Love on repeat

A couple years ago, I scored a great birthday present from my wife. She knows how much I love music so she bought me a record player and a couple of records she thought I would like. One of them is Buena Vista Social Club. I had never actually listened to them before, but from the moment that needle dropped for the first time, I was hooked. The sounds of Cuba come to life with the piano, horns, drums, and guitar. The vocals of Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, and Omara Portuondo grace the album with such nostalgic class and style that my copy of vinyl found itself on repeat daily. I realized recently that is probably how my blog feels sometimes, like love on repeat. It seems that whatever subject I’m thinking about at the time, somehow it always comes back around to this trio: Love God, Love your neighbor, and Love yourself.

As much as this may sound like a scratched record constantly skipping back to the same tired lyrics, I can’t help but look around and see that the message of love is needed now more than ever. So what exactly does a message of love sound like? What should it look like? How is a message of love supposed to make people feel and what should it motivate me to do? Much of the evangelical world right now is enamored with a message of power and prosperity, success and superiority. So is that what the intent of the gospel is, for us to prosper financially, to have the most powerful military, or to be the “greatest” nation on earth? Or have we lost sight of loving our neighbor? Have we forgotten that the last shall be first? Are we missing the point of welcoming the foreigner, turning the other cheek, and even loving our enemies? I’m not pointing a finger at anyone in particular here, but I do think it’s worth a moment to consider which kingdom we are serving.

Believe me, I have concerns about the mixture of faith and nationalism. I see the rhetoric on both sides of the fence, and it’s hurtful, dehumanizing, and causing relentless stress and anxiety in so many people. I just don’t think it has to be this way. Can we disagree without villainizing each other? Can we debate and not attack someone’s character or intelligence simply because we have different beliefs, backgrounds, and viewpoints? An assassination attempt is not the cause of division, but the result of so much hate-speech, catastrophizing, and fear tactics. Let’s all just take a breath. Someone is going to be our new president in November. You might like him or her, and you might not. But please, with all due respect, for the love of God, and for the God who IS love, let’s put love on repeat. Let our speech be full of love. Respect each other in love. Be truthful in love and even disagree in love. That is how our nation is going to be ok. Not based on which party wins an election, but we the people choosing to relentlessly love one another. Peace and love to you all.