Agape
“Love is
our most unifying and empowering common spiritual denominator. The
more we ignore its potential to bring greater balance and deeper
meaning to human existence, the more likely we are to continue to
define history as one long inglorious record of man's inhumanity to
man.”
Aberjhani (Journey Through the Power of the Rainbow)
Do you ever wonder why we
mark history by the wars fought in any given era? We say pre- and
post- this war or that war as a way of marking time. And, it seems
there's always war, whether past or present. It's become common place
for us to hear there was a car bomb explosion in Kabul today, or the
Syrian siege of Aleppo is in its fifteenth day, or Honduras may be
moving toward civil war. We just yawn and move on. We humans seem
capable of tolerating continuous war. Does anyone ask why? Is war
simply native to human beings? Do we not believe in settling
differences by give and take negotiations, or is that just too slow?
Quicker and easier to blow up a lot of people, as though that settles something.
What we seem not inclined
to do is what Jesus recommended we do—love our neighbors as
ourselves. In his parable of the good Samaritan, he managed to speak
truth to power by breaking every taboo possible. Not only did he have
two members of the Hebrew intelligentsia cross the road and pass by
the wounded man—because their laws forbade touching anyone who was
sick or bleeding—but he chose a foreign man, the Samaritan, unclean
in his own right, to be the hero of the story. Jesus was a genius
with stories designed to convict the consciences of those in power.
Just think: we could, if we were so inclined, mark history by the
good things that happened instead of wars. We could look back and
figure out when we were good neighbors, and mark that down on our
calendars. Would we think of ourselves and others differently if we
did?
Love is not easy. Right
now, it's hard to love what's going on in the world. The rise of
authoritarian leaders is both frightening and heartbreaking. Most of
us thought we had crossed that bridge already. Now, it seems, we must
cross it again. The most powerful weapon we have for doing that is
love—not hate, not war. Diana Butler Bass, in her sermon at the
Wild Goose Festival, spoke of Jesus after the resurrection. He did
not return to Golgotha and tell his followers to attack and murder
those who had executed him. Instead, he returned to the room where he
had celebrated the passover feast with his disciples, and found them quaking in fear behind locked doors. He did not condemn their cowardice.
What he did was open his arms, hands forward, nail holes obvious, and
bless them with these words, “Peace be with you.” And so I say to
you, “Peace be with you today. Go and be peace to others.”
In the Spirit,
Jane
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