Love Thy Neighbor
Ben Smith of Tootgarook, Victoria, Australia
For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. -Psalm 11:7
Blood beats through every chamber, filling our bodies with hope and vision for a changed world.
Who is that anyway? It’s not the face behind the fence, or a lovely philosophical pretense; rather, it’s the heart behind the wall or maybe the woman under the shawl. Do we have the gall to break down the division of endless imaginary difference?
Skin difference, thought difference, word difference; different upbringing, but not all that different. Same air, same blood, same ground, same love; same idea of a life so near, without fear, we cry the same tears of joy!
The only difference is our lens. Our eyes are how we train ourselves to despise, to act unwisely, and to compromise our birth-given value of love. Our best selves, hidden under societal mud.
When we talk to each other, we transform, removing the danger, now friend from stranger. The outsider is much easier to denigrate, form a kind of hate and eventually reverse the idea that we can’t be together as one.
All is not lost.
When we realize that it’s time to synchronize our minds for the better, that when we are together we are no longer in demise but to our surprise we are blessed with some kind of enduring sunrise moment. The day when we join hand in hand, making pacts that disband the hatred-filled plans of those whose thirst for power; when that day is trumped by those who search for life’s meaning and continue to uplift with smiles beaming, that…that will be the day we know our neighbor.
That day, when we as Community of Christ embrace our name and become profane to stereotypical Christian claims that deny the truth of Jesus words, that will be the day we retrain our eyes to see through lenses of love and together our blood will beat true again. When neighbor was once the stranger, now friend.
I think that day is today.
Prayer Phrase
“In God’s hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being” (Job 12:10).
Spiritual Practice
All That Lives
Sit quietly and sense God’s presence flowing through the trees and all creation. Offer a prayer of gratitude for your connection to all that lives. Ask for grace to discern and carry out one small act of justice or healing that creates greater wholeness for the plants, animals, trees, waters, air, and land that are part of the community of creation.
Today’s Prayer for Peace
Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.
