By Melanie Rigney
Beloved, let us love
one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and
knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
The
mountains shall yield peace for the people, and the hills justice. (Psalm 72:3)
When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity
for them, for them were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach
them many things. (Mark 6:34)
Piety
Jesus, help me to love authentically and mercifully.
Study
The day after
Christmas, a friend and I watched a few episodes of a series on the 1960s.
She’s a bit older and came of age during that decade; I turned thirteen in 1969
and while I did a protest march or five, volunteered for political candidates,
and know a lot of the music, much of the commentary and scenes was a bit
foreign to me.
Except the
love.
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By Tonybove (Own work) [CC BY 3.0
via Wikimedia Commons
|
Whether
people were frolicking in The Haight, screaming for the Beatles at Shea
Stadium, or dancing to Jefferson Airplane at Woodstock, there was joy and
wonder and happiness, and yes, love, on their faces. That’s not to diminish the
lives that were being lost in Vietnam or the assassinations of Martin Luther
King Jr., the Kennedys, Medgar Evers, Patrice Lumumba, Malcolm X, Che Guevara
and others during the decade. I would bet every one of those happy faces in
those scenes was aware of the violent, evil, senseless side of the 1960s. But
you can lose yourself in the dark… or you can find yourself in the light. For
some, the light was temporary, fed by alcohol and drugs. But I would also bet
that for many, the light began in love… of friends, of family, of life, and
God. It might have taken a while for them to find God amid that tumultuous
decade, but my guess, based on what I see in my friends of a certain age, that
many of them got there and found Him to be the alpha and the omega, the source
of all love.
I wonder what
people will be dissecting about the 2010s fifty years from now: political rancor,
senseless shootings, or the music of Taylor Swift. I’m confident they also will
find some faces filled with love… doing the Lord’s work at refugee camps, on
Capitol Hill, and in neighborhoods. Love without God is fleeting. Love with God
is everything.
Action
Do
something kind anonymously today for someone who believes you dislike him or
her.
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