There’s a bumper sticker, you may have seen it.
And it says “Love one another. It really is that simple.”
Have you seen that?
To quote Jeff Tweedy, “If love's so easy, why is it hard?”
Loving others does not come naturally to most of us.
And Jesus knew this.
Which is why he showed what he meant by love when he washed
his disciples’ feet.
But that just made an already hard thing even harder.
Why couldn’t he have just stopped at “love one another” and
let us interpret what that meant for ourselves?
Why did he have to go and get feet all mixed up in the
picture?
It makes me think of the messy love of a mother for a baby –
since this is Mother’s Day.
Love is not in words only, but in diapers.
And Jesus goes on to say that this is where joy lies.
“I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in
you, and that your joy may be complete.”
We don’t talk a lot about joy in American culture.
We’ve been stuck with happiness ever since Jefferson stuck
that word in the Declaration of Independence.
And happiness means a lot of different things to a lot of
different people.
And some people might think of happiness and joy as
synonyms.
But I like to keep them separate.
Because I don’t think I can feel happy at the deathbed of a
friend.
But I can feel joy even through tears.
Happiness is good, but joy is better.
Happiness is easier; joy is refined by hardship.
I was reading through
the Faith and Covenant of this church again and came upon these relevant lines:
We are united in working together in Christian love.
We are united in remembering each other in prayer and aiding
each other in sickness and distress.
We are united in cultivating Christian sympathy in feeling,
justice in our dealings, and courtesy in speech. We strive for mutual understanding thus
avoiding offense as set forth in the Word of God.
Working together in Christian love.
When we think of Jesus and the disciples,
the dirty water and towel hanging over the chair in the
upper room –
We remember that this working together stuff was never
promised to be a cakewalk.
Working together in Christian love –
Means putting others above ourselves.
Means seeking to listen more than to be heard.
And I think one thing that’s really difficult about working
together in Christian love,
Is not taking offense unnecessarily.
We are sensitive people.
I am one of the most sensitive.
And we are at the same time often very careless with our
words.
And one person’s careless word added to another person’s
sensitivity and you have the seed for a hurricane.
The hard work of Christian love is for both people in that
equation.
For the one to be careful in their words – intentional with
their speech.
And the other to not jump to conclusions.
But so much of this kneejerk reactions that it takes time
and effort to get better at.
Time and effort.
What’s that quote, “Anything in life worth having is worth
working for?”
Agape love. The love that Jesus teaches the disciples in the
upper room.
Is a love that is not primarily about desiring and
acquiring.
Agape love. The love
that Jesus teaches the disciples in the upper room.
Is love that is a giving love.
But a giving not of gifts, but of ourselves.
And this goes against every deep down tendency in our human
nature.
It goes against the anxiety that keeps others at arms
length.
It goes against the suspicion that hears in others words an
ulterior motive.
It goes against the anger that responds to insult with
insult.
It goes against the pride that seeks to be in control and to
have others work to meet my demands.
Agape love. The love
that Jesus teaches the disciples in the upper room.
Is self-opening love.
A hospitality of the soul to another person.
Because
Agape love. The love
that Jesus teaches the disciples in the upper room.
Not only calls us to serve rather than to be served,
But to imagine anew who we are and who others are.
Jesus says that he calls his disciples friends.
And we read in John’s first epistle
That we are children of God.
That God is our mother and father, the source of our life
and the director of our steps.
And if I am child of God and you are a child of God,
Then if I understand genetics right,
That makes you my sister and me your brother.
At the very least if I love God my Father
then I will need to take seriously that God loves God’s other children.
As it says in 1 John 5:1 “Everyone who loves the parent
loves the child.”
Look to your left and look to your right.
Your sisters and your brothers.
And that doesn’t mean we see eye to eye as blood sisters and
brothers can amply testify.
But it does mean that we are related
That we share a common parent.
Again a connection to Mother’s Day.
And by becoming members and friends in a tangible way in the
congregation together,
We covenant with one another (what an ancient sounding phrase)
We make an agreement, we join, we come together and
intentionally seek to build community.
We covenant with one another to work hard, not just to raise
money, but give of ourselves,
To submit to the hard teaching that sounds deceptively easy:
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I
have loved you.”
Until we read the next sentence of the teaching:
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life
for one's friends.”
We are united in working together in Christian love.
And our covenant wisely moves from the general to the
particular:
Remembering each other in prayer and aiding each other in
sickness and distress.
This church does this very well. Cards sent, visits to hospital and nursing
home.
“Cultivating Christian sympathy in feeling, justice in our
dealings, and courtesy in speech.”
This has got to be the hardest. How do you find time to be sympathetic when
someone is clearly being unreasonable or spiteful?
And can I expect to show courtesy in speech to someone in
public when I have failed to have courtesy in speech towards that person in
private?
I’m reminded of the warning in James that it only takes a
spark to set a forest ablaze, and the tongue is a fire.
“[Striving] for mutual understanding thus avoiding offense
as set forth in the Word of God.”
In a church that has so many committees and does so much
through conversation and democratically.
We really have to strive for mutual understanding – because
it’s so easy to misunderstand.
We speak different languages and use words and phrases in
ways that are so different from one another – that we assume someone means one
thing when they may easily mean the opposite –
This has happened to me on so many occasions.
This requires patience.
Love is not easy; love takes practice.
And I think there is a lot of wisdom in this Faith and
Covenant we’ve carried with us for the past hundred or so years.
Love is not easy; but the net result is joy.
When a deeper connection has been made,
When a spirit of joining and mission has been reached.
When a vision for a hopeful future for our community and our
lives arises,
When a new sense of purpose and a new feeling of community
comes to us
Like a glass of cool water in the desert of a world
in which everyone is more and more isolated from everyone
else.
Love – the hard work of basins and towels – yields joy and
contentment, faith and hope.
Let us trust that the Lord will lead us into greater love,
and let us open ourselves to the possibility of
Fullness of joy.
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