Thoughts that seem important by Pastor Tart

I remember a song from my youth growing up in the church and working at summer camp at Camp Chrysalis in Kerrville, Texas. I can close my eyes and conjure up a memory of all the campers and staff singing “They will know we are Christians by our love” around a crackling campfire at evening worship. The song leaders would be playing their guitars and the campers would have the arms around each other’s shoulders and swaying to the music and lyrics. “We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand. We will walk with each other; we will walk hand and hand. And we will share the news that God is in this land. And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love. We will work with each other; we will work side by side. We will work with each other; we will work side by side and we will guard each one’s dignity and guard each one’s pride. And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they will know we are Christians by our love.”
Man, I can smell the smoke and hear the singing like they were yesterday.
I really like the last verse. ‘we will guard each one’s dignity and guard each one’s pride’. Whenever we work together in the church, our work or families, we can easily lose sight of the importance of protecting the dignity and pride of others. Maybe what really sets our Christian work apart from other work is that we work together without attacking each other or insulting each other or berating each other. We seek to first understand before we seek to be understood. This is Christian love.
During our Lenten journey we will be learning about how love casts out fear. I have a strong sense that when we work together to protect dignity and pride, people are not afraid to share their thoughts and reconcile differences. When we lose this protection, problems and unresolved issues go underground where they fester and become only worse. When we know that others love us and we love others, we can share and talk and truly work together, and the world will know that we are Christians by our love.
Remember: They will know that we are Christians by our love.