[Jesus said,]
“A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35 NIV
***
Teach us to care, teach us to use
all these occasions of need that are the agenda of our work
as access to God, as access to neighbor.
Teach us to care by teaching us to pray,
to pray so that human need becomes the occasion for entering into and embracing
the presence and action of God in this life.
Teach us to care by teaching us to pray
so that those with whom we work
are not less human through our caring but become more human.
Teach us to care
so that we do not become collaborators in self-centeredness,
but rather companions in God-exploration.
Teach us to use each act of caring as an act of praying
so that this person in the act of being cared for experiences dignity
instead of condescension,
realizes the glory of being in on the salvation,
and blessing, and healing of God,
and is not driven further into neurosis and the wasteland of self.
Eugene Peterson