“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return. Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate." (Luke 6:32-36)

I've been chairing the Steering Committee Meetings (board meetings) of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) for the past week. While I got home on Sunday evening, its taken me a little while to recover from the long days of meetings and the intensity of the work that we've been doing.

I am truly thankful for the heart, spirit and presence of all those present during the Steering Committee Meetings. We wrestled with some difficult issues and it took time for us to come together as a community. I left the meetings still believing in the mission and work of CPT and energized to continue to work with this group of people. My sense of thankfulness is hard to express in words... its deep.

On Sunday, I got the chance to preach for CPT at Spring Hill UCC church. As I'm easing into writing these devotionals daily, I thought I'd post a bit of my sermon here. Please remember that this was given after 4 days of meetings and not much sleep... This is the second part of the sermon when I feel the Spirit started to take over.