Monday, 1 March, 2004

We will continue to base the devotions on “God for a Secular Culture” by Jurgen Moltmann.



‘Like is only known by like.’

All cognition is then merely a re-cognition of what is already known, and knowledge is nothing other than ‘the eternal return to the same thing’. Early Greek philosophy therefore at once expanded this principle to cover ‘the similar.’ ‘Similar is known only by the similar.’…In the spheres of those that are different, the knower always perceives only what is similar – that which corresponds to him/her. Why? Because s/he perceives only that which finds a correspondence in his/her own inner life.



How in the world are we to “love all people” when it appears as though we do not have the capacity to do that? We do have the capacity, it seems, to love a whole bunch of people…for there are many people who can be categorized as somewhat “like” us…and even more so, “similar” to us. But don’t we hear words about loving our enemies and aren’t enemies often ones who are not like us? On the other hand, our enemies are very often people who are just like us and that’s why we do not tolerate them! So to bridge that gap and begin the adventure of loving all people appears to be so beyond our capabilities it will just not take place. It is in just such a case that we call on our God whose power of love can become for us the power to risk loving out of our parameters. That power is for me, the Holy Spirit. It upsets what is in place to begin to create new ways of being who we are in this day.



Connection: Sometimes it is good to simply ask ourselves what it is that keeps us away from some people…what pushes us to others? That exercise is as simple as something called prayer. Prayerfully considering those questions during this day may be the beginning of power of new life that is available to us and waiting to be tapped.



Lord of Love, empower us to face that which is unknown and venture into place and relationships we may have never considered. We know that it takes courage to step outside of our way of life, so we ask for your encouragement and power to step out in a new way this day. Amen.