A Prayer for Friday, March 23, 2012

Hate

There is so much hate in this old world, O God, that sometimes it feels pervasive.

Who knows what produces and drives hate, whether it is a generalized hate toward a group or a particularized hate toward an individual?

Depending on the person or the people or the situation, it could be

fear,
sickness,
upbringing,
vengefulness,
envy,
pride,
arrogance,
misunderstanding,
prejudice,

or any number of other things.

Perhaps—and sadly—the most vicious hate is sometimes expressed by people who think that they have a religious and even “Christian” motivation for their hate, for it may be that no one hates more thoroughly and more dangerously than those who believe their hate is sanctioned by God.

Please, God—let us never forget and let us never stop living in the light of the great truth that you are Love and that your Son our Savior loved perfectly and that we who are your worshipers and his followers can be, with the help of your Spirit, growing every day in our ability to love with your love.

Please, God—protect those who are hated both from those who hate them and from the life-draining response of hating their haters.

Please, God—through your Spirit and grace bring about more love and less hate; through your people’s cultivation and practice of your love bring about more love and less hate.

Pleases, God—fill us so much with your love that hate—and even its lazy cousin apathy—become impossible for us.

Amen.