Why Is It So Hard to Love?

Do you remember those black billboards with white lettering that had "messages from God"?  I think my favorite was, "That love thy neighbor thing...I meant that." - God.  And yet 2,000 years later, it's still so hard to love our neighbor.  I'm not talking about smiling and saying hello and "being nice."  I'm talking about really loving each and every person because they are made in the image of God.  I'm talking about seeing and treating each person as a worthwhile, inherently good human being that deserves my love and respect.

The PCUSA, of which I am a member, has just had its General Assembly, a bi-annual national gathering.  Nowhere is that "Love Thy Neighbor" thing missing more than at that meeting.  While I did not attend, I watched some of it live and read first hand accounts of the experience.  I am ashamed to admit I did not see a lot of love, real love that shows compassion and demands justice for all people.  Sure, many talked about love, how they love all people, but actions failed to back up their words.  How can we love our Palestinean neighbors and yet not divest from companies that are literally tearing their houses apart?  How can we love our gay and lesbian neighbors and not allow their pastors to perfom wedding ceremonies legal in their home states?  How can we love the nominated vice moderator and then literally blackmail the General Assembly in threats until she resigns?   How can we love those who hold opposite opinions than "us" and then demonize them?

Why is it so hard to love?  At both the national level and local level.  In my experience, trying to intentionally create a church of love and acceptance has ironically led to anger and withdrawal.  O Lord, help us all.  Save us from ourselves.  And give us the strength to love our neighbors, ALL our neighbors.  Everyone loved, unconditionally.  Everyone accepted, unconditionally.  May it be so.  Amen.

Baptism: Jesus' Coming Out Party

Have you ever thought about why Jesus was baptized?  I mean, if baptism is about forgiving sin then Jesus didn't need to be baptized since he never sinned.  If baptism is about joining the church, Jesus didn't need to be baptized since there was no church to join at that point, at least not an organized one.  So why was Jesus baptized?

Part of the answer has to do with the scene at his baptism.  Mark records in the fifth verse of the first chapter, "And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him (John), and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins."  Imagine hundreds and hundreds of people all gathered along the river bank, some in the water, some lined up to be next, some just observing as spectators.  Then comes Jesus.  Jesus wasn't baptized because he needed to be.  He was baptized because WE needed him to be.

Baptism was Jesus' coming out party.  He came out to humanity as God's Son, publicly announced by God's own voice and the descending of the Holy Spirit.  After living 30 years on this earth, it was time for multitudes of people to know who he really was.  It was time for humanity, then and now, to experience Jesus, not just as a good guy or even a good prophet, but as the Son of the Living God. 

Jesus plunged into the same muddy river Jordan as hundreds of others that John baptized, uniting in solidarity with them and with us.  Identifying himself with humanity, broken and struggling, Jesus joined the masses in order to reveal who he was.  Now they knew.  Now they could follow.  Now they caught a glimpse, not of Jesus of Nazareth, but of Jesus the Christ.

May we too catch a glimpse of Jesus the Christ as we remember his baptism this Sunday.  May we participate in his coming out party as we rejoice that he is Son of the Living God, Lord of all creation, and Savior of humanity.  At Christmas we believed, we hoped, we kept the faith that the Savior was born.  Now we know for sure, for we too are invited to be witnesses to Jesus at his coming out party.