Let love cover it

Let love cover it…

Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. Whoever speaks, let it be with God's words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies… Book of First Peter, Chapter 4

It has been interesting following the final days of the Kavanaugh confirmation drama while traveling in Europe. Given my wife's passion on the subject, I have only been removed from the drama by distance.

I must confess. My initial perspective was determined by my political passions and empathy for Dr. Ford and the countless victims who have come forward during the #MeToo era. Having seen how the GOP treated the previous nominee to the court, Merrick Garland, I was peeved to see their protestations and positions about the treatment of Judge Kavanaugh.

But as I meditated and sought a quieter place in my soul, I felt myself beginning to shift to a calmer place. This place did not diminish my sorrow, but it did calm my anger.

I, like many of you, have been grieved by the course talk and demagogic pandering by President Trump and his allies. And given Mr. Trump's misogynistic history, his defense of Judge Kavanaugh and ridicule of Dr. Ford, there are days I seem destined for total despair.

If you are not aware of friends or family who have suffered either sexual assault or harassment, you only need ask with an honest and tender heart. You will find there are survivors of sexual violence all around you.

In this context, I find myself struggling to find a place to stand. So, as I often do, I look back into history to find context and comfort. As a 10-year attendee of a religious school, I have thousands of bible lessons, sermons and sayings to plumb. As a lover of history and its lessons, I regularly return to the decade of the 60's in America to reflect on that violent and dark time.

Because in the 60's there was societal upheaval unlike any since the Civil War. There was the Vietnam war and the purposeful deception of both Congress and the American people by the Nixon administration. There was the Civil Rights movement - the lynchings and beatings by police in Mississippi and Alabama. There was the March on Selma and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. And, finally, there was the Women's Liberation Movement. The writings of Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem motivated women to resist the male-dominated view of women in America.

So whether it was sexual or racial discrimination- or the life and death issues of war and violence- the 60's were a time very similar to our current experience.

And into this chaos, rose an eloquent man who advocated for love and peace. Dr. King was no academic removed from the mean streets of everyday life. He was a black man who had seen and experienced the injustice of equal justice denied.

Both before and after Dr. King's assassination, there were those who called for violent resistance. Organizations like the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground advocated for violent resistance and even overthrow of the government.

But Dr. King saw a better way. What he knew and passionately preached was that hate only begets hate, and darkness cannot overcome darkness - only light can do that. Dr. King knew that the white majority would not be persuaded to change their minds about racial injustice if they felt constantly threatened.

Dr. King believed that only by non-violent, suffering could the black man soften and awaken the hard, closed-minded hearts of white Christian Southerners.

Did Dr. KIng have a right to be angry about how unjustly he and his family had been treated throughout history? YES. Did Dr. King feel abandoned and somewhat hopeless as he sat in his cell in the Birmingham Jail - alone and undefended by any of his fellow clergymen? YES. Did Dr. King conclude that non-violent, civil disobedience was the only way to resist unjust laws and unjust systems? YES Did Dr. King expect to suffer the consequences of his actions - including incarceration and possible violence to his person? YES. Did Dr. King in his life ever stop believing that justice would ultimately prevail? NO.

Today I often experience deja vu - that feeling I have been through all of this before (when actually I haven't.) It is easy to become discouraged when recognizing that we - as a nation - still have not lived up to the ideals of our nation's founding.

We clearly do not live as though all of us were created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. As a white-male, I certainly do and have - but neither my wife nor my daughters have had that experience. White-male privilege is just as real as it is unconscionably wrong.

Francis Schaeffer, a Christian theologian, wrote a book 40 years ago titled How Should We Then Live? The book was written after the Roe v. Wade decision by the US Supreme Court legalized abortion in America. Evangelicals - both then and now - felt lost in their own country and didn't know how to live out their faith in such a time.

Although possibly from the other side of the argument, many of us now are asking the same question? How can we live in this here and now with all of its hatred and discrimination?

The Apostle Peter (if you are Protestant) or Saint Peter (if you are Catholic) was a leader in the early Christian church who was killed by the Roman Emperor, Nero. At the time of Peter's imprisonment and before his crucifixion, he wrote the books that bear his name in the Christian bible. It is in this context that he wrote the words quoted above love covers a multitude of sins. Or, in less churchy language, love forgives many wrongs it suffers.

In this time of GOP hypocrisy and political double dealing- in this time of moral bankruptcy of today's clergy who support a misogynistic, racist philanderer for President - How Should We Then Live?

If anything, we should learn from Dr. King and Saint Peter than heaven's way is rarely our way. When we feel anger, heaven knows we have a right to feel that. When we are wronged, we have the freedom to resist.

But, we must remember that whatever we do - we must not become the very thing we hate. We cannot become evil to destroy evil.

As Dr. King said:

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can't stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they'll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That's love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There's something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.

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