In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy stands with her arms folded and a resolute expression on her face while Charlie Brown pleads with her.
"Lucy, you must be more loving. The world needs love. Make this world a better place, Lucy, by loving someone else."
At that Lucy whirls around angrily and Charlie goes flipping over backwards.
"Look, you blockhead," Lucy screams. "The world I love.
It's people I can't stand!"
It's easy to love in the abstract; the world and people in general. It's the people around us that drive us crazy. Yet it is precisely the people around us, at work and school, our next door neighbors, and the people we sit next to in worship, that Jesus calls us to love.
A wise person once said:
"We are judged by our actions, not our intentions.
We may have a heart of gold, but then, so does a
hard-boiled egg."
( Author unknown)
Jesus says to us:
"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Did you hear that? God wants us to love one another. We may tithe. We may teach. We may sing. We may serve. We may visit on behalf of our church, preach the Gospel, clean the kitchen, knit prayer shawls, sponsor the youth and mow the grass. All of these things are important to the life and vitality of our church family -- BUT if we do not do them out of love for God -- IF we do not love one another, we are not doing what God wants us to do. Love one another.
Our church is to model love for one another. In doing so, Ginter Park
helps us learn to love. We live in a world that is increasingly indifferent to the Christian faith; a world that grows more and more self-centered every day; a world that has lost the meaning of the word sacrifice, and does not understand the commitment of faith. This is the world in which we are called to share God's love. But we also admit that we are part of this world. We are among those who find it difficult to love others. We are among those whose time is limited and who find it difficult to make time for the church. We are among those who often fail to share God's love with others, whose offerings for the church are often far from sacrificial.
Love for one another means it may not be my thing -- this activity happening here at the church -- but I will take part joyfully because my brother in Christ believes the church should do it.
Love for one another means I may not want to help with children and youth activities, but I will lift up my younger brothers and sisters in my prayers every day.
Love for one another means I may not think a financial decision is wise
but I am blessed by God and in gratitude to God, I’ll give to God’s church.
Love for one another means there is no US and THEM. There is no Side Door verses Traditional worship. There is no newcomers verses old timers. There is not stuck in their ways verses doing crazy new things.
In a world all too often filled with people concerned about themselves first, characterized with an impersonal "what's in it for me" attitude, we are called to witness to something more important…
LOVE that gives of itself for others
LOVE that cares about others
LOVE that makes our lives meaningful
and significant in giving to others.
Years ago, a newspaper carried a story of a reporter covering the war in Sarejevo. The reporter noticed a little girl walking slowly in front of him. He was surprised to discover she had been severely wounded by sniper fire. Before the reporter could react, a man rushed over, scooped up the little girl, and pleaded with the reporter to drive him to the hospital.
Without hesitating, they loaded her into the back seat and took off for medical help. After a minute, the man said urgently:
“Please hurry; she is dying!”
The reporter drove faster.
A few minutes later, the man in the back seat said:
“Hurry , please my little girl is still breathing!”
The reporter sped on.
A minute or two later the man said:
“Hurry, please my little girl is still warm.”
Soon they pulled up to the hospital, but it was too late. The girl had died in the man’s arms.
The man and the reporter walked somberly to the restroom to wash the little girl’s blood from their hands. As they were washing, the man said:
“Now come the hardest part”
“What’s that?” asked the reporter.
The man said:
“Now I have to go find that little girl’s father
and tell him she is gone.”
The reporter was stunned:
“But I thought you were the father!
I thought she was your child!”
The man replied:
“Aren’t they all our children!?’ *
Aren’t they?
Aren’t we all God’s children?
It is everyone! OR it is no one!
We support our brothers and sisters in Christ with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service and our witness OR WE DON’T!
When we try to restrict God’s grace to ourselves, to our likes and our
Ways, we cut ourselves off from that very grace. Woe be unto us whenever we reek of such arrogance!
“Love one another” Yes, it is the hardest commandment! Yet, we who proclaim our love for Jesus can do nothing less than love each other.
My prayer for Ginter Park Church -- that I have prayed every day since I was told I was being sent to serve here, and that as I have served, I continue to pray -- My prayer is that the Ginter Park neighborhood will look at us and say:
“see how they love one another”
May it be so Holy Jesus. Amen.
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* Thomas G. Long, Pulpit Resource, ed. By William H. Willimon, 29.1,p. 18