Love Challenge Week! Turning hate into love! Remember those who hate are also family members.

Dear Family of  Love,

I hope everyone had a Wonderful and Wonder-Filled Wednesday. We are halfway through our Love Challenge Week. Tonight's theme is about turning hate into love and also remembering that those who hate are also family members. This isn't an easy thing to do. It involves a lot of concentrated peacemaking and using good listening and being CALM (Compassionate, accepting, Loving, and merciful). Prayer is the essential ingredient in fostering  this turn of attitude. We all must learn that before we engage in helping to heal the hatred that is being spread across the country, we must pray, meditate, and work on our relationships with God, each other, and ourselves. We all must start from the very beginning and put the Summary of the Law into practice: Love of God, Love of Neighbors a.k.a. Family members and Love of ourselves. From these three we start and move outward like tossing the pebbles in the pond. Sound familiar? That was last year's Lenten series.  We all must turn hate into love by our actions! No mean feat but if we find out what our common ground is, it might be a good place to start. Remember if we practice random acts of kindness and show the haters how being CALM human being looks like we might have a good place to begin. Mirror the behavior you wish to change in other people. 

Our keyword and concept for this evening is this: Going against authority!
You are probably shaking your head and asking this "why does she want us to Go against authority?"
In our featured Gospel lesson for this week we find Jesus going up against the Pharisees and thumbing his nose at the Powers That Be while he is busy doing his acts of healing and reconciliation. Jesus was telling us and yes even the authorities that we all need to take risks and even if it means losing one's life in the process. Tonight here is our ponder work and I encourage you all to take your time:

Which is riskier "Doing Good to those who hate you?" or going against the authorities?
Where do you see yourself in the Gospel lesson? On the side of Jesus or Pharisees? 
Is loving our enemies the same as doing good to those who hate us? 
How can you help your enemies and those that hate you if they are in need?  What if they are the least of these? 

Here is the Gospel for you to refer to:

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem,the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,and you were not willing!See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name

of the Lord.’

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Just a reminder of this week's Journaling work and themes and keywords!

Our Theme of Action: Week 3: Challenging ourselves to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. How can we be of help to them. 
Our secondary theme comes from the Gospel for the Second Sunday in Lent :  Being a modern prophet in and out of our own Jerusalems and the Jerusalems throughout the world. The seven Keywords and concepts are these:
 Prophet

Jerusalem

Going against authority

Fearlessly serving - tomorrow's keyword

Comforting and gathering the flock in a desolate city and sometimes being prevented in doing so.

Pharisees

Where are the modern day Jerusalems? 

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After our Ponder Work let us spend time with the "Be Stills"

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

Slowly inhale.

Hold.

Slowly exhale

Pause. Count to 10.

Repeat 4 times! 

Now sit quietly and reflect up the day past and enjoy your visit with God. Open wide your heart homes and feel God filling you up with Love Energy.

I invite us all to light our candles and be at prayer as we begin our Virtual Candlelight Prayer Vigil: Tonight I ask your prayers for peace and and end to all the violence and hatred in our country and throughout the world. I ask your prayers for those who are finding it hard to love the unlovable. We pray for our family members who differ from us and the courage be reunited with each other. We pray for all of our family members who are seeking love and understanding and an end to feeling invisible. We pray for all who are suffering from chronic pain and illness. We pray that we may continue to be CALM(Compassionate, Accepting, Loving, and Merciful)

God we share many things in common with our enemies, may we find common ground as we pray this night.

God may we breathe clean air and find ourselves breathing in love and breathing out peace.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God may we eat of the abundance of the fruits of  your Cathedral of Life and break bread together in solidarity.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God may we find rest for our souls and may we rest in the knowledge that you God created us all and made us in your image and likeness. Take away any anxiety and bitterness that keeps us from resting upon our beds. 
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God may we be clothed with peacemaking skills and clothing that will keep us warm.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God we give thanks for our homes in which we live. We pray that everyone will have a home that safe and filled with warmth and love. We pray especially for those who have become refugees due to wars and violent conflicts. 
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God we pray for our families who need our love, patience, and we give thanks for them with loving and sustaining and merciful hearts.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God we pray for all of our loved ones especially those who have asked us for our prayers remembering especially____________________________
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God we remember your beloved little children that they may be safe from harm and still have a childlike wonder  and awe for the earth and your creation. May we recapture this sense wonder.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God teach us how to be lovers and may we find the holiness in our relationships one to another.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God show us the paths towards peace,justice, mercy, equality, and universal human rights.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God we pray for all who mourn that they may be given love, comfort, and compassion.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God we pray for all who have died and are dying. We pray especially for those who are dying terrible deaths that they felt your loving presence as they were carried into the Thin Places.
May we love our enemies as we love our neighbors and do good to those who hate us.

God we thank you for this day and as we lift up these our prayers in the name of  your son Jesus. Amen. 


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Good Night Dear Family ! I love you! May you find rest in God's Gentle arms of love and know and feel God's loving presence. I give thanks to God for you this day and always.

Love and peaceful hearts be always yours,

Sara