Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Original Manuscript:
Phillip Yancey's book What's So Amazing About Grace shares many of stories primarily centered around forgiveness (which fits in well with our Wednesday lunch gatherings for our Diocesan led program on Forgiveness). One of these stories is about a friend of Yancey who realized that to live out his calling as a minister, he couldn't just go to those who were considered good people. He needed to be like Jesus and eat with tax collectors and sinners, that is the most despised of society. That ended up being Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists.
That's right, Yancey's friend went and ministered to the worst of the worst racists in this country. His goal was to share with them the love that we have through the Grace of Jesus Christ, and his hope was that in drawing nearer to Jesus, these Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists would slowly transition away from their racist and bigoted ways and come to share the love of Jesus with others.
This is what Jesus means when He tells us to love our enemies. We too are meant to associate with people who may appear to be unlovable. We are meant to go in and be that spark that can hopefully change the bad in this world to good.
This is not always an easy path, and it is one that will take time just as it did for Yancey's friend. In the end, Jesus does love us even when we might be unlovable at times. We, in turn, are called to spread that love to others, regardless of whether we actually like those others or not.