LOVING INCLUSIVELY

LOVING INCLUSIVELY

From the time

I was a young boy

My mother

ALWAYS taught me

That love was INCLUSIVE

In fact-she would say

        “LOVE draws a circle

         And pulls people in

         And hate draws a circle

         And pushes people out”

And we know

Through Jesus’ teachings

And HIS LIFE

That love and forgiveness

Were central messages

SO we know

That LOVE is to be INCLUSIVE

And in Luke 13-Jesus says:

“People will come

From the east and the west

And from the north and the south

And will RECEIVE

At the table

In the kingdom of God”                                                         Luke 13:29

What could be more inclusive

Than that?

And in the old testament

Reading of Isaiah

“And they will bring

ALL your brothers

From ALL the nations

To my holy mountain

In Jerusalem

As an offering to the Lord”                                                  Isaiah 66:20

PEOPLE from

ALL over the world

Will be INCLUDED

In God’s KINGDOM

LOVE draws a circle

And

PULLS people in

And HOW did Jesus

LIVE his life out

BY HEALING the sick

LOVING the poor

LOVING the orphan, the widow

And BEING KIND to the children

“Religion

That God our Father accepts

Is this:

To look after orphans and widows

In their distress

And to keep oneself

From being polluted

BY THE WORLD”                                                                       James 1:27

“He called a little child

And had him stand

AMONG them

And he said:

‘I tell you the truth

UNLESS you change

And become like little children

You will never into

The kingdom of heaven’”                                                      Matthew 18:2-3

Dear friends,

We are to be as TRUSTING as little children

WHEN it comes to LOVING

LOVE indeed DRAWS A CIRCLE

And LOVE IS TO BE INCLUSIVE

Robert P. Wallman

8-26-13