Reading 18: On governing authorities, love, and conduct

I traveled to the border this May with eight Lutheran Campus Ministry-Raleigh students. We went to learn more about our nation’s immigration system by listening to the stories of our neighbors, government employees and migrants alike. We sat by the Rio Grande and listened as Border Patrol agents explained their work. We broke bread with a family who risked everything so their children could have a better life. We witnessed court proceedings of men caught crossing the border illegally and spoke with the judge about the legal process. We heard the joy and sorrow of a fellow disciple called as a pastor and negotiating the immigration system.

In all this listening and watching, wondering and talking, the Holy Spirit swirled within me. How do we live as disciples of Christ—called to love our neighbors, care for the orphan, and welcome the stranger—while simultaneously living as citizens of a nation with laws that a times feel in direct opposition with our baptismal life together? This tension resounds in this text for me as well.

Yet I am encouraged by Paul’s words, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (v. 10). Governments around the world may fall short of doing the good God calls us to do, but as the church universal empowered by the Spirit and rooted in Christ, we get the chance to embody the radical love of the Holy One with each breath. Yes, we will fall short. Yes, we will disagree. But we are freed in Christ to love God, ourselves, and our neighbors boldly. We are free to disagree about the process while working toward and living out God’s love here and now.

Because Love Incarnate fulfilled the law through his life, death, and resurrection, we are freed to continue his ministry of love and mercy. The Spirit empowers us to go to the borders and share the good news of Jesus. “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us,” writes Paul (Ephesians 2:14). Thanks be to God!

How do you negotiate living as a disciple and as a citizen?

Paul writes that “Love does no wrong to a neighbor” (v. 10). How is the Spirit calling you as a disciple and us as the body of Christ to love our neighbors more boldly?

Three-in-One and One-in-Three, you are eternal and rooted in love. Ground us in your love and saturate us with your wholeness. Equip us to love as Christ loves us. Amen.

–Jennifer Manis is a candidate for ordained ministry who serves as the campus minister at Lutheran Campus Ministry-Raleigh and Holy Trinity, Raleigh. She loves to explore big questions with the college students she serves and gives thanks for the dance of the Spirit in all creation. A good day for Jennifer includes belly-laughter, playing with words, listening to a neighbor’s story, coffee, chocolate, and the sun tickling her skin.