dirty nails

Thursday May 25th, John 15: 12 This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. 13 This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. Those defined as friends are the same ones that Jesus refers to in other parts of scripture as neighbors, or brothers and sisters or family of God. When questioned about neighbors, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. We are called to love as Jesus loved. Jesus went to the cross, and even there, offered forgiveness and reconciliation. When we hear of the Holy Spirit leading the early church through the stories of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch or Peter addressing the crowd in Acts this week, we hear God Calling us also. Calling us to break out of rules, out of membership, out of good enough and childish tribalism and calling us into a world that pronounces, along with God, all of creation, good. Within this calling to love one another, how do we let the rubber meet the road on issues such as immigration, war, foreign aid, debt forgiveness in third world nations..... and on and on and on. It is one thing to do the Miss America wave with clean manicured nails and quite another to get down and dirty making it happen. Perhaps one of the best offerings to this God of love is calloused hands and dirty nails, the true sign of beauty.