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I read a story today that made me go to YouTube to listen to a song from an opera. Let me tell you, it had to be a good story to get me to listen to opera. It was a good story. It is a good story and an incredible song. Rather than try to tell you the story, I am going to just repeat it word for word from the book More: How to Move from Activity for God to Intimacy with God by Greg Hawkins.

So here it is, the story as written by Greg Hawkins:

It is the story of the opera "...Turandot, written by the great Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini in 1924. Set in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, hundreds of years ago, it tells the tale of Turandot, the royal princess with an ice-cold heart. To vet all potential husbands, a contest was created. Answer three riddles correctly and you can marry her. Miss just one and off with your head.

Enter Calaf, a prince in exile, who sees Turandot and is immediately consumed by her beauty. Act 1 ends as he bangs a massive gong announcing his intentions to face the riddles. In Act 2 he successfully answers the questions, but Turandot is not so happy about it all. Being a good sport, Calaf (who has gone unnamed up to this point) offers her a way out: 'You gave me three riddles; I will give you one,' he says. 'If you can discover my name by sunup then the deal is off and my head along with it.'

 Act 3 opens with one of the most beautiful and recognizable arias in opera, the 'Nessun Dorma' sung by Calaf, where he declares early the next day before sunup, 'Vincero! Vincero!' which means 'I shall win! I shall win!' Turandot's advisors show up trying to bribe Calaf with wealth and other women, but he refuses. Eventually they drag in his father and his servant Liu, threatening to torture them. Liu steps forward declaring she is the only one who knows his name, declares her undying love for Calaf, and drives a dagger into her own heart to prevent herself from spilling the beans. Liu's act of sacrifice begins to melt Turandot's heart.

However, Calaf does not want Turandot to marry him out of obligation. So he privately tells her his name, even though it will mean his certain death. Turandot, with Calaf at her side, triumphantly announces to her father, the emperor, in front of all the townspeople that she knows the stranger's name. 'His name,' she says, 'is...'" ...

...And then Greg Hawkins paused in telling the story. Don't you hate it when someone does something like that. Leaves you hanging just when you want to know what happened? I had to read on to find out what happened next. Don't you want to know? Stories are like that. They draw you in. You just have to know.

He finally continued...

'... at the very end Turandot announces his name and the townspeople go wild screaming and the music crescendos to the very majestic ending. As usual, I was moved to tears. But although I'd heard the opera many times before I knew the general story line, and could feel the intense emotion, I didn't know what they were saying. I didn't speak Italian.

I pulled out the libretto, which translates the Italian to English, and I read the very last scenes where Turandot goes before her father and announces proudly, 'Father, I know the stranger's name.' She says, 'His name is ...' and there is a pause. Then she proudly announces, 'His name is Love!' She doesn't rat him out, yet she gives his true name. His name is Love.

In that moment God met me in a very powerful way. He made two things very clear to me. First, all of life, everything is about love. God's true identity is love Himself: His name is love, He is love, and most important thing in life is to love Him. Also, in that moment, God made it clear to me that the second most important thing in life is people and that my goal, my job for the rest of my life, is to love them. I am called to love.'

Ok - back to me and our story at Bridges. Last Sunday, in the message, I suggested that the word for the decade ahead of us should be "love", specifically the love God has for us, His everlasting love. His love permeates the entire Word of God from beginning to end. It is unconditional and sacrificial. It is too big too understand, too immense to ignore. It is a love that the apostle Paul prays we will sink our roots down into to discover and experience just how wide, long, high and deep it really is though we will never fully understand it. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

His name is love. God is love. My prayer for each of us for 2020 is that we explore His love for us in such a way that we truly understand it and that it permeates us and flows out of us in love for Him and for others. And may we be like, Calaf and have others say of us, "his name is love", "her name is love" and may the love of Christ transform us so that people recognize His love in us.

The word for year 2020 and the decade beyond - LOVE!

Here is the link to the YouTube version I watched -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uqPnY5hQDs

If you're like me, you won't understand the lyrics, just know that his last word, Vincero, means "I will win." And if you watch at work and someone hears it and asks you why, tell them the story of Turandot and the connection to God's love for them - see what happens.