Our call is to love

 

Our call is to Love 

“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy".   Thomas Merton

 

In these times when we are surrounded by acts of seemingly intentional harm, and uncaring, we are challenged to delve deeply into our Quaker faith.  I hear Friends lift up a call to live into our Peace testimony.  That is surely a good thing.  As we seek to lean into that testimony it is important to remember that it does not stand by itself.  All of our Testimonies work together to form a cohesive guide for us to test how we can live our best lives, no matter the circumstances that we find ourselves in.  Each one is integral to our understanding of the others.  We are called to testify to that enlivening movement in our lives. 

The work of peace and peacemaking requires delving  into our deepest selves, calling upon all that we are and all that  Spirit calls us to be.  For Friends it means acknowledging and living from that place where we encounter God within and remembering that place is not unique to us as Friends.  We say that there is that of God within everyone.  In acknowledging and accepting that as true, we acknowledge that each and every person is a child of God.  Once we acknowledge that, we must also acknowledge that no one is evil.  Some of God’s children surely seem to have lost their way as they choose to engage in evil acts but they nonetheless remain God’s children, carrying that of God within.  Our call is to love them; to hold them in the Light, to pray that they will find the Light within themselves and be moved to hope, and joy, and love.  We are called to love everyone without judgement and, in that most challenging act, we are lead toward hope and unity.  It is not easy work, but it is ours.