I am not sure of Love
O lord, I live in a world of angry men and women.
I am often angry with myself at threats to my values,
at brutal disregard for the institutions I hold dear.
Where do I belong in such a world?
Where does the Lord Jesus belong?
Is love weak,
too weak to be creative?
Is compassion sheer sentiment?
Is this a time to be hard and tough?
My emotions tell me so some of the time.
Then at other times, I see him moving
amid the shadows of history.
I see him angry, too,
at evidences of injustice
and mistreatment of his fellow men.
I hear him lash out
at self-righteousness and complacency.
I watched him at last,
when the anger is done and the sharp words said,
stake his life on love and self-sacrifice.
I behold him die and hear him say,
“Father, forgive them
for they don’t know what they are doing.”
And, somehow, O God,
deep inside me, I know love is not weak;
it is I who am weak.
Love is indomitable and irresistible.
Hate is weakness.
Vengeance is futile,
and violence is self-defeating.
Help me, for it is hard
to stand by what I do know deep inside.
It is so much easier to curse
than to bless
It is easier to pronounce maledictions
than to pronounce benedictions.
It is easier to shout others down
than to sit down with others.
It is easier to be loud
than to listen.
O God of all people,
who does not separate us into good and bad
but into loving and unloving,
I need your help lest I tear things up.
You have offered to help me, I know,
and I hold back.
Can you push a little harder?
I want to be more loving,
and I am afraid.
Hear my prayer.
Make my commitments to love
more than good intentions. Amen Kenneth G. Phifer “A book of Uncommon Prayer”
Kenneth Phifer talks about his struggle to really love others and asks that his commitment to love be “more than good intentions”. What is one way you can turn an inner commitment to love someone into action this week?
All of the above reproduced from“Readings for Lent and Easter”From The Upper Room
