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In the church I attended when I was a young adult, our pastor would close every worship service with the same challenging benediction. Each word was drawn directly from Scripture, mostly from the 12th chapter of Romans. Years later, I still remember that benediction well for two reasons: (1) because it demanded so much from us as disciples of Christ, and (2) because there was really no way to deny that it was our true calling.
Before I share the words with you, let me say first that this call to love, patience, forbearance, and peace is something that all of us struggle to do. Christ tells us that, when someone hits us, we are to "turn the other cheek," but few of us are able to do that. Christ tells us to love our enemies, but the loudest voices in our heads and in our world tell us that is folly. Outwardly we may nod in agreement when we hear Martin Luther King, Jr. preach that "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." But when it comes to trusting those words and living those words, few of us are brave enough or faithful enough to actually live that way.
I want you to know that I struggle with these challenges every bit as much as you do. But the words of that old benediction, which were rooted in the scripture printed below, have never left me. I do not want them to. On the contrary, I know that I need to hold them fast in my memory, because I believe that God really does expect these demanding things from us, and I cannot honestly deny that they describe our calling.
May God give us the faith, the courage, and the will to live as God's Word calls us to live, to the glory of Christ our Lord.
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