Love your enemies

O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing; Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany BCP 216)

"For the fourth year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups, reports that hate and domestic extremism are rising in an unabated trend. The center found a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone, according to the center's annual "Year in Hate and Extremism" report. The group designated 1,020 organizations as hate groups in 2018, a high of at least 20 years." (https://www.npr.org/2019/02/20/696217158/u-s-hate-groups-rose-sharply-in-recent-years-watchdog-group-reports, heard on All Things Considered)

In this coming Sunday's gospel passage from Luke, Jesus tells his disciples to "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." It seems that in the United States, we have a long way to go in working on loving our enemies.

Whether we have personal enemies, or simply find it hard in our hearts to love those who are different than ourselves, we are called by Christ to offer up prayer and blessings for others. As Lent is coming up, consider the ways you can change towards love this year, letting go of hate, opening up to new people, or simply praying for a change of heart.

This coming Sunday we will be taking a moment of prayer for hate groups in the United States. We will be offering prayer for those we consider our enemies and those who hate us. I hope you will join me in opening our hearts to the amazing love that God has for all people.