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Love of God and love of neighbor are cornerstones of Christian teaching. These commitments come directly from the Jewish heritage of Christianity. In the New Testament, Jesus is asked about the definition of neighbor. He tells a story that basically conveys that everyone is our neighbor. From a different ethnic group, nationality, religion, race, still, a neighbor, whether your actual neighborhood is diverse or not. Everyone is a neighbor according to the teachings of the New Testament.

But one of the most unique teachings of Christianity is not love of God, or even love of neighbor, with the broad definition of neighbor. What sets Christianity apart is the teaching to love your enemies. Yes, we can say that the broad definition of neighbor given in the gospels includes enemies. So when we say love God and love neighbor we are saying love enemies, too.

But the word neighbor and the word enemy don’t come across as synonyms, even though a neighbor may be an enemy and an enemy may be a neighbor. Even so, the two words send very different signals. Neighbor implies someone in your community, a potential friend, someone you have things in common with. Enemy implies separation, hostility, difference, antagonism, threat, violence, and fear. The radical, extravagant, revolutionary dimension of Christianity is expressed in the command to love your enemies and those who persecute you.

What does the world need from Christianity? I think an answer is found in that ridiculously bizarre and outlandish dictate to love your enemies. Other good values and good words can be found in other religions. Love your enemies is a unique contribution that Christianity has to offer to the world. And it is a contribution that is needed as people divide and separate east from west. north from south, upper income from lower income, light skinned from darker skinned, English speaking from non English speaking, etc. The Christian teaching love your enemies can help to diffuse the hostility and fear and competition that is growing in the world and will only get worse as natural resources become more needed and more scarce. Love your enemy. This is the word of hope and help that Christianity has to offer the world.

In recent months, the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ has adopted the “motto” Love God and Love Neighbor. It is on all emails and communiques from the Conference. I would like to see the motto be Love God, Love Neighbor, and Love Enemy. But that does not sound gentle and pleasing. We don’t want to think that we have enemies. After all, we tend to be good, kind people. How could we have enemies? And yet we do have enemies. Yes, in other countries. Even in our own communities, though they may not know our names. We have them in our families. And we have enemies within ourselves; character defects that prevent our full wellbeing in the spirit of Christ. To mention our enemies is not only to be more radical, but also more honest. But if we say it, we are committed to doing it. It’s easier to say Love God and Love Neighbor.

As part of our Lenten journey, this is a time to consider how we are doing at loving our enemies. Naming our enemies, those with whom we feel antagonism, hostility, and fear. Naming our enemies within by examining our own character and behavior for that which is not consistent with the radical love of the teachings of Jesus. Then, it is time to love and to pray.

Prayer: We pray for our enemies. Enemies as near as our own breath, enemies across the street, enemies around the globe. We pray for the highest good of those who hate us and those whom we fear. We pray that we can be part of creating a world where all people are treated with dignity and respect and have what they need to flourish. Then there will be little cause for enemies or violence. We pray for the honesty to confront our own character weaknesses and for the strength to defeat the enemies within. Love does have the power to conquer all. Amen.

The political is personal. The personal is political. Much as we may try to keep the realms of our lives separate, our commitments have implications that overlap. Being Christian is not just a matter of what we do on Sunday morning, but what we do and who we are 24/7. So there is no aspect of our lives that is not under the influence of our Christian commitment.

For Martin of Tours this had significant implications. Martin lived form 316 to 397, in the first years that Christianity was a state sanctioned religion in the Roman Empire. He was from a military family. His father was an officer in the Imperial Horse Guard of the Roman Army. As required, Martin joined the cavalry when he was 15. This was his “political” life.

In his personal life, he had begun participating in Christianity at age 10. It was not a dominant religion and his parents were not part of the Christian movement. Finally at age 18 he was baptized.

The personal and political connected when Martin decided that because of his commitment to Christianity he could not carry a weapon and use it. He said: “I am a solider of Christ now and may not fight with a weapon in my hand.” Martin was charged with cowardice and jailed. He then volunteered to go unarmed before the enemy troops. After this he was released from military service and he went on to live as a Christian hermit.

Because of his Christian faith, for Martin the personal and political came into conflict. He had no choice but to follow his Christian convictions, whatever the outcome. Ironically, he became the patron saint of soldiers. Maybe soldiers pray to him to give them the courage to do what he did and forsake armed conflict.

We, like Martin, also face conflicts between our faith commitment and much of what is expected of us in the culture around us; between the personal and the political. Can you think of a time that you made a decision that went against the grain and you did it because of your Christian commitment? We like to think of our country as a Christian nation so that we don’t have to experience this conflict, so that we don’t experience tension between our faith and our citizenship, between the personal and the political.

May we be inspired by Martin to be true to our faith commitment and to the pacifism of Jesus. Then the personal may even transform the political.

