Saturday, March 12, 2022
Loving our enemies
An excerpt from Matthew 5:44-45 (NRSV)
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
Reflection from Jeffrey Broms,
St. Lawrence Episcopal Church:
As we wade into yet another year of difficulty, it’s more evident than ever that differences of opinion are here to stay. There’s a certain difficulty in finding common ground with others when we feel so divided. It takes patience, and hope, and wisdom, and, in reality, it can be rather disheartening to put in so much effort for uncertain rewards. Nonetheless, in all of this, we should remember that everyone has their own experiences and obstacles in life. Even more importantly, our fundamental commonalities – love, friendship, community, joy, faith, and more always reach and far surpass the magnitude of these individual trials. They so greatly outweigh any differences of opinion that could possibly rise. So, it’s necessary to recognize that our shared humanity places in us the duty to understand, through compassion and acceptance, that we are more the same than different. Against all the seen struggles that we face, and all the unseen ones faced by our neighbors, and all the alternate views that can be so irksome, we overcome more with recognition of our shared human foundation. “Love your enemies” and put trust in them to reciprocate so. Communal love is always meant to outweigh communal strife.
For further study and prayer, the readings assigned for today are:
Psalm 27; Psalm 118:26-29; Matthew 23:37-39Matthew 23:37-39
MUSIC
“Give Love”
Sweet Honey in the Rock
Hold on when things are right or wrong
and give love