Grace and peace to you from the Mystery in whom we live and move, and have our being. Love for Enemies.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
Love your enemies. Are you kidding me!? At a time when disgust for our enemies fuels our push for social change? Can you love someone who is empowered to enter a church and terrify our brown brothers and sisters? Can you love someone who traffics lies, causing a mistrust of those who mean to do good? It wasn’t like the instruction to love your enemies was ever one of Jesus’ top ten feel-good things to do as a follower.
Love For Enemies
But seriously, what would happen if we started loving our enemies in this present culture? What would happen if we started loving our enemies in this present culture? We would be totally taken advantage of. The self-interest, desire for power, white supremacy, and the psycho and sociopathic nature of leadership will never capitulate to my love for them. We live in a different time. The idea of loving our enemies as a transactional ploy to gain favor from God is something we don’t believe in anymore, am I right? We won’t move the needle of social change by loving our enemies. Maybe it was true in the past, but I find it hard to believe for today.
Surely, when Jesus says to “love your enemies,” he must have meant what it says in Proverbs 25:22:
“If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the LORD will reward you.”
Yeah, Burning coals of shame!!! Let’s go love those enemies!!!
We need change. Loving enemies isn’t going to do it.
No, let’s engage in more effective methods. Let’s scroll our feeds. Let’s give and receive memes of derision. Let’s go get coffee and share the shock. Let’s take to the streets. Let’s start a podcast to rant our truth and watch our subscriber count rise… or not. But hey, at least I’m informed! I’ve done my research, as they say.
Call to Action
I took a break last Sunday morning as I sought discernment on these passages for this week’s touchpoint. It turned out to be less of a break and more of a call to action.
I visited Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church’s website. I thought I’d take in the service of one of the most progressive churches I remember from my time living in Pasadena. It is a church with a powerful voice and positive action. It sits at the crossroads of ethnic diversity, wealth and poverty, and the heartbreaking aftermath of the recent fires.
If any church had a sermon to voice angst for these times, I knew I could find it at All Saints. Instead, I stumbled—virtually—into a class being led by Associate Rector Mark Chase, a voice for the marginalized and a part of the Center for Racial Reconciliation on Personal Nonviolence.
Being Black History Month, Mark spoke about the darker periods of oppression in our country. The suffering of black communities was—and is—personal, substantial, and violent. He stated that resilience shaped the movement for social change.
The oppressors were relentless and violent. During those times there were debates on what type of response was needed. Mark’s class moved me away from my angst and hopelessness.
The most powerful movement for social change did not mirror the hatred of their enemies. They did not throw up their hands in angst, though I’m sure many felt hopeless and powerless. Thanks to mentors like Howard Thurman, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr., they found another way. It began with inward centering—personal nonviolent wellness.
Social Change
The people of those times could not yet spend endless hours, as we do, scrolling the news every minute for commentary to inform them how to feel or what to believe. They did not react by taking to the streets—at least not right away. They heard the words in these passages about loving their enemies—the words that Howard Thurman, Gandhi, and eventually Martin Luther King Jr. These words, the Word of God, who is for us, presented a plan for social change that began not with marching or lobbying the halls of Congress (which would eventually happen), but—of all things—personal wellness. Centering down.
If we are a consumer of rapid pace up to the minute commentary, our inner commentary will need a place to escape its destructive self-rumination. If not, it will eventually turn toxic. It will be like a contamination spill that will affect those around us. Hate of our enemies, creatively masked with self-righteousness, is still hate.
What else are we to do?
Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” Thurman, Gandhi, and then King would call it personal nonviolence.
All social change begins with personal wellness and self-care. Sounds bland, doesn’t it? But that’s why it’s resisted. It does not put me in charge and in control. It does not legitimize my worst nature. It feels docile.
The mentors said, “Personal nonviolence is not docility. It is warfare with different weapons.”
Thurman believed, “A nonviolent approach to racism and violence is possible only on the basis of a transformative encounter with God.”
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do that.”
Centering down
How can we know what makes us come alive if we don’t center down and be still? Be still, center down, call it whatever you want—just shut the hell… out!
Maybe Jesus is saying that the development of social change begins with personal change. Deal with the cancer inside, and the healing will spread rather than the cancer. Perhaps my angst should not fuel my action but rather my self-care through centering down.
I’m observing, as you are, the pain of societal shifts toward oppression. We are in need of social change, but where do we begin?
Perhaps it still is personal, nonviolent wellness.
To become a nonviolent contemplative is to make space for powerful, creative action rather than anxious reaction. It is Spirit-led, not emotionally led. My actions need not push the earth uphill, but change my inner world.
nonviolent wellness
Mark led a Lectio to create a moment of personal nonviolent wellness. I’ll share it with you:
“How good it is to center down
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by.
the streets of our mind seethe with endless traffic;
Omarkur spirits resound, clashing with noisy silences while something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment and the resting lull
With full intensity we seek before the quiet passes
A fresh sense of order as one living in a new direction
A strong, sure purpose, that will structure our confusion and bring meaning in our chaos
We look at ourselves in this waiting moment.
The kinds of people we are.
The questions persist.
What are we doing with our lives?
What are the motives that order our days?
What are the ends of our doings?
Where are we trying to go?
Where do we put our emphasis and where are our values focused?
For what end do we make sacrifice?
Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?
What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?
Over and over the questions beat upon the waiting moment as we listen,
Floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence
…There is a soul of another kind
A deeper note
Which only the stillness of the heart makes clear
It moves directly to the core of our being
All of our questions are answered, our spirits refreshed
And we move back into the traffic of our daily rounds
With the peace of the eternal in our step.
How good it is to center down”
Amen
Wednesday Respite is a 30-min contemplative service of scripture, prayer, music and a Spirited Touchpoint by Henry Rojas, spiritual director at Spirit in the Desert.
Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine. Previous Touchpoints are available as PDFs or on SoundCloud.
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