A Prayer for Love

In a time when people all around the world are known more for being judgmental, having critical assertions that they have to make widely known, and being strongly opinionated, especially online – It would appear that social media has exasperated this issue especially amongst our young people polarising and radicalising them.

But they are not alone, it has impacted people of all ages and stages, and at all levels of society according to an article I read recently entitled “Social media polarises and radicalises” – Therefore I am reminded of the need to pray for love.

The worrying aspect is that all to often Christians, and even churches are more widely known for what they disagree with, and many tragically viciously critique and spread gossip and negativity all with the intent to share ‘The Truth‘, without ever really taking stock of how their words and actions don’t match the expectations placed upon us by Jesus in numerous interactions with people who did not believe as He did.

Jesus’ approach was not to get into a debate or point out the failings of the other person – He loved them regardless! The most obvious example is found in the story of the woman caught in adultery where he shows love and compassion (refer to John 8:1-11).

Another example is found in the story of the woman at the well (refer to John 4:1-42), and although this time he does share in some dialogue with the woman it is through his love and compassion towards her that she is introduced to Him as ‘The Lord’.

This interaction not only impacts her life, but also those of her whole community. And this message of ‘loving others’ regardless is repeated time and time again in the letters to the various churches that formed after Jesus’ ascension. We should not be so judgemental.

“You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.” (Romans 2:1 NLT)   

The Old Testament also reminds us that it is much better for us to keep our opinions to ourselves, taking them to the Lord our God and ascertaining if there’s anything in our lives that we need to work on so that we can show love instead of being opinionated, critical and or judgemental.   

“The church must be willing to travel outside the traditional boundaries of acceptance. Embracing Jesus’ radical ethic of love and being an open community.” (New Beacon Bible Commentary)

The following prayer “A Prayer for Love” was originally posted by the Operando Association – which is a voluntary, independent, non-profit organization, whose mission is financial and voluntary assistance to the most vulnerable individuals and groups, promoting charity and mutual help.

“Lord, I ask you to send the Holy Spirit into the hearts of people all over the world and to fill us with love. Touch us when we work, sleep, eat, whenever we are alone or in a company.

Fill us with your power to live and work only for good. Let us become executors and witnesses of your Love, wherever we are. 

Let your Spirit burn within us and pour out on us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control (Gal. 22: 2-3).

If ever, we need Your love now. Give us the knowledge and grace to see in each other a sibling – not a rival or an enemy. Someone who needs our love and compassion, but also someone who will help us become more and more human, compassionate, secure, mature, wise, and capable of relationships.

God the Father, you created each of us out of your love. May this awareness never disappear from our sight, especially when we are at the edge of our capabilities and can only see ourselves. Then give us the strength to be able to open our hearts and invite You to work through us. 

Lord, teach us to share in love all we have with others. May this “muscle” of solidarity and goodness be strengthened every day. 

Let us not make excuses for our helplessness, but trust in your provision and see that you always take care of us – at the right time. 

Lord, let us be aware of our uniqueness – that we are made after Your inspiration. Let us learn to look at people of other races and nations with your fatherly eyes. 

Let it remove from us all the feelings of insecurity and inferiority that arise from self-serving. Give us the grace to unconditionally accept each other as brother and sister, for you created us to enrich one another and not to rob, enslave, and kill. 

Lord, connect us, and above all, remove from our world everything that is not good and worthy of You. Weave new bonds of love and brotherhood between us.

Lord, grant that we may be kind and merciful to one another, that we may be able to forgive, just as you, Father, always graciously forgive us in Jesus Christ. 

Amen.”

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Random Acts of Kindness Day

Tomorrow (1 September) is Random Acts of Kindness Day (RAK Day) in New Zealand.

We need it more than ever in 2020!

The first national RAK Day started in 2005 and it’s been amazing how New Zealand has not only been the only country in the world to have a national Random Acts of Kindness Day, but Kiwis have embraced it in every corner of the country!

One kind word or act can change someone’s whole day, and tomorrow is a great chance to see that being kind is also amazing for your mental health.

The aim of RAK Day is to raise the kindness temperature in New Zealand and you can do that by letting someone ahead of you in traffic, complimenting a stranger or bringing baked goods to the office, we hope you take some time tomorrow to bring some sunshine into the lives of others!

Check out the image for some additional suggestions on how you can show kindness to others in your setting, or come up with some ideas of your own.

 

As Christians this is something that we should all willingly want to get behind – So that others can know that their are people out there who do care for them, appreciate them and want to express love in some small measure through their actions and words love and kindness towards them.

