Lord,
You summarized the entire volume of scripture when you told
us to “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” The purpose behind all the
instruction (law) given through history tell us how to love. You blessed us
with a faith driven without conditions by care and consideration for all
people. You gave us, Lord, the opportunity to enrich and be enriched with every
human interaction.
But Lord, you gave this gift to humankind. You gave it to
sinners. You gave it to people who struggle with the unconditional, unlimited
nature of your love for your creation. Everything else in our life comes with
conditions and limits. We struggle with generosity.
Some respond to your commandment to love by imposing so many
rules they find fault in all people and special judgment for others. They write
rules that restrict your love to their select and deny your love to everyone
else. They transform holy love into an aggressive tool for persecution. They dwell on limits and restrictions; they
find comfort in that which can be measured.
Lord, we ask for strength to resist imposing our rules on
those who believe differently than we do, for even those of us who proclaim
justice can be drawn into imposing our own standards, our own limits of who is
Christian. We are as guilty of limiting your love as those who do it to control
your kingdom. And we ask for healing of hearts so broken they can only imagine
limits to your grace.
As painful as it is to see the harm caused by those who choose
to judge for you, Lord, whom you can love, responding in judgment only compounds
the pain. In this conditional world we inhabit, help us grow an understanding
of your infinite being. The better we understand that, the better we will be
able to accept that the love you have for another does not diminish the love you
have for us. When we finally, deeply, fully understand that your love for the
rest of creation does not limit the love you have for us, we may finally begin
to follow the intent of your laws and accept the blessing of loving every
person in creation.
Amen
