a blessing for when loving your enemy seems too big of an ask

Lord, this anger feels so right, so just,
that it feels inconceivable that i could love my enemy.
am I even allowed to have an enemy? Well, too bad. I do. 

God, I don’t want to but help me see what I need to see, 
so I can do what I know I’m supposed to do.

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

Blessed are we who recognize that the divide is very deep, and the enmity strong.
We are attached now to our hostilities,
not only as symbols of who we are,
but also in the specific values and principles that we uphold.

Blessed are we who ask you God:
help us to be faithful to Your commandment to love our enemies,
for Your Name’s sake and for ours too.
yet we ask, how is that possible?
we desire no false peace, no imitation grace.
Honestly God, where do we start?
How do we recover civility? Build unity?
Work together and yet hold on to our integrity?
Show us precisely how to love those whom we have so lately despised.
Not just humanity in general, but humans, in particular.

Blessed are we who say, o God,
please do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Give us the desire to speak the truth in love,
to listen to each other and hear the humanity underneath the hurt.
Give us the wisdom and skills to communicate well
and patience that can bear up when things get difficult.
and where we ourselves fall short, stand in the gap for us Lord,
just as you did at the cross.

“Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”
Psalm 85:10

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink.” Romans 12: 20 

God have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Spirit have mercy.

Pray for one enemy. Do them some small good. Then let it go.

—–

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only Light can do that.
hate cannot drive out hate, only Love can do that.”  Martin Luther King