LOVE IS THE OPPOSITE OF SELFISHNESS

As I drove to work Thursday morning, I heard remarks by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as he gave a press conference. I share what he said with the caution, because I have no way to fact check what he said.  He told reporters that the Russian soldiers have come carrying their own crematory, suggesting that parents will not be able to bury the bodies of their children who die in this war nor would the people of Russia ever see the bodies of their fellow citizens who died. President Zelenskyy contrasted this with Ukrainian doctors who are caring for the medical needs of Russian soldiers taken as prisoners of war because, he said, “They are people first.”

Last night as Eden Prairie UMC began observing Lent with an Ash Wednesday worship service, I shared the idea in Bishop Curry’s book, Love is the Way, that I think is worth the price of the book and then some!  Bishop Curry suggests that the opposite of love is not hate, as we tend to think. Instead, he said the opposite of love is selfishness. When we think of ourselves before others, when we act in ways that serve our own self-interests over the needs of others, then we are not acting in love. When we label and exclude and harm and put down, we are acting out of selfishness. 

I am overwhelmed this morning at the degree of selfishness it takes to make your soldiers carry a crematory into war to prevent the people of your nation from the cost of what you have done. I am overwhelmed by the love it takes to care for the medical needs of people who are trying to kill you.

Love is a powerful force in the world that heals and helps, includes and makes room, lifts up, sets free and liberates. It doesn’t take a special lens to see love at work in the world, nor to recognize selfishness when you see it. We only need to be attentive and observant.

This season of Lent I invite you to look with more intention at the world around you. Notice where love is at work and partner with it, celebrate it. Notice where selfishness is at work and make sure you are neither a part of it nor a part of celebrating it. If you want to dive deeper into what it means to be love in action, join a Life Group, get Bishop Curry’s book and read along with us, and attend the Wednesday night and Sunday morning worship experiences, live or online. These are all great experiences to help reshape us as people who know and act in loving ways.

Choose to be a part of the powerful force of love that is the only thing that has ever changed the world and the only thing that can give us hope in these troubling times.

Blessings,

Pastor Becky Jo