I have been thinking about the notion of perfect love as being without fear, and what that means for us in a world that’s becoming increasingly xenophobic, tortured by fundamentalism and nationalism. bell hooks
Meditation: We are facing the bankruptcy of love in the US today. Today when Mexican children are being ripped out of the arms of their parents who try to find safety in the US. When children are being thrown into jail and separated from their parents, not love, but xenophobia, torture and hatred reign. Today when Neo-Nazis and KKK members are being called “good people” by the president, racism and hate filled supremacist ideas are publicly endorsed. Not love but hatred and fear reign. Today when fundamentalist Christians are confused and make their fear based political interests equal with their religion, Christianity is being sold out. Not love, but fear and hatred reign. In US politics, love has lost its power. Fear and hatred reign. Love is bankrupt: in our policies and in our ways of treating those perceived as “others”, in our politicians and in many of our churches. At the same time the economy of the US is doing well. Love as an ethical value in American politics and has been replaced with Money. The rich and privileged are creating policies that make them even richer. They fear to lose their status, their riches and their power and will do anything to defend those. They are filled with fear of losing. They are afraid that their immoral ways will be revealed to the world. And so they choose to hate: Hate those on whose backs they have made their fortunes: namely those minorities who are getting poorer every day, those who are being tortured and oppressed, and those who are treated inhumanely. There is no fear in love, but there is much fear in hate.
Prayer: God of Love, from a country blinded and bound in hatred, we cry out to You. We mourn for those imprisoned migrant children who are being tortured by being separated from their parents without notice or explanation. We mourn for the death of Christianity in many of our churches. We mourn the rise once again of supremacist and nationalist movements in this country. God of Love, God of Mercy and God of Justice, it seems that You have left America to its own devices, as those in power have chosen to replace You with the Idol of Money, the Idol of Fear and the Idol of Hatred. Hear our mourning and have mercy on all those who are suffering from the current conditions in their mind, body and spirit. God, have mercy on America. Amen
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. 1. John 4: 18-19
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