Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? Abraham Lincoln
Meditation: Never before have we seen the lines between friend and enemy as distinctly drawn verbally and in action as today. Mexicans, Immigrants, China, the Press…they and many more have been announced and labeled as “the enemy” that the US needs to “erect a wall against”, “throw out”, “put high taxes on” or defame as “liars”… In the recent US psychodrama the world is arbitrarily split into “good or bad”, “deserving or undeserving”, “right or wrong”… The world of borderline personalities functions that way. Or the world of paranoid persons and narcissists as well…How has this happened? How could a whole country fall for a psychodrama that splits reality and that creates a virtual reality where those categories rule? Even the idea of friendship has been perverted in “friendship” being defined only as loyalty and usefulness to one’s own purpose. If somebody is no longer loyal or useful, former “friends” are being “fired” from one minute to the next, and they become enemies as well.
Prayer: God, you do not split. You do not discriminate. You send sunshine and rain for all. Jesus’s goal was to overcome human divisions. He modeled a way of engaging “so called” enemies by showing genuine love and by practicing prayer to change and heal relationships that were broken or strained based on prejudice or hatred. God, we pray that you will heal our country and start in our church communities. Let us preach and live as Christians according to how Jesus lived and preached and not get infected by the falsely splitting psychodrama of our times. God have mercy. Amen
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:44f
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