Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
“And this is his commandment,
that we should believe
in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and love one another,
just as he has commanded us.
All who obey his commandments
abide in him,
and he abides in them.
And by this we know
that he abides in us,
by the Spirit that he has given us.”
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry,
over his last nine years in the office
has often rightly said
“If it’s not about love
it’s not about God.”
Through Lent and Holy Week
and now into Eastertide
John the Evangelist
and those who followed him
and wrote in his name
point that out to us.
In Lent we heard
“For God so loved the world…”
On Maundy Thursday
we heard
“A new commandment I give to you:
love one another
just as I have loved you.”
What then is love?
How is it known?
How is it shown?
Not yet in John’s gospel,
following the narrative