James 2:8-9 (NIVUK)
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’ you are doing right. 9 But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law-breakers.
To finish our series of reflections on love this week, I thought I’d pick a possibly less familiar song, Nancy Mulligan by Ed Sheeran. It’s the story of his grandparents and how they fell in love across the national and religious divides – he was a protestant from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and she was a Catholic from the Republic of Ireland. According to the customs and prejudices of the day, it shouldn’t have worked, but in the final verse of the song he sings,
From the snow white streak in her jet black hair
Over sixty years I’ve been loving her
Now we’re sat by the fire in our old armchairs
You know Nancy, I adore ya
From a farm boy born near Belfast town
I never worried about the king and crown
‘Cause I found my heart upon the southern ground
There’s no difference, I assure ya
Doesn’t this story point to the love of God who loves across barriers and differences to invite all into his family? Isn’t this the message of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Galatians 3:28 and James 2:8?
God you have loved us across the divide between us. Help us to learn to love not just those like us, but those separated from us by class, colour, sexuality, creed and prejudice.
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