5/3
It’s the Fifth Sunday of Easter. And we’re
dealing with love. Our theme today in our resurrection living series is It’s a simple as this. We begin with our
alleluias. And a classic Easter hymn, Christ
the Lord is Risen Today. After
reading 1 John 4: 7-21 and John 15: 1-8,
I sing Come on people Now, smile on your
brother try to love one another right now…and then it’s time for my
reflection.
All you need is love… I remember when
the Beatles sang that. Today I sang the Youngbloods’ C’mon people now…but I had found this amazing Youtube video with Joni
Mitchell, Crosby,Stills and Nash
and John Sebastian…people dancing
around, twirling , tie –die, uh, wow…
There was once a minister who fell in love with a woman who
happened to be Jewish. Not a few people raised questions about this. So he
spoke to his friends. His priest from the Roman Catholic Cathedral said that it was a sign of God’s greater
unity. And an associate at the church where he worked who said:
7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from
God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God .Seems like
case closed.
It’s easy to get caught up in complicated conversations
about theology and some people love
complex doctrinal discussions, although I think fewer and fewer. On this 5th
Sunday if Easter as we look at resurrection
living, we’re making a simple claim….it’s about love. If we’re looking
for Jesus this week, where have you seen, where do you see love?
One of the most moving
images to come out of Baltimore last week was the one with over 100
clergy placing their own bodies between the demonstrators and the police. The
most moving part was when the clergy kneeled in prayer, several of the officers
in the front row facing the clergy removed their riot helmets. That took courage.
There is no
fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
It doesn’t always work: Rachel Corrie stood in front of a tank
in Gaza. And got run over. It cost her her life.
The new life takes shape in a community
in which people know that God loves and accepts them in spite of what they are. They there fore accept themselves and
love others, knowing that no one has any ground on which to stand, except God's
grace
I was asked to lead a discussion on the Confession of 1967 this week. The first pastor i worked with was one of its authors. That’s one
of its basic quotes about what our new life, what our resurrection life is
like. That document focused on a call to reconciliation,
As we are called to reconciliation
with God, we are called even more to reconciliation
with each other.
I was also asked to speak on kairos Palestine…a statement from Palestinian Christian leaders
reflecting in confessional language about their current situation. Had this to
say about love:
4.2 This word is
clear. Love is the commandment of Christ our Lord to us and it
includes both friends
and enemies. This must be clear when we find ourselves in
circumstances where we
must resist evil of whatever kind.
4.2.1 Love is seeing
the face of God in every human being. Every person is my
brother or my sister.
However, seeing the face of God in everyone does not mean
accepting evil or
aggression on their part. Rather, this love seeks to correct the evil
and stop the
aggression.
Resistance with logic
of love…
Love casts out fear, but I have also seen that fear can cast out even perfect love. I’ve
seen it over and over and over again…
The 1982 General Assembly had as its theme Love So Amazing. Ofelia Ortega, the delegate
from the Presbyterian Church in Cuba said, No
me tengo interes en amor maravilloso…me quiero un amor eficaz…I have no interest
in amazing love. What I desire is effective love.
And as far as effective love goes, we know it when we see it. And as far as Resurrection living goes this
week, it's as simple as that.
We sing Be Thou My
Vision. We celebrate the Eucharist. And for our closing hymn Martha plays Beethoven’s
Joyful, Joyful another Easter
classic. We make our circle and sing our amens.
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