Love

It would appear that the USA engages in unprecedented level of interference by a Western State in a neighbouring state.
People tell us that China surrounds Taiwan with military manoeuvres designed to create instability.
Pictures inform us that Russia continues to ignore calls to suspend their unjustified war on Ukraine.

Those recent developments sit very uncomfortably in a month which has Valentine’s Day at its centre. The world of media and commerce reach out to convince people that love between people is all that matters, while the households in the world are much more concerned about the impact of international conflict on their lives.

Is Love the solution?

Yes and No. Certainly it can warm some hearts to be reminded that they have someone who loves them above all others. But to focus on that sort of love alone leaves the less passionate acts of kindness of parents towards their children seem trivial.

Yes and No. The ability of nations to set aside their international grievances about past wrongs out of a love for people today, can undermine the sources of conflict. But to let a violent act of one nation on another to simply be ignored, and even rewarded, is to deny the justice that love demands.

Yes and No. Jesus showed love to a woman who was caught in adultery, the greatest special crime of his day, but also told her to leave her life of sin: forgiven, yes, but in love she had been told to forge a new life.

YES! As Lent arrives let us seek ways to display difficult love in our demanding communities, and to use as our example and our only strength the love of God in Jesus who gave himself up for us.

For God so loved the world….