Who are we called to love?

I know that today is Tuesday, and I should, by plan, being writing about a beatitude, but we'll get back to that. I have something else on my mind today.

I was reading a blog, which led me to another blog. Both authors were discussing church membership accountability.

The questions under discussion were these:

Should church members be held accountable for both personal spiritual growth and commitment to the Church in some way on a yearly basis?

If so, should membership be taken away if they are not taking both seriously?

Before we get into this discussion, keep in mind that I'm not talking about the administrative "clearing" of members who have not been seen in a church for the last 20 years. I've been involved in that kind of task, and while I hated it, I understand it's necessity. At that point, it is only administrative. As I understand them, these two questions are directed against those members who we see in church occasionally or even often -- weekly.

In my mind, these questions raise all kinds of other questions, some of which were later discussed on one of the blogs. Who decides the definition of spiritual growth? How do you measure it? What is the cut off for maintaining your membership? Who defines what "seriously" means? Do we need a committee to judge a person's acceptability as a member of the church (we're Methodist's -- of course we need a committee)? Are there extenuating circumstances, such as Bonnie's mother died this year -- we'll allow her to slack off a bit in her church involvement to deal with the situation -- six months ought to do it. What happens when YOU don't meet the criteria, and are asked to leave?

But my biggest question is this: Where is the love? How do we define who we are to love? Do we have criteria for the acceptability of a person to receive God's grace?

Isn't church supposed to be the place where the not-so-perfect come to find God? Where is the love in telling them that they are just not up to par? Who are we to judge that? This is not a country club or a sorority with certain membership criteria -- this is a church. When our brother or sister is too far away from God, our job is not to push them out -- it is to pull them in.

Yes, I know we take vows to join a church. I truly believe that we should take them seriously. Above and beyond all of that, though, is the call to love each other. Perhaps it's time to examine the log in our own eye, rather than the spec in someone else's.

Let's carry this idea a little bit farther. I received an email yesterday which is described in this Snopes link. The main idea of this email was that one of the "beliefs" of the Muslim faith is that all non-believers are infidels. We are therefore the pre-approved targets for death -- murder -- by those of the Muslim faith. This idea is ridiculous and contrary to the Muslim faith.

Let's look beyond that for a moment. Are we only called to love those who meet the criteria of "being Christian." Is it OK for us to not love those who do not believe in Christ? Is it loving to spread what amounts to hate email?

Who are we called to love? I don't believe that we are allowed to define that -- we don't get the privilege of judging who deserves God's love. God has already defined it for us.

As a Christian, our calling is to love -- first -- before anything else. It's hard; we don't always like it -- sometimes it seems impossible. But that's the way it is.

Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)

Image: Sunrise this morning. Image yesterday was dandelion at the VA amid either frost or dew.