture is "I" and "for you." There is a gift Paul initiates for the churches. His agony is not about Paul. His agonizing for the churches is a voluntary act of self-giving wherein he consecrates his care for them in Christ.
We often think of prayer as something we do at a place and time. And prayer, we might think, is to be free of agony. Yet, prayer can be our offering of ourselves to the other or others so that we sacralize our love for them in a voluntary act of agony on their behalf and for their good. In this we join our love with the Love of Christ, and our loving is taken up into a greater act of Divine Loving.
In this very agony, we find peace. For in such a rite of self-giving, we are taken out of ourselves as separate and into the timeless sacrifice of Christ ~ for at the cross all our agony meets with the Sacred Heart. We are joined again with the act of the Cross. We find ourselves in True Love, and our lesser love, guided by our natural and limiting selves, becomes dissolved in an Ocean of Divine Charity. "I," as a limited being of limited resources, am no longer loving with my love, but God is loving through me by the Holy Spirit of Christ.
The death of our lesser loving ~ not that it is obliterated but, rather, taken into the whole of God-Love ~ opens to the Resurrection into being In Love. Ironically, though our lesser loving may be good and holy, even that sincere loving is not sufficient to the Love which the other needs in and through us in Christ. And only by surrendering into In Christ can this greater Loving break forth within and beyond ourselves.
Otherwise, we keep loving with a lesser love than the other longs for and needs. Giving up that lesser expression of loving, we become a priestly means of Love for Love to love the other.
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*Charitable contributions would be appreciated to assist Brian in the continuance of his work of ministry. For contributions, contact Brian at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union: Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major booksellers, or through the Cokesbury on-line store, at www.cokesbury.com .
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his two beloved dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Southwest Florida. He serves the Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and inspires others to experience a more intimate relationship with Christ. Brian advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and renewal of the focus of the Church on addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons, along with empathic relating with other world religions, East and West. Brian has an independent writing, workshop, and retreat ministry, for all spiritual seekers.
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