God's abiding and all-inclusive love how we respond to our neighbors and those we love. It involves our response to the injustice of the world and the sanctity of life.
John referring to Jesus as the Good Shepherd and Psalm 23 are 2 passages that comfort us and lull us into a false sense of security that will get a bit more scrutiny this week.
The season of Lent offers us a time to sweep away all that once kept our relationship with God being as transparent as it could. We have the opportunity to have to clear away and take inventory so that we are prepared for the new.
What happens? Exactly what you think would happen: people stop being polite and start getting real. So where does that leave us as followers of Jesus today? Maybe that from which we most want to turn away deserves our focus, at least briefly?
We cannot continue to follow the directions that we desire without regard to others. We must re-orient ourselves and re-focus our lives to be in closer relationship with God and neighbor.