LOVE GATHERS

 Matthew 26:32 – “But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

Last time we met, we read Jesus’s prediction that the disciples would scatter, because of their fear of the Jewish and Roman authorities. Here, he reassures them that they will all be gathered together again. Love speaks a word of hope. “I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” The ‘you’ there is plural; they will all be together again.

Because Love gathers.

Jesus has told them that they would have a tough time, a time of fear and scattering. We too are going through a time of fear and scattering through the pandemic. We have been isolating ourselves from each other in order to keep ourselves and others safe. Human beings are social animals; we thrive when we’re able to be with, talk to, and hug each other. Without those bonds, our mental health takes a toll. Yet, we social distance so that the pandemic can be over more quickly, to keep ourselves and others safe.

It’s a tough time. Some of us have lost loved ones, some of us have become disabled through the effects of COVID or had loved ones become disabled, some of whom would have survived but for the failure of the president to act in the country’s best interest. Many of us have lamented the indifference to human suffering and death that led to even more divisiveness and suffering. The previous guy was good at sowing division and fear.

Fear scatters, but Jesus and Love gather

Indeed, almost half our country is supporting the divisiveness of white supremacy, white nationalism, and the Big Lie that Biden somehow stole the election. Those three things are all intertwined. Republican leaders at the state and national level, themselves fearing a loss of their power, are actively promoting these ideas or not speaking against them. We are seeing them continue to politicize wearing of masks and attacking Dr. Fauci.

Fear scatters, but Jesus and Love gather.

Yes, we are going through a tough time, but the end of the story has still to be written. We don’t know how it will end, because our actions can influence that end. President Biden named our dilemma, our choices succinctly the week before last when he stated that we are in a battle for democracy against the autocracy desired by Republican leadership – although not by most of the American people. It is up to us to act, to gather in love, to be the light that lights the way.

As Amanda Gorman ended her inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb:”  “We will rebuild, reconcile and recover / and every known nook of our nation and / every corner called our country, / our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, / battered and beautiful /
When day comes we step out of the shade, / aflame and unafraid / The new dawn blooms as we free it / For there is always light, / if only we’re brave enough to see it / If only we’re brave enough to be it.” (bolding mine)

Together, we will move forward. Fear scatters. Love gathers.

B