Practicing Love

"Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Colossians 3:13

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Romans 12:9-13

I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. John 15:17

This will be a short one, but I need to get this off my chest.

It occurs to me that no small portion of the New Testament is devoted to how Christians ought to treat one another. Almost all of Paul's letters close with exhortations about how to live together as a believing community. Sometimes (as in Philippians 4)he even names names of particular people who need to "up their game" in the love department. Jesus in Matthew 18 sets out a great roadmap for healthy communication between members of a Christian community. And John (both in the Gospel of John and the letters of John) harps incessantly on the theme "love one another." Does this mean you shouldn't also love your neighbor who's not a Christian? Of course not. Does it mean we should focus on loving other Christians and ignore loving our enemies? Um, No, no, double-no! What it means is that, just as we learn how to be a spouse and parent from our family of origin, we learn how to love others in the outside world by practicing on fellow Christians.

And yet...

Our history is pretty rough. Most of what we know about the second- and third-century "heresies" is from the nasty attack ads from the ones who were eventually known as "orthodox" Christians. The second most violent time in the modern era (in pure numbers, taking a back seat only to the First and Second World Wars) is the early 17th century, in which Europe was almost entirely populated by Christians killing other Christians for being the wrong kind of Christian.

And even today, I read more than I care to about this or that pastor, priest, or political pundit who's a complete and total moron for interpreting scripture in a way that's different from how "we" interpret scripture. My facebook feed is blown up with wholesale, ad hominem rants against those cruel, bigoted, inhuman monsters who are so awful at loving their neighbors. It's become a game of "how extremely can I diss and distance myself from my brothers and sisters in Christ", in the hope that all the "nones" who realize we're not "that kind" of Christian, will come running to us and join us in our important work of vilifying the other side.

I've also heard from far too many faithful clergy persons who are being attacked, undermined, sniped at behind their back, and thrown into emotional and spiritual turmoil on a daily basis for the heinous crime of answering God's call to preach and administer the sacraments, loving God's people, and telling them what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. Folks are being bullied; it's way more common than anybody wants to admit, and it's why rates of depression and substance abuse for Christian clergy are way higher than the average population.

It's time for this nonsense to stop. It's time to be the kind of community, the kind of family, that a normal, sane person might truly want to be adopted into. It's time to let our light shine so that others will see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. It's time to start loving social conservatives as much as we wish they loved LGBT folks. It's time to start loving theological conservatives as much as we wish they loved persons of other faiths. It's time to start loving Christians on the right as much as we wish they loved folks on the left, and vice versa. And as Jesus taught us, love doesn't always mean agree with, but it can and often does mean sit down and eat with. It does not mean advocating for, but it often does mean listening to. It doesn't mean never criticizing, but it does mean sharing the light of the truth as we've come to know it, with the particular people whose perspective we see as darkened by prejudice.

You want to try loving your enemy this week? Let's try something less convenient that Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin or Viktor Yanukovych halfway across the globe, who are indeed hard to love, but who for most of us exist more as concepts than people. What about loving the person who tried to "save your soul" by putting a Chick Pamphlet under your windshield, or by swallowing their nerves and knocking on your door to share their version of the Gospel, even if you find that version offensive? Or how about this...

What about loving our pastors? What about praying for them not just when they're on the right track, but when they seem to be having some trouble? Not just when they're hitting it out of the park, but when they're striking out? Not just when they agree with our concerns, but when they challenge us to look at things differently?

Let's try this love thing, and let's practice on each other. Let's see if by God's help, we can make God's house look like a place folks would like to be.