February 4
Beloved of Good Shepherd Church
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
I really do think that all violence has a single source. All violence is caused by bad eyesight. If we could see ourselves and each other as God sees us, we wouldn’t dare even think about harming each other. We would be drawn to the much harder work of making our so-called enemies into friends.
Make no mistake - that’s really hard work. But, I truly believe it’s the work we’re called to as followers of Jesus. My mom once said to me, “You know even if we’re wrong about all this stuff, it’s still the best way to live. Don’t you think?” Yes, I do. Definitely.
There is a mysterious and wonderful parenthetical in the last chapter of Thomas Merton’s book, New Seeds of Contemplation, which I have long loved and been puzzled by, “(God said: I do not laugh at my enemies, because I wish to make it impossible for anyone to be my enemy. Therefore I identify myself with my enemy’s own secret self.)”
What I wish for myself is that I be able, by the grace of God, to look at my opponents, those with whom I disagree most vehemently, and see them as God sees them. God doesn’t see enemies. God sees all his potential friends. Every person on the planet has a preciousness about them. It is rooted in their inherent dignity. In some people the preciousness is buried deep, but it’s there. The divine dwells within us all. If I had better eyesight I could see the Christ-current of the living God in myself and everybody else. So, I am praying for good vision.
Etty Hillesum taught us that the absence of hate does not mean the absence of moral indignation. There is much to be indignant about in this world! Injustice abounds. Etty had really good eyesight, so she could see that to add even one atom of hatred to the great pool of anger that covers the earth would only make life more unlivable. In fact, the only way to make the world more habitable, Etty said, is through the love of which Paul wrote in the 13th chapter of his first letter to the church at Corinth. This love is patient, kind, never boastful, arrogant, or rude, endures all things, and does not insist on its own way.
Howard Thurman taught us that the only thing we should attack in our enemy is their status as our enemy. But let’s be realistic, not everyone is going to be able to see their enemies as potential friends. Some of our people are blinded by their anger. And that’s okay. There is much to be angry about. It’s okay and quite often appropriate to be angry at the way the world spins with violence. We need some angry people, but we also need a cohort of people, however small, who are not driven by anger. This small group can focus on having eyes to see the humanity and preciousness in our most ill-behaved neighbors and leaders.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his final book, “Some years ago a famous novelist died. Among his papers was found a list of suggested plots for future stories, the most prominently underscored being this one: “A widely separated family inherits a house in which they have to live together.” This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great “world house” in which we have to live together– black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Muslim and Hindu– a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.”
Sorry for all the name-dropping above, but these are my eye doctors. I am trying to add a bit of their wisdom to my glasses prescription, so that I will be able to see really well and therefore not add to the violence and discord that so troubles our world, but rather with my good eyes I will be able to see how I can add love, the love that lives inside us all, the love that is the very being of God.
Good Shepherd Church is like a vision clinic. We come together here to learn how to see and be seen through the lens of love, then we go out into the world to look at all our neighbors through the lens of God’s love. It’s not easy work, but it’s good work and even if we’re wrong it’s still the best way to live. Don’t you think?
Remember this always - God loves you, and I love you too!
Love is all,
Hendree+