So, beyond thinking of somewhat cheesy 70’s songs, what does the phrase “love will keep us together” bring to mind?  For me, right now, it brings up two things:  how I feel right now about the drama going on my church, and the last prayer of Jesus Christ before his trial and crucifixion.  I will examine both of these, in reverse order, and the point will hopefully become more plain.

In John 13:35, it is said that “by this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Of course, properly understanding love is necessary to properly understand what this verse is saying–nonetheless it is clear that other people should be able to recognize the love and concern we have for others, particularly “the least of these,” and it is equally obvious that this sort of love and concern for others is not visible in the lives of many people who profess Christianity.  It is also said in this section of scripture that “now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”

Let us recap in brief what these verses, some of the last thoughts of our Savior before his trial, were for the love shown to one another by believers as well as their unity.  Therefore, we may fairly conclude that those who do not wish for unity and do not show love are not fulfilling their requirements as Christians.  How are Jesus Christ and God “one”?  Well, for one, Jesus Christ showed himself obedient to the will of His Father even to the point of death.  How many people on earth are that obedient to the will of God, and that concerned with fulfilling their responsibilities on this earth?

I spent much of Gregorian Year 2010 dealing with a lot of people who had a lack of unity, evidenced by their determination to either rule or ruin the church I have attended for more than half of my life (which is somewhat odd to think about).  Additionally, these people have often complained about others showing a lack of love while showing no obligation to avoid stealing from or lying to others.  Apparently they are to be treated with kid gloves like spoiled children without any obligations to show love and honor to other people.  That’s not how life works, and that’s not how Christianity works.

I had a busy day today–traveling with some friends of mine to visit church on both sides of the bay (Tampa Bay, that is), in St. Pete in the morning and Tampa in the evening.  The way I felt when all of that traveling and those questions were done is that I’m really over all of this division.  If people would rather follow men than obey God, they are responsible for themselves.  Like Gideon’s army, sometimes less is more.  An army of people who aren’t committed to victory or expansive actions is not going to win any sort of war.  This is why the fearful were allowed to leave and go home, so that their fear and defeatism did not infect the rest of the army and cause them to lose faith in God (a subject I plan on covering in depth in a future blog entry on the “biblical way of war”).

What I am looking forward to in the future is less hassle from people whose ambitions for people blind them to opportunities for service–less concern about rank and position and more about binding up the wounds of our fellow soldiers and showing malice towards none and charity towards all, and showing a lot more care and consideration for those who have been hurt by decades of abuse and injury from others who should have known and acted better.  We cannot do anything about others if they refuse to listen, but we can do what is possible to help encourage each other and stir each other to good works.

There are many things I would rather be doing next year–in depth studies of scholarly material, reading excellent books, doing my own research on obscure subjects like the ethnicity of de facto nations and the biblical way of war, and spending time with friends, and even some “easy dates” with serious-minded but loving young ladies.  Who knows if all or any of these will happen, or if I will get the chance to write some more articles for magazines or translate some radio transcripts into Spanish or who knows what else.  I do look forward to helping others and in moving forward, as too much time has been spent stuck in neutral.  We’re all in this together, and we all have a lot of work to do.  Let us focus on the work ahead, and not look back for too much longer, except to learn what went wrong and what we can do to prevent it from happening again.