Ø relationships within our Families
Ø relationships with our Friends
Ø relationships with Ourselves
Ø relationships with God
Ø relationships with Nature
Ø relationships with Strangers
This week we conclude
by looking at relationships with our enemies.
This is a very rich topic and there are several different directions
that we could take and explore. For instance, we could examine the relationships that we
have with enemies of the United States, such as our fear and hatred of the enemy
terrorist group ISIL.
Of all these diverse options, I
have decided to focus our reflections at the personal level. In other words,
how do we build stronger relationships with our personal enemies or
rivals. Throughout this series, we have focused
on the following three questions:
Ø What kinds of relationships does God intend
for us to have and maintain?
Ø What kind of relationship-partner does God
call us to be?
Ø How can we be faithful to God in the manner
that we live out our relationships?
So, basically, our
concern this coming Sunday will be what kind of relationships does God expect us
to have with our personal enemies and rivals?
What kind of relationship does God expect us to have with those persons
who have wronged us; or harmed us; or cheated us; been our bitter rivals at
work or in our families or in our communities?
My reflections this weekend will be
based upon a portion of Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount” as recorded in the
Gospel of Matthew. Specifically, we will
be reflecting on Matthew 5: 43-48. This
scripture contains these words by Jesus:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of
your Father in heaven.”
For some who are new Christians,
this saying by Jesus may be unbelievable—literally. Does Jesus really mean that we are to love
our enemies!?! For others who grew up in
the church, this saying may be so familiar that we no longer take it very
seriously. In our worship this week, I
am going to ask everyone, both new and long-established Christians, to try and
hear this saying for the first time. I
am going to ask that we let Jesus' admonition to sink in and that we take it
very seriously. If we do that, then most
of us are going to find ourselves questioning; asking, “Does he really mean
that we are to love our enemies!?!”
I am convinced that before we can
build stronger relationships with our enemies we must first hear Jesus’ saying
again for the first time. On Sunday, we
will ask why Jesus thinks that it is important to love our enemies. What we will learn is that Jesus calls upon
us to love our enemies because God already loves and cares for our
enemies. It is important that we come to
see our enemies as God sees them, as beloved sons and daughters. Just as with strangers, we must develop the
ability to see the face of Jesus in the face of our enemies.
And, there’s more. Jesus reminds us that as his followers we
need to live our lives differently from the everyday norm. As his followers, we are to live as “resurrection
people” who are sons and daughters of God, confident that in the end God will
prevail and God’s Reign will be established on Earth -- and death shall no longer threaten
us.
And, there’s even more than that.
Come, join us this Sunday, Oct.12th, at Meriden United Methodist Church,
as we explore what it means to “love your enemies” as disciples who are called to begin living as a resurrection people. Our
church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden,
Kansas. Our classic worship service
starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings.
Everyone is welcome
and accepted because God loves us all.
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