Letter from the Vicar (February 2009)
Dear friends,
About five years ago a film came out called Love Actually. Maybe some of you have seen it. It has quite a complicated plot but what it portrays, admittedly in a very sentimental way, is a variety of different kinds of love.
To begin with there’s the love between Billy Mack, an aging rocker played by Bill Nighy, and Joe, his roadie. Towards the end of the film Billy realises that Joe is the love of his life. This isn’t gay love, however, it’s platonic love between two really good mates. Then there’s Juliet, Peter and Mark. Juliet, played by Keira Knightley, and Peter love each and get married. But the best man Mark also loves Juliet. His love is what we call unrequited love. He loves but knows she cannot love him back in the way he would like. Then there’s Jamie (played by Colin Firth) and Aurelia. He falls for this Portuguese girl while recovering from a broken relationship. She also falls for him and they both learn each other’s language not realising the other’s feelings. Eventually they get married. Next there’s Harry, Karen and Mia. Harry and Karen are a slightly older married couple. Mia works with Harry and tries to seduce him. Harry starts to fall for her charms when his wife finds out and is broken hearted. Eventually they repair their relationship.
Next come David, the Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant, and Natalie his slightly overweight tea lady, played by Martine McCutcheon. Gradually he falls for her and she for him. He thinks his affections for Natalie are affecting his political judgment, and asks for her to be moved. On Christmas Eve, however, he sets out to find her and they get together at a school panto. Then come Daniel and Joanna and Sam and Joanna. Daniel’s wife and Sam’s mother Joannna has died leaving father and son bereft. Sam is in love with a schoolgirl also called Joanna. His father helps him to win her love and also finds love himself. Haven’t finished yet!!
Now come Sarah, Karl and Michael. Sarah and Karl have been in love with each other for years but only at a Christmas party do they get it together, nearly. Because Sarah’s mentally sick brother Michael rings and interrupts them. Sarah’s dutiful love for her brother takes first place and her chance of happiness with Karl slips by. Next we have Colin, Tony, and the Wisconsin girls. Basically Tony is after sex and goes to Wisconsin where he meets some amazingly attractive girls all of whom fall for him. He comes back with one of them and her sister for his friend Tony. Finally – you’ll be pleased to know - we have John and Judy who are two innocents working in the sex industry and who fall for each other and get engaged.
There are so many different kinds of love and in these various stories the film Love Actually portrays many of them. It shows the platonic love that can exist between two men. It could be between two women or between a man and a woman. Caring friendly love that doesn’t involve romance or sex. It portrays the love of a newly married couple. It portrays the unrequited love. It portrays unspoken love. It depicts longstanding love that can withstand even betrayal. It depicts love across class and language barriers. It portrays the grief of one who has lost the one he loved. It portrays the love of a child for its parent. It shows us that children’s love can be real and painful. It shows us the incredible patient, self-sacrificing love of a sister for her brother. It shows us the sexual side of love.
Love takes many, many forms and even Love Actually only scrapes the surface in depicting them for us. One love of which this film does not speak is the love of God. It was in love that God created us, it was in love that God gave himself to us in Jesus. Jesus lived a life of love and finally out of love for you and me and all humankind, he died for us. Jesus is God’s gift of love to the world. And the gift of love that was in Jesus still lives in the world and Jesus still gives himself to us. What we do every time we celebrate communion, the Mass, the Eucharist, is to celebrate his gift of love. The bread and wine we break, pour and share represent the life of Christ, his body broken and his blood shed out of love for us. This is a free gift. The only thing God wants us to do in response to his love for us is for us to accept it. Nothing else. The body and blood of Christ are love gifts from God. A Hindu, a member of another religious faith, once said this, “If I believed one tenth of what you Christians claim to believe about communion, I would walk for ten miles over broken glass to be there.”
You don’t have to do that. All you have to do is to reach out your hands to take the greatest gift that can ever be received. It is my belief that all should be welcome at the altar. Jesus didn’t discriminate. He didn’t put barriers in front of people. Even Judas Iscariot shared the bread and the wine at the Last Supper. There are no barriers to the love of God. He breaks them all down. So what is it is that you are receiving when you take the bread and the wine. Obvious, isn’t it? It’s love, actually.
Yours sincerely,
(This is a revised version of an address given by the Vicar at All Saints’ School)
Richard Franklin
February 2009
