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This one seems simple (though anytime I say that I end out writing more). The first part of the affirmation grows out of a familiar scripture:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Humility has a bit of a bad rap in our culture, which is largely the fault of Christian preaching. In an attempt to avoid destructive pride, some teach that we should go through life thinking of ourselves as loathsome, worthless sinners who can accomplish nothing good.
That is messed up thinking, and a far cry from true humility.
I ran across a great insight in the Anglican BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER years ago. It said that the person who believes they are useless, worthless and ruins every thing they touch is suffering from pride as much the egotist. Both are completely unrealistic, and thoroughly self-centered ways of viewing life. Whether we try to put ourselves above everyone else, or beneath them, we're shutting ourselves away from any kind of healthy and loving relationships.
True humility takes down the barriers that false self-images raise up. Humility comes when you see yourself as you are, with all of your virtues and flaws. It comes when you understand that you are human, just like everyone else and it frees you to love others without judgment.
Which brings us to the second part of the Affirmation. This one is also based in a well-loved scripture.
You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. (Matthew 5:43-47)
Loving a stranger is hard work, let alone loving an enemy. Freud once wrote that love should be confined for those people we consider worthy (I need to blog about that quote someday. For now, I'll just say the man had issues.)
Freud's idea fits with what seems the most common sense approach. We love people when we're going to get something out of it. Loving those who don't love you is a waste of energy, and loving those who hate you is just asking for trouble.
But that assumption doesn't take the power of love seriously. I read several years ago about a young man who, driving drunk, had killed a family's teenaged daughter. No one would have blamed the family if they had hated him and petitioned the court for the harshest possible sentence. Instead they got to know him, visited him in jail, pleaded for leniency in his sentencing, and took him in when he was released from prison. His life was changed by the power of their forgiveness. and so were the lives of the family. They said that reaching out as they did helped to make their daughter's death bearable.
Loving others, strangers, enemies, is the hardest challenge that God puts before us. It is difficult and dangerous, but it is also the only thing that can transform the world.
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