I have been wrestling this week with love. What does it really mean to love someone? If we look at 1 Corinthians 13 we get a glimpse into what love is. Here are some truths that we do know about love.
1. Love is patient and kind.
2. Love is not jealous or arrogant.
3. Love is forgiving and does not seek it's own gain.
4. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.
5. Love rejoices with the truth.
6. Love hopes.
7. Love believes.
8. Love endures.
Our nation has been in pain for a long time and that pain is now coming back to the surface, oozing out like an infected sore.
Growing up in a white middle class family in the suburbs I didn't see racism. I heard about students from other communities throwing trash at our sports buses because we had blacks on our teams. I was proud of the fact that it wasn't my community. When I moved to South Korea I saw first hand the racism that exsisted when my room-mate and I would go out. She was Indian and clerks would ignore her and flock to me. Then I moved to Russia. One of my Chinese friends broke her leg when she stepped out of her dorm one night and someone hit her with a crowbar. As I was preparing to leave church one evening many of our African international students came runing back inside the doors frantic. Skin heads had the church surrounded. I saw fear in the eyes of those students that I had never experienced in my life. That wasn't my community. Did it really affect me?
Now I live in Alaska. We are so far removed from all that is happening in the lower 48. How far removed are we really? What is love? Love is a command from God. Mark 12:30-31 says: "You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. My neighbor, my community, is not just Wasilla or Alaska or even the United States. We are called to love everyone as our neighbor.
I will admit to being uneducated in terms of race. I do not know how it feels to be a person of minority. I do not know what it is like to feel frightened when I see the police. I don't know what it is like to feel like my voice is unheard. Honestly, I don't know what to do right now. I do know that love is also an action. So to love my neighbors I will listen, I will pray, I will help, I will obey. I don't know what that looks like. I am hear and I have hope that this will get better.
Remember, it is not hate that changes the world. Wars damage and love heals. Through this trying time love each other, listen to each other, and care for each other. Share the Love of God, the truth of God, and the hope of Christ. It is time.
1. Love is patient and kind.
2. Love is not jealous or arrogant.
3. Love is forgiving and does not seek it's own gain.
4. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.
5. Love rejoices with the truth.
6. Love hopes.
7. Love believes.
8. Love endures.
Our nation has been in pain for a long time and that pain is now coming back to the surface, oozing out like an infected sore.
Growing up in a white middle class family in the suburbs I didn't see racism. I heard about students from other communities throwing trash at our sports buses because we had blacks on our teams. I was proud of the fact that it wasn't my community. When I moved to South Korea I saw first hand the racism that exsisted when my room-mate and I would go out. She was Indian and clerks would ignore her and flock to me. Then I moved to Russia. One of my Chinese friends broke her leg when she stepped out of her dorm one night and someone hit her with a crowbar. As I was preparing to leave church one evening many of our African international students came runing back inside the doors frantic. Skin heads had the church surrounded. I saw fear in the eyes of those students that I had never experienced in my life. That wasn't my community. Did it really affect me?
Now I live in Alaska. We are so far removed from all that is happening in the lower 48. How far removed are we really? What is love? Love is a command from God. Mark 12:30-31 says: "You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. My neighbor, my community, is not just Wasilla or Alaska or even the United States. We are called to love everyone as our neighbor.
I will admit to being uneducated in terms of race. I do not know how it feels to be a person of minority. I do not know what it is like to feel frightened when I see the police. I don't know what it is like to feel like my voice is unheard. Honestly, I don't know what to do right now. I do know that love is also an action. So to love my neighbors I will listen, I will pray, I will help, I will obey. I don't know what that looks like. I am hear and I have hope that this will get better.
Remember, it is not hate that changes the world. Wars damage and love heals. Through this trying time love each other, listen to each other, and care for each other. Share the Love of God, the truth of God, and the hope of Christ. It is time.
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