Choose Love

SCRIPTURE
- Matthew 5:44          
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” 

REFLECTION
- Brian

MUSIC
- "Hosanna" by Josh Snodgrass
- "Where Charity and Love Prevail" by Dennis Strach

- "Better Days" by The Goo Goo Dolls

And you asked me what I want this year
And I try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
'Cause I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
And designer love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'Cause everyone is forgiven now
'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again

I need some place simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And that's faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child who saved this world
And there's ten million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words and sing out loud
'Cause everyone is forgiven now
Tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'Cause everyone is forgiven now
'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again
'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again

NOTES
-

PRAYER OF LETTING GO
To You do I belong, O God,
into Your hands I surrender my life.
Pour out Your Spirit upon me
that I may love You perfectly,
and serve You faithfully
until my soul rests in You.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_06 0:29

Happy Friday. Thank you for joining us today. Some words of Jesus comfort us immediately. Others make us squirm a little. And maybe those are the ones we need to hear the most. Today, Brian reminds us what can happen when we really listen to the words of Jesus and allow them to change us. Let us pray. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

unknown 1:03

Amen.

SPEAKER_06 1:05

O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall declare your praise.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Psalm 45. My friend. My heart is full of joy today. You, my dear friend, are the source of this joy. You touched me with love and awakened my sleeping heart to the beauty and fragrance of life around me.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

God reached out through your friendship and concern to kindle a new fire within me, to fan embers into flames of light and faith. You marched into my jungle of despair and made a path for me to walk on once more.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

I am so very grateful to God and to you. I pray that God may use me as He has so abundantly used you to transmit joy to the joyless and kindness where it was needed most.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

And I pray that God may bless you and keep you and use you forever.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

The word of the Lord. I had the privilege recently of sitting in on a lecture about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, taught by a very talented catechist from Iowa. She recounted a story about one of her sessions teaching young children, maybe around second grade. And in that session, she was introducing the kids to some of the sayings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, including our verse from today. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. The verses were written on slips of paper that the kids would turn over and then read. Humorously enough, when one little girl flipped over and read the verse we read today. She immediately recalled from it and retorted, I am not doing that. Do you even know what an enemy is? That may not be the response most catechists are hoping for. But honestly, I appreciate it. Often we are so used to hearing the teachings of Jesus that even the more shocking ones can fail to rattle us as they ought. But the really beautiful part is what happened next. Without missing a beat, their teacher asked the students, Oh, should we just flip it back over then? Would it be better if we ignore these verses instead? And she started flipping the slips of paper back over. A choir of little voices chimed in, No, no, we can't ignore them. Jesus said them, so they must be good for us. And they restored the verses to their face-up position. I am not doing that. Do you even know what an enemy is? Yes, but we can't ignore these words. Jesus said them, so they must be good for us. Wow, what an insight! Although it doesn't make sense by human estimations, we know that it is really better for us to love our enemies simply because Jesus told us so. And he can neither deceive nor be deceived. Yet something in us resists this truth. Something in us clings to unforgiveness and seeks solace and grudges. It says, if you love your enemies, you'll have to invalidate your feelings or let an undeserving culprit off the hook. You'll have to pretend as if the wrong done to you never happened. But we're not invalidating our feelings or letting anyone off the hook. We're not pretending. Rather, by loving our enemies, we're choosing to let our trust in Jesus triumph over our desire for vengeance. It's not about turning a blind eye. It's about carrying a trusting heart. We still see the wrong. We'll still feel the hurt. But in spite of it, we choose love. We choose to side with love because Jesus asks us to. And we trust that he has our best interest at heart. But let's also remember that Jesus reverences how difficult this is for us to do because he's experienced it firsthand for himself. Consider just how aware Jesus was of the magnitude of the evil inflicted upon him. He did not pretend that what happened to him was not wrong. Jesus saw the wrong. He felt the hurt in its entirety. And in spite of it, he still deemed the path of loving his enemies worth the cost. Now he gives us the grace to follow his lead. And so we pray for deeper trust as we hear these words. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Will we turn the paper over and try to forget these words? Or will we trust in the good will of our loving Lord Jesus and insist we can't ignore them? Jesus said them. They must be good for us.

SPEAKER_06 7:34

And place that situation before God. Trusting in God's mercy and love, we pray. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Let us pray. Jesus, you know every wound we carry, every hurt that lingers, every name that catches in our hearts. Meet us in those tender places. When forgiveness feels beyond us, lend us your mercy. Untangle the resentment we have held too long. Soften the places that have grown hard and little by little draw our hearts closer to yours. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Into your hands I surrender my life. Pour out your spirit upon me, that I may love you perfectly and serve you faithfully until my soul rests in you. I am not doing that. I have to admit, I love that little girl's honesty, and there are days when I feel exactly the same way. Forgiveness doesn't always happen all at once. Sometimes it begins with simply asking Jesus to loosen our grip on the hurt and help us believe that something better is still possible. And may God bless us in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

unknown 9:51

Amen.

SPEAKER_06 9:54

As we carry that hope with us today, we'll end as we do every Friday with a song. The song I've chosen is a reminder that we don't have to stay trapped in what has been, and that grace can always lead us somewhere new. Here's the goo goo dolls with better days. Look for Christ in the small things until we pray again tomorrow.

SPEAKER_04 10:24

And you ask me what I want this year, and I try to make this kind and clear. Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days.