I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
– John 13:34

This week and last week, I got to baptize some babies. We talked in church about why we baptize in community - because we make a promise together to love this child, to show them what it looks like to follow Christ, to remind them that - no matter what mistakes or missteps they take - they are Beloved.

Today we talked also about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's idea of Beloved Community: a world in which there is no bigotry, poverty, homelessness, prejudice, or discrimination of any kind because "international standards of decency will not allow it." A world in which all forms of hate would be "replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood" and siblinghood.

A world in which every person's first name is Beloved.

Imagine that world.

A world where no one goes hungry - because we would not allow it.

A world where no one is treated as less than - because we would not allow it.

A world in which racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, agism, ableism, and white supremacy do not exist - because we would not allow it.

A world in which the hatred that was displayed in the horrific violence in Buffalo this weekend would not happen - because we would not allow it.

Imagine.

When Christ left this world he said, "I will not be with you here much longer. Where I am going you cannot go. But I give you a new commandment: love one another."

That is the command. Love one another as I have loved you. Imagine if we lived out that commandment.

My friend, being a Christian is not about getting to heaven. It's about bringing about heaven on earth. Here and now. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

It's about seeing each and every person the way we see a new baby about to be baptized: as God's beloved child.

In Beloved Community, everyone's first name is Beloved, and they are treated that way.

Imagine that world.
I hope & believe it's possible.