Intimacy: Who do you love? - Do you choose to love people of other races and cultures?

FOCUS SCRIPTURE

Romans 12:9-18, 1 Cor 13:1-13

DAILY BYTE

The other day, I stood in the till line at Spar absentmindedly watching carrots, toothpaste, and cereal go through the scanner and be scooped up by the bagger. In a bit of a dream world, I awoke when the cashier began to chat passionately with the bagger in isiZulu. My understanding of the language is minimal, but I knew a few words in their conversation — enough to gather the gist of what was being said. I smiled right as the bagger looked up and noticed the giggle on my face. She burst into a huge grin and said - ohhhhhh - you understand! And everyone laughed all around. As I walked away, I realized that I wished such moments would happen more often. Moments of connection and pure joy, moments of understanding between people who on the outside have little in common.

And then I realized that I am largely responsible for the fact that these moments do not happen more often. I claim to love people of other races and cultures, but l expect them to bend to my way of doing things, and there is no such selfishness in the love that God teaches us. I am fascinated by the diversity of people and traditions that the world holds and that I believe, is a delight to God. And yet, with the excuse that there is simply not enough time, I fail to learn the language of so many people around me. A language that might offer me an insight into their lives, a key to unlocking a deeper relationship with them and with God.

We read in Romans today that we are to “live peaceably with all” - that we are to “live in harmony with one another” - that we are to “rejoice with those who rejoice” and “weep with those who weep.” And of course it is true that much communication can happen without the use of words, but even God uses the spoken and written word to communicate with us. God is The Word. And so if we fail to reach out with language to others, perhaps we are failing to be like Christ to them. If we are avoiding the traditions of other cultures, afraid that we don’t have the words or viewpoints to understand them or appreciate them, then perhaps we are not loving in the way that 1 Corinthians describes it - patient and not insisting on its own way.

If we fail to make listening and speaking with others who are different from us a priority, even if that requires the learning of a whole new language, then perhaps rejoicing and weeping with others will not be possible to the depth that we and God desire.

If we claim to love others who are different from us but only notice them from a distance - only talk about them instead of with them - only listen to voices that sound like our own instead of opening our ears to hear a different way of describing and living in the world, are we really choosing to love others? Are we keeping many people around us at arm’s length, away from the intimate parts of ourselves? Are we complacent, choosing only to love those who look and sound like we do? As we seek to love those who are different from us more deeply, may the words of Psalm 19:14 be made real: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Question for reflection:

Do you choose to listen - truly listen - to people of cultures and languages that are different from your own? Or do you find yourself ignoring the sounds of their voices? If you are listening, what have you heard? How might that lead to greater understanding and harmony? If you have been a little deaf, what steps might you take to choose to hear and communicate more clearly? Might you need to learn a new language - either linguistic or of the heart?

PRAYER

Pray today the Prayer of St. Francis, asking that in our choice to seek understanding of others through our words and actions, we might bring greater peace to the world.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.