"They who say they are in the light and hate their brother or sister are in darkness still. But they who hate their brother or sister are in the darkness and walk in the darkness, and do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded their eyes". (1 John 2:9,11) "If any one says, "I love God," and hates their brother or sister, that person is a liar; for they who do not love their brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen" (1 John 4:20).

This past weekend the church began a new eight week series at the Saturday night service called "Talk Soup for the Soul, Getting the Love You Want - A Relationship Series." Two of the scriptures used where "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good" (Romans 12:9), and "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). After the service we had a group discussion in the Circles we have at Cathedral of Hope to discuss relationships, etc. The general consensus of the group was that we all need help with relationships and that there are many different types of relationships. I was reminded just how many people still do not know or believe that God loves them.

During the service we were given tickets to invite people to the "Talk Soup for the Soul" service. That was fgoing to be difficult for me because I didn't know anyone I could invite. I am not sure which is more depressing: that there are still so many people who do not know God loves them or, that I haven't been able to share the gift of a loving God and church in my life with people.

Sunday afternoon while I was at the gym, a person approached me with a question. "Are you a religious person?" "Why do you ask?" was my reply. "Well, I saw the tattoo on your arm." (I have a cross with bands of color radiating from the top of the cross.) The person thought that I might be able to help answer a question about the Bible. This person had recently been verbally assaulted regarding their sexuality and didn't know how to respond.

I explained I wasn't a Bible scholar. However, I did know that Jesus never condemned anyone for their sexual orientation. Jesus spoke of Love and not hate. I did a word search of the New Testament. "LOVE" was used 361 times and "HATE" was used less than 25 times. I didn't find any reference by Jesus to sexual orientation. I didn't want to start preaching right there in the gym but I told them to keep two scriptures in mind and use them to defend against future abuse. I gave them Matthew 6:43, love your enemies and prar for those who persecute you, and Matthew 7:1-5, "judge not that you be not judged", etc.

The next time I see that person in the gym I will invite the person to church. It is so amazing when God provides us with opportunities to share the Love of God with others.

PRAYER: Loving God help us to see the opportunity to witness the Love of God. Help us to reach those who are abused or feel rejected by a church or religious people. Give us the words to comfort and help others. Let us be a reflection of the Love of God to all we meet. Blessings!

Yoda: "Fear is the path to the dark side! Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering!"

1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear"

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