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View this email in your browser A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon. Monday - Second Week in Lent Not long ago, an individual came for counsel about a situation where her brother didn’t speak to her anymore because she didn’t hold the same denominational beliefs. She expressed her sadness that someone who professed Christian faith could hold such harmful views about her and her eternal prospects. Unfortunately, as humans we have a long successful history of excluding others. People selectively separate themselves into tribes, groups, nations, or ideologies. People often make the argument that religion has caused so much conflict such as religious extremism. I disagree profoundly. I think that these profound divisions emerge principally from human power struggles. The conflict we observe at the root of all of these divisions and are in a way inherent as we, humans corrupted by the ravages of sin and evil, deal with each other. Perhaps in our day, we are most aware of this as evidenced in our political discourse. There is nothing inherently wrong with humans wanting to come together to set policy, but the capacity to do so is at the root and issue of human control and power and therefore causes deep discord. Some time ago, I went to hear an orthodox priest from Jordan speak. He said something about extremism that has stuck with me ever since: the extremism you have the most control over is your own. Each of us has the freedom right now, to jettison hate from our hearts. We have the radical ability to become radically loving. This is what lies at the heart of Jesus’ teaching. Despite all the conflicts that we perceive, we can choose to love. We can choose to let go of human differences and power struggles and allow God to be the judge for others. Our goal should be to follow the two great commandments: Love God and Love each other. If we embrace this mindset, we can begin to allow others to differ from us. We can become more self-aware of how we view people who hold different beliefs and value systems. If the situation requires it, we can correct each other with love. Scripture teaches us clearly that Christ’s greatest legacy is love. Scripture Lessons appointed for the day (Click on the lesson for the text) Daniel 9:3–10 Luke 6:27–38 Psalm 79:1–9 The thing is, you cannot ask people to coexist by having one side bow their heads and rely on a solution that is only good for the other side. What you can do is stop blaming each other and engage in dialogue with one person at a time. ― Izzeldin Abuelaish   Loving the "other" . . . Do I acknowledge the icon of God that exists in every human being? When have I retreated to tribalism, "group think" or "othered someone"? How can being honest with God about my failings help? Prayer of St. Francis Sarah McLachlan What makes the disciples of Jesus different from others and what makes Christianity distinct from any other religion? It is grace - treating others, not as they deserve, but as God wishes them to be treated - with loving-kindness, forbearance, and mercy. God is good to the unjust as well as the just. His love embraces saint and sinner alike. God seeks our highest good and teaches us to seek the greatest good of others, even those who hate and abuse us Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.