So, what will you do to show love and kindness to a complete stranger? How can you encourage and build up others so that we can each bring “life and hope” to all those that we meet?

This can be a form of evangelism and outreach as we exhibit God’s radical love to the world – by being the change that we want to see 🙂

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Front page of this month’s newsletter

On the front page of this month’s Wellington City Corps newsletter I feature an article which I’ve adapted slightly from the Grace Seattle Blog written by John Haralson back in December 2015.

He says; A very wise person once summarized the Bible’s entire story using love as the major thread that holds everything together. The idea wasn’t original to him, as he was doing his best to channel the theology of Augustine. Here is a paraphrase of the biblical story;

In the beginning, there was love. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existed as a loving community of mutual delight and self-giving. God made the heavens and the earth as an act of love. All of God’s creation participates in God’s love.

Human beings have been made by God to consciously, willingly, and worshipfully participate in the love of God. Yet, human beings have sinned. We have chosen other loves instead of the love of God and love of neighbour.

Because of this, our loves have become disordered – we have an inability to love the right things and are instead consumed by inordinate love of lesser things. Yet, God, who is love, has intervened.

In love, he sent his Son into the world to rescue us. This rescue involves the forgiveness of our sins; but it goes significantly beyond that. 

God also has lovingly given his people his Spirit so that we might be re-made into his image. The over-arching goal of God re-creating us in his image through Jesus Christ is so that we might, once again, become lovers – lovers of God and lovers of our neighbour. In this way, God’s salvation is best understood as the triumph of love over sin and death.

I think this is a faithful and fruitful way to understand the story God speaks to us in Scripture. The implication of this story is that God now stands before us and is inviting us into this story of love.

He is inviting us to be known and lovingly embraced by him. He is also inviting us to begin to move towards others in our lives in love.

In other words, love is now possible.

So as we interact in the coming days weeks, and months may we keep this front and centre in our lives.

As people will judge us as Christians by how we interact with one another, with others and our community, not only through what we say but also through what we do.

 

May we each be an example of what it means to truly love one another in these testing and uncertain times – for by our acts of love people will know that we are His disciples (refer to John 13:35)

Check out the full newsletter here.

‘Til next time, blessings 🙂

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Word of Encouragement

The following Words of Encouragement have come from the YouVersion blog entry for the 21st of March 2020 that keeps on appearing at the top of my home screen each day when I open up my Daily Bible Reading App.

It is entitled: Some Things Are Out Of Our Control – But Not Everything.

Sometimes it feels like news updates are coming every few minutes. When we give so much of our attention to events beyond our control, we can lose sight of the power that we do still have. We can choose how we respond to our circumstances. And perhaps even more important, even in the midst of those circumstances, we can choose how we treat others.

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Recently we reminded you about the time that Jesus’ disciples were afraid their boat might sink, but then He calmed the storm. Just like Jesus’ disciples, we’re all in the same boat with Jesus — but we’re also in it with each other. And we can choose to encourage one another, to support each other, to love each other, and to point each other back to Jesus.

“Love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35 (Contemporary English Version)

Here Are 4 Ways We Can Choose Love:

1. Encourage one another.

We live in such an incredible time! Even when we can’t be physically present with one another, we can still call, text, email, connect on social media, attend church online, and more.

“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.” Proverbs 3:27 (New Living Translation)

2. Support each other.

Some of the most meaningful things we can do are simple and practical. Check in with your neighbors and ask how they’re doing. Share whatever you have. Drop off a meal for someone who can’t get out. Pay for the person behind you in a drive-through. Send an email gift card to a friend.

“…our love should not be only words and talk. No, our love must be real. We must show our love by the things we do.” 1 John 3:18 (Easy-to-Read Version)

3. Love each other.

Jesus said that loving your neighbor was the second most important commandment. And in the parable of the Good Samaritan, He explained what He meant by that word, “neighbor.” Paul even suggested we turn loving each other into a competition!

“Try to outdo yourselves in respect and honor of one another.” Romans 12:10 (The Passion Translation)

4. Point each other to Jesus.

It’s Jesus who calms our storms. But it’s up to us to remind each other of God’s promises. And to pray for one another. You can do both these things — and more — in the same ways we mentioned in #1 (and of course in the Bible App).

Just remember: No matter what we may be going through, we’re all in it together. We all live on the same planet. We all breathe the same air. Jesus said we would have troubles in this life. But He gave us His Spirit. And he gave us each other.

And these two things are more than enough!

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