Contemplating Radical Love – Hannah Hofheinz
At a shelter in Northern Kentucky, there was a child, a very little boy, who hit me. He hit everyone. His slight underfed arms could not make much of an impact, however hard he tried.
Trust me, he tried. And he tried.
His heart, however, hurt me deeply.
Smack.
Slap.
Punch.
A punch to remind that he is there.
A slap to insist that we share space, air.
Doubled over her hungry child, unsure of how she will answer the cries because of potential SNAP and WIC shortfalls, a parent gasps at the punch the suits of Congress landed with their political games this fall.
The queer youth seeks somewhere to rest her head by New York City’s pier. Her parents refuse the lover that she cherishes, wanting “better” for their child. The sharp sting of her mother’s slap, forcing her out, will not fade.
You and I, we are bound together. To hit you, I must touch you. Indeed, the connection between us can never be broken, only strengthened, even if the pain at our touch intensifies.
At the shelter, in conversation with his mother, the boy and I agreed that I would return each punch, slap, or smack with a hug. Always. Hitting cannot be ignored. Punching cannot be tolerated. He needed to learn. I needed to respond. But, we also clarified that I welcome his hugs. Always. Anytime. As many as he wished to offer. I see him. Rather than hitting, find me. Sit next to me. If you wish, climb onto my lap. We will read a story.
He did.
As he did, other children in the shelter started to do so as well.
For at least a few days, the small world of that Kentucky shelter transformed.
How can I do less in my neighborhoods today and tomorrow, than we did together at that shelter? Even as we hurt, especially when we hurt, can we find another way?
Where violence seems the only option, love insists otherwise. But love needs bodies. Hugs require touch. Love changes the world by being in the world. We know this. Jesus came into the world to be with us. To love us. All of us. Each and every one of us. Help us, God, to trust ourselves to living the radical transformations of this, your love’s embrace.
Find each other.
See one another.
Sit together.
Touch.
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Hannah Hofheinz is a theologian with an abiding commitment to articulating the excessiveness of God’s love as it overflows into our love for one another. A doctoral candidate at Harvard Divinity School, Hannah is currently in residence at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in Saint Louis. Her dissertation explores the theological importance of the practices and techniques of writing, through a study Marcella Althaus-Reid’s indecent theology. Many years ago, she was the volunteer coordinator for Welcome House of Northern Kentucky, a homeless services agency that continues to teach her about how a just society might appear.