Love Stands

 

I wrote the poem Love Stands after watching Macklemore and others use their voices to stand with the people of Palestine, particularly those suffering in Gaza and the West Bank. His willingness to keep speaking, even when there is a personal cost, made me think less about the politics of the moment and more about the posture behind it. What does it mean to love people who are suffering, especially when standing with them might cost us something?

That question has also been shaped by my recent visit to Israel and Palestine. Being there made the realities of this conflict much harder to keep at a distance. I met and encountered people on both sides who lament the pain, loss, fear, and division that have become part of everyday life. There are Israelis and Palestinians who genuinely long for something different; they do not all want the division to continue.

And yet, there is a painful tension in that reality. The people who live with the consequences of division are not always the people creating or perpetuating it. Governments make decisions, leaders pursue policies, and power can deepen the very divisions that ordinary people are tired of carrying.

That tension is part of what I mean by the Messy Middle.

The Messy Middle is not a place where everything is simple or where every question has an easy answer. It is a place where conviction and compassion must live together. It is the space between the now and the yet to come found in the kingdom promises of Jesus. At the core it is a space where I must be willing to say, "I don't have this all figured out," while still refusing to look away from human suffering.

That is especially important when people are easy to reduce to an issue, a headline, a political position, or a side in an argument. 

That is why I keep coming back to the Greatest Commandment. Jesus tells us to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. I don't get to decide that some people are easier to love because I agree with them, or that someone else's suffering matters less because their story is complicated. For me, standing with the marginalized does not mean pretending that complicated things are simple. It does not mean excusing violence, ignoring the suffering of Israelis, or ignoring the suffering of Palestinians. It means refusing to let complexity become an excuse for indifference.

Sometimes love must speak and stand up against ALL injustice no matter the cost. 

That is what inspired Love Stands. It is not a poem about having all the answers. It is a poem about what I believe love asks of us when remaining silent would be easier. The Kingdom isn't about winning an argument, protecting our comfort, or making sure we are on the right side of every conversation. It is about caring enough to stand with people who are hurting, even when standing there costs us something or even everything.

The Kingdom isn't about winning. It is about standing in Love with the marginalized!