Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

Every major religion of the world has its own version of the golden rule. For example in Islam ‘Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.’ Hadith. In Taoism ‘Regard your neighbour’s gain as your own gain and your neighbour’s loss as your own loss.’ Lao Tzu. For us as Christians it is simple ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Many people feel as though religion has no role to play in a person’s life. Some persons chose to be non religious for very good reasons and there is no judgement of them. Similarly though, those of us who choose to be religious in one form or another should also not be judged for our willingness to have faith and to believe in the power and working of a divine entity that we call God. The beauty of true religion is the tolerance and acceptance of all persons.

There is beauty in all things, even in these dark and depressing times. February is a dark and dreary month. The weather has been cold, dark and rainy over the last few days. The city has been quiet. The streets have been empty. Everybody is bundled up and just anxious to get home to a comfortable and warm place perhaps with their favourite take out and plans for a quiet night in with a good Netflix movie. Many wise sages have written about February, one in particular, whose name I cannot remember at the moment once said ‘If you can get through February, you can pretty much make it for the rest of the year.’ February is the shortest month of the year for a reason. It is the bridge between winter and spring. I am looking forward to spring in HK. I know how hot and sticky summer can be. I am glad for my little heater from Fortress during these winter months. Springtime must be beautiful here – flowers must be everywhere, people will be outside having picnics, children will be laughing and playing in the parks and hopefully Omicron would have fizzled out by then.

In the same way as the seasons change, let us to embrace a change of mind and perspective this Lunar New Year. Let go of the past, its not coming back anyway. Embrace tomorrow, always keeping the golden rule first and foremost in everything that we do. We humans, have the power to make our inner world either a dark and dreary place or a room filled with sunshine. Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Only the sun can chase the rain away. Why not shine a little bit of light into someone else’s world this week, and if the Golden Rule is true then maybe someone will shine even more light into yours and together we can all make our world a little bit brighter.