The 14th of this month is Valentine’s Day, a day of love. According to the Ancient Greeks, there are seven types of love, and all are important. The love a couple have for each other is very important, but so is agape love (love for people we might not even know, and without expecting rewards).
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The world has always been broken, but today it seems a little more so. In 1989, Dylan wrote and sang about Everything is broken. Today, much seems broken, with homeless, country-less, evil powerful people, climate/ weather problems, etc.
Trump, promised in his convention speech that he alone could fix USA’s problems, and that’s how he appear to be governing , alone. I hope that he will not become a dictator, but that the rest of the government will be able to rein him in soon. However, he is doing a good job of more breaking of the world, at least from a love your neighbour point of view. I wish I had David here so we could have some great discussions about this. I miss his wisdom, and so much more. So what can we do to show love and improve this world?
The seminary from my old denomination (NPTS) issued a statement: “In the midst of real suffering within our community, we seek not only to love our neighbor but to know our neighbor (Lk. 10:29), through our conversations, classroom discussions, and times of prayer. We hope to embody a community in which walls of hostility are broken down (Eph. 2:14) and where love casts out all fear (John 4:18).”
It’s been a long time since I read the very old book, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie but it has a good message about self-control and the goal to be others-centric, which fits well within this view of love.
So I am left with lots I can do if I put others first: volunteering, donating, researching, travelling and talking with people with other points of view and experiences, and speaking up when the situation requires this. So who was St Valentine? There seems to be a number of possibilities, but regardless each of these men showed agape love to others. As Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) said,“Love must be learned, and learned again; there is no end to it."
The world needs more agape love, and we can learn this. What would it look like if we take responsibility together for the way the world turns out?” Until next month, enjoy Valentine’s Day and make it fun for others too.