Prayer: In our faith commitment is life; full, abundant, and joyful. As we make compromises with our faith, we sacrifice its blessings. May we fully invest ourselves in our faith so that we find our heart’s desire. May we have the courage to live our faith even when that presents challenges and difficult decisions. May we let our faith be personal and political. May we especially honor our faith commitment to peace and anti violence in the spirit of Martin of Tours. Amen.

When is the last time you asked someone for help? Can you think of a recent experience in which you asked for help from a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger? Someone who was not being paid to help you, that is? And not a family member or a co-worker; these people are expected to help.

My guess is that we are more likely to be helping others than to be asking for help. Can you think of the last time you helped someone? A friend? A neighbor? A stranger? Does that come to mind easily? Can you think of several examples?

When we help others, we are embodying divine love. We are being “God’s hands.” We are conveying God’s love in deeds. This is one of the ways God loves the world.

Giving and sharing divine love is important. But to give this love someone has to receive it. There has to be someone willing to accept the love. For people to save their lives by serving and find their highest good by living for others, as Christianity teaches, someone has to accept their efforts. When we ask for help and accept support, we are saying “yes” to God’s love. We are receiving what others need to give. We are helping others become whole through other-centered living. We are giving value, worth and dignity to others by receiving their help. When we try to maintain self sufficiency, to tough it out, to cling to rugged individualism, we may be depriving others of the opportunity to serve. It may be a refusal of the love of God waiting to be given to us.

So, just say “yes.” Accept God’s love offered to you through the help of others. This is an affirmation of the interdependence of humanity, of our common human frailty, and of our need to serve.

Prayer: We find our highest good in service. We accept our vulnerability and our need by receiving help from others. For divine love to be shared it needs to be given as well as received. May we be part of that flow. Amen.

No distracting theatrics. No flamboyant panache. Just simply effortless perfection. This is how I experienced Peter Rosel’s performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in g minor, Op. 25 (1830). This sedate, gray haired man sat on the piano bench and played, flawlessly, with seemingly effortless grace. There was not a hint of exertion or stress in the performance. And yet every note, every phrase, the whole thing was played with stunning exactitude, the music exuding perfection and passion.

Of course, behind this performance are countless hours of practicing, study, and work. But the performance itself seemed effortless. In watching this event, it was as if someone said, “Let’s take a walk around the block.” And you did. Nothing to it. Rosel’s rendition of the concerto seemed like that. It wasn’t smug or artificially restrained. He was prepared. And he did what he was there to do. No fanfare or falderal.

When it comes to living with faith, to serving God, to living in the commonwealth of God, I imagine Jesus performing like Rosel. I imagine Jesus just going about doing his business. Preaching. Teaching. Healing. Forgiving. Loving. Serving. Feeding. And I imagine him doing all of this with seemingly effortless perfection. Not seeking to draw any undo attention to himself. Letting his message and his ministry speak for God. No flamboyance. No theatrics. No distracting fanfare. Simply steady, effortless, grace.

As we noted, behind Rosel’s performance were countless hours of preparation and practice. Again and again we are told that Jesus went off to pray; he went up the mountain to pray, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, he went across the lake to pray. We don’t have a record of Jesus’ logged prayer time, but I suspect that it was considerable given the numerous mentions there are in the New Testament. It was this prayer time that was his preparation for his ministry. Through the discipline of prayer, Jesus stayed connected and grounded to his purpose and divine power. Prayer enabled him to be in complete synchronicity with the divine will for his life and for the world. It was prayer that kept him solid and centered amidst the roiling currents of his day.

In our society where such a high value is placed on productivity and efficiency, prayer looks like a waste of time. Nothing is really “accomplished.” We have nothing to “show” for it. We don’t necessarily get a direct, measurable, quantifiable result. Then why bother, right?

We, too, need prayer to keep us grounded and to foster that seemingly effortless, centered living. We, too, need prayer to keep us connected to the divine and to help us stay the course on God’s will for our lives and for the world. Prayer is the practice that will nurture us so that we can live out our values and commitments with strength and joy.

This Lenten season is a moment to put prayer time at the top of your “to do” list. And as the weeks go by, notice if you feel like there is a more smooth flow to the living of your days.

I know I could practice the piano relentlessly and I would never be able to play with the effortless perfection of Rosel. And I can pray and pray and pray, and I probably won’t approach the level of effortless perfection with which Jesus lived. But I can continually grow closer to living as my truest self grounded in divine love. I think that is why we are here. To make that journey.

Prayer: We are grateful for the arts and for incredible performances that delight and inspire us. We are grateful for Jesus and all that he teaches us about living lives that bring delight and joy to God and to others. May we invest ourselves in the discipline of prayer so that we may be grounded in love and free of the many machinations which continuously threaten to divert us from the life which truly satisfies. Amen.