For April 3, 2022 - Looking at "Who Is My Neighbour?" and the Lessons of Covid-tide

 

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God you challenge, ask, command us to love our neighbour.
And like the lawyer we ask “but who is my neighbour? Who should I show love to?”
So you remind us, you broaden our field of view, and again tell us to love our neighbour
But still we wonder, what does it mean. What should we do? What is the best way to love our neighbour?
And you keep pushing us, pushing us to give priority to the needs and safety of others even when it may make us less comfortable.
But still we push back. We argue about the best way to balance priorities. We question who needs to sacrifice more and if the promised benefits will come.
God who walks with us in times of challenge, in times of pandemic and warfare, when the best way to love our neighbour seems uncertain,
With grace you pick us up when we trip over the complications of life, in grace accept our confusion and our reluctance to do what seems best for the whole community.
...time of silent prayer...
The world is a complicated place. The best way to love our neighbours as we love ourselves is not always obvious. But God is there to guide and to challenge, to lead us forward and help us reset when we get it wrong. We are loved. We are held in grace. We are given chances to get it right.
Thanks be to God. Amen.