February 20th 2016
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22: 37-40
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” –John 13: 34-35
As many of you know I drive to Philadelphia once a week to babysit my grandsons. The drive is almost always in the dark, sometimes harrowing and sometimes just plain boring. I have taken to listening to books on CDs borrowed mostly from the Bloomsburg Public Library. My subject comes from a lecture by Professor William R. Cook of the State University of New York from The Lives of Great Christians that is part of “The Great Courses” series. In his lecture on Mother Teresa he says, “She emphasized that love begins at home with family and friends, and she urged everyone to find the poor in their own homes and love them.” She is also quoted as saying, “Love is not defined by extraordinary deeds but in the daily act of giving oneself to others.”
I have been pondering this for a while. As we are approaching a holiday that includes family gatherings, how can we show love? Is there that aunt who is too critical, that uncle who is sullen, the cousin who drinks too much or whoever makes us miserable? How do we love them unconditionally? Is it more important for us to have that perfect family time or more important to love the hard to love characters in our family?
Taking it another step forward, what about our church family? Who, in those pews upsets, annoys or challenges you? How do we love those folks? Are we judging others’ sins, their lifestyles, their commitment to the church or even their crying babies? Do we not love them because they have a different opinion about how the church should be run?
Of course, there is also our worldwide church family. How do we love those of a completely different culture, different lifestyles, or different political opinions?
The answers to all these questions are both easy and hard. The easy answer is that God will show us how. The hard part is asking for his leading and listening for his answer.
Susan Kindt