Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, July 19, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Let me blatantly disregard the beginning of this statement. I’m fairly certain that everyone, regardless of their beliefs, has been born of God, so I’m going to just move on.
If we are born of God—created in God’s image, beloved and made to love—then if we love God, we will love God’s children. And if everyone is God’s child, if we love God, we will love everyone (and everything—I include all of creation as our siblings).
Now, on a worldly level, I’ve gotta be honest. I know some parents I like whose kids I’m not fond of. In fact, I hated (and still don’t love) babysitting because I pretty much can’t stand other people’s kids on their own turf. (Teaching is a bit different for me, but I don’t want to digress any further than I already am!) But this falls back into that love as “feeling” rather than love as “action.” Yes, of course, if someone I adore asks me to take care of their child for a bit, you bet I will, and with joy (especially because I know I get to give them back). Maybe there’s the lesson for today—we don’t have to like being of love and service all the time, but we sure as heck need to bring our love “A game” when God asks us to look after one of God’s beloved children (or all of them). And in the end, creation belongs to God—it’s God’s child, and God will ultimately take it back and be in charge of it (after all, we won’t live forever). So we can happily, ungrudgingly care for God’s creation simply because we love God so much.
When have I been of love and service to someone I wasn’t particularly fond of? How did that experience affect the way I feel about love?
