The Greatest Love of All

So Whitney Houston becomes the latest "tragic death" of a pop icon. I heard it on the radio while drivng home from a wedding reception. I was saddened to hear it. She was a beautiful woman and a gifted singer. Like all such people, they enter our lives and become part of our memories. They are connected to events about which they know nothing.

When Whitney was a star I was leading young people in retreats called Search. The basic format was five small groups led by ten youth leaders. Each leader gave a talk on a particular aspect of the Christian faith. During the talk it was understood that the speaker would address a certain number of points (to insure content) but they were free to interject their own personal insights and illustrations. At the end of each talk was a period of meditation during which the speaker chose a song, almost always a pop song. I can still hear the kids saying, "My song for you is..." Music could really hammer home the talk and frequently opened emotions.

One of the talks was "Who am I?" a most appropriate question for high school students (and increasingly pressing for this middle aged man!). I do not recall the outline (it has been 23 years that I left that vocation) but I think an important point was the barrier which self loathing and 'wearing masks' creates. I remember that one of the young ladies chose Whitney's hit, "The Greatest Love of All." I ended up allowing it, but always had reservations about the song and its content. On the one hand, genuine self-love is a good thing. Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. It would seem He assumes we do love ourselves. On the other hand, self-love can also be self-centered, selfish, and destructive.

The Greatest Love of All is Jesus, expressed on the cross, but also manifest in preaching, teaching, healing and exorcising. Jesus the Listener. Jesus the Companion. Jesus the Incarnate Love of God. When one turns inward to find the greatest love one loses one's way. However, there is a sense in which truly loving ourselves would make us seek God, because that is the source of life and salvation. As is usually true, it all depends on what you mean by love yourself. I love my kids and I want them in right relationship with God. So self love would probably mean the same.

At any rate, the little I know about her, it seems Whitney lost the first love. My daughter saw her picture on tv and said, shocked, "She was beautiful?" The Whitney she knew was from photos of a haggard and drug wasted former star. Sadly, her life is ended. Unlike the Hollywood voices declaring that she is in heaven, I am less enthusiastic about her future. A wasted life, even if celebrated by the entertainment industry, is still a wasted life. How many of these people have we seen destroy themselves in the last few years (and Elvis and Judy Garland are reminders that the previous generations were also touched in the same way)? It is a reminder that what really matters is what really matters. Too often all of us, celebrity or not, are caught up in the wrong things. Self love twisted into self pleasuring becomes self hate. We destroy ourselves because we are caught off from the Source. We are cut off from the One Who is The Greatest Love of All. So we say a prayer for this once beautiful, once talented woman. We remember ways in which she touched us and those we love. And we learn a lesson that that anyone can get lost on the journey, so we pay greater attention to our steps.