One of my favorite quotes is that, "The Christian practice has not been tried and found wanting.. It has been found difficult and left un-tried." I put the above part of the Sermon on the Plain in that category. These words set the bar so high for Christians to clear. Loving our enemies? I would rather be stuck in a room with a walrus, wallaby, and a whale; which is a great premise for a joke. But that is the point. Jesus is turning the world upside down and inside out and two thousand years later, we still struggle. We tend to not even get close to loving enemies, especially the ones who wish us harm...especially those who are waging war...especially those whose comments on Facebook cause that tiny vein in your neck to pulse so it echoes in your ear. Love that person? Really, Jesus? And unfortunately, we tend not to talk about it.
I wish I was standing in the crowd that day to ask a clarification question. Although, to be clear, I am not sure that is a practice I want to start less it happens during my preach! I want to know...how?
How do I love someone when the emotion I really feel is anger? How do I love someone in the face of honest fear? How do I love that person who seems to have the nuclear codes to my well-being and ends us saying something like, "You look young to be a pastor...are you sure?" Insert awkward laugh and comment about good genetics.
And loving those close to us is hard enough. It seems to take most of my energy. What do I have left to love the person who comes from a different political place or who makes racist or sexists comments? C.S. Lewis quipped that if we wanted to love our enemies...perhaps we shouldn't start with Hitler. Maybe we should begin somewhere and with someone else. And to be sure, this is not just willing my way through...I need a willingness for God's wisdom rather than my own. I need to let go of my usual score-keeping ways. And this doesn't mean I need to keep silent...but I don't need to shout. You see...this loving enemy invitation is hard.
It is a slow process. Every day, can I let go of the anger to make space and place for God's wisdom and Christ's love to enter in? I think about Jesus who ate with Pharisees who were really critical... and my ego has a hard time when someone says I talk too loud. But Jesus ate with them. And challenged them. And loved them. Maybe there is something so profoundly simple and sacred in that idea. Eat with someone...be honest...but be heartfelt. Paul put it this way...speak the truth in love. That is a great image. Speak your truth...but in love. And I would add...and listen to the other with openness. Even in a post-truth world...where hyper-individualism prevails...we need space and place to listen and talk and pray and listen and talk and pray. The listening suggest I need to learn. The talking point says that God can speak through me. And the praying part reminds me that we all need to let God get a word in edgewise. Feel free to send that on to our local and state and national representatives.
On this week of Valentines...I pray that as people of faith we can lean and live out an image of love that isn't just chocolate-covered surface level cotton candy sweet....but a love that might actually make this world different and participate with God in helping the realm more real for such a time as this.
Grace and peace ~~
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