“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Some of us remember when that hymn was new and our voices soared above the strum of guitars, un-amplified. It was the end of the ’60s.
I haven’t sung it in years and years. But the melody, so full of hope and confidence, plays in my memory every now and then. Usually when I’m reading about Christians behaving badly. And I think, “by our love?” Really?
We all have stories to tell (or to keep secret) about how hard it sometimes is to “know we are Christians by our love.” How differently might we live if we poured our hearts into simply walking the way of love?
This message is adapted from “Off the path” written by Kathleen Kastilahn in the July/August 2007 issue of Lutheran Women Today (now Gather magazine). Today is the ninth Sunday after Pentecost.
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