Eastertide
May 29, 2020
Scripture Reading:
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are.
Let love be genuine. It is funny what we remember from the books we read. I have no idea how many years ago I read C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves, but ever since that reading, I have carried the wisdom he shared about loving people we discern as unlovable. He described a woman, his neighbor, who, by all experiences, was not a pleasant person to be around. He worked at avoiding her, if possible. As he dug deeper into the life of Christ, he became more and more uncomfortable with his response to this woman. He finally decided he could not love her but would treat her like he did. So, he stopped avoiding her, chatted with across the path, and ignored her more offensive actions. One day, after a brief discussion, as Lewis walked away, he realized that he had learned to love her.
As I listened to the news this morning about another black man who had been killed by a policeman, I heard words something to the effect that black people cannot tell white people how to fix themselves regarding ending racism. I recalled Martin Luther King’s words in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. He concluded that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice;
What struck me most as I read the scripture above was the words of action Let Love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Like C. S. Lewis we each need to examine how we are slowing the progress of creating a world ruled by love and actively change our hands-off or negative ways of being to letting our love be genuine in all that we do while we do all that we can.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for our going along to get along and help us to see how we can learn to genuinely love one another. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.