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

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

Lord, this anger feels so right, so just,
that long my enemy is inconceivable.
Am I even allowed to have an enemy?
Well, too bad. I do.
(And way more than one.)

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.

Blessed are we who recognize
that the divide is 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 call,
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.

Where do we begin?
How do we recover civility?
Build unity?
Work together and yet
hold on to our integrity?

Show us precisely how to love those
who we have lately despised.
Not just humanity in general,
but these humans, in particular.
Yes, her. An definitely him, too.

Blessed are we who say, Oh 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.

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