Rev. Darrel Goodwin, our Conference Minister for the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ, recently shared a video about one of the most challenging aspects of life in our society today.  That is, how do we respond to hate?  

More importantly, how do we stay faithful when it can be all too tempting to join in the hate?  His words are certainly meaningful and present a faith-challenge for us all:

“Question: Do we get to hate those who seemingly hate us?  

What of those who seem to have lived a bigger part of their lives espousing hate, promoting hate, and encouraging hate?  Their legacy is a legacy of hate.  Do we get to hate them back?  

Well, my answer to that is that if you are truly a follower of Jesus, then the answer is no.  We can be frustrated, we can be angry, and we don’t have to be in a relationship with those particular people.  We don’t have to promote or celebrate or affirm what they’ve done, how they’ve done it, or who they’ve done it against.  But we don’t get to welcome hate into ourselves.  

Why?  Because hate begets hate.  When we allow the poison of someone else’s hate to penetrate us and begin to develop a rotting poison in us, then I think we aren’t living fully in the beauty of all that God created us to be.  

We can protest against that hate.  We can rise up against that hate.  We can educate others so that they don’t espouse the same kind of hate.  We can even condemn that hate.  But we don’t get to take the same hate inside of us.  So do we get to hate people who hate?  No.  

That said, I do think our call to love is not some Pollyanna-ish love that says somehow my love makes me accept all that you have done.  I think the love we are called to in the midst of hate is to say that you are still a human being.  You are still created in the image of your Almighty God.  And while I don’t agree with you and I can’t walk along beside you, I will still see the humanity in you and maybe, hopefully, the love that is within me helps me not to allow my disdain and frustration toward you to become the same hatred that you’ve shown towards me.”

I found this meaningful because it validates the difficult and volatile feelings that can rise up in us in the current climate.  Anger, frustration, and stepping out of a relationship are all appropriate at times and authentic.  

Hate, however, is different.  It is contagious and incendiary both for the one generating it and the one on the receiving end.  In Christ, however, we are offered an alternative: a love born of realism and possibility.  

It may not be easy to embrace in the moment, but it is the healthier choice.

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic