Daily Devotion for Lent 2023 - Day 21

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

                                                          Romans 13:10

Today, I'm grateful for The United Methodist Church teaching me to do no harm.

Of course, "Do no harm" is the first of John Wesley's General Rules.   It used to be something that all Methodists knew and tried to observe regularly.  As we consider the state of the world today, it might be a good one for all of us to revisit.

It doesn't sound all that difficult.  It's just a matter of not hurting anyone.  Most people do not want to hurt the people around them.

The problem comes when our actions unintentionally harm others.  

When I attended United Methodist Youth Fellowship growing up, I loved the real competitive games.  Capture the Flag may have been my favorite and we even had a regular game going at the Wesley Foundation in college.  

But youth group also taught us non-competitive games that allowed us to have fun where everyone wins.  They are more goal oriented where the group wins together rather than pitting one against another.  Sometimes these are time-sensitive where we are competing against the clock and sometimes they require us to complete a specific task together.  These are important because not everyone is athletic and some people actually hate competitive games.

 

 

When I led games at JEM Camp (our old version of Junior High Lead), not only did we play games but we talked about how we can tweak the rules to make sure the game is more balanced.  

We also talked about how we might sort out our teams to insure that no harm is done.

One of the most unintentional ways we do harm to our children or youth is to allow the old school-yard pick.  The most popular or athletic are chosen first and eventually a couple of kids are picked last.  This is not the kind of esteem-buster that we want to offer in a church activity.

So we talked about lining kids up by height and then putting every other one on a team.  You can divide by birthday months or grade.  You can divide a group into favorite toothpaste or fruit or pizza topping or any number of items and then tweak from there.  The good thing about some of these other ways is that they can also be ice-breakers if needed.  If lining up by height, have them do it blindfolded.  Or if lining up by age, have them do it without talking! 

And the best thing about these alternative ways is that we have done no harm in our division!

As we move through Lent, we understand that division can cause harm.  In what ways have you caused harm in the last month for which you would seek forgiveness?  Where has a time been in your life when you have intentionally avoided harm?  Just as we lament the times we missed the mark, we should celebrate the times we got it right!