Today I’m focusing on the second reading from St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. At the end of a week that has been distressing in many ways it offers the hope that together we can move forward, rebuilding relationships and communities. He writes:
“Never have grudges against others, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow any sort of spitefulness.”
I can’t help wondering how different social media would be if we took those words to heart. Over the past week we have seen very clearly the damage we can do to one another when we let grudges, anger and spitefulness shape our civic dialogue. We’ve seen the power that words have to lead to physical violence and damage. St Paul doesn’t stop there; he goes on to tell us what we have to do to avoid this:
“Be friends with one another, and kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.”
We’ve also seen the power of kindness and forgiveness. kind words and actions can build bridges, heal wounds and draw us together in all our diversity. If we take the time to reach out across our divisions, we can find the courage to forgive and learn from each other. As the week progressed new friendships formed as people found the courage to listen, share food, learn about others and discover shared concerns.
St Paul reminds us that we are called to imitate God, and to imitate Christ in loving as he loves us. In our challenging times it seems to me that this call compels us to come together, to learn from one another, to share and to build the friendships that will help restore peace and trust in our communities.
Where is Christ calling you to help build up trust and friendship in your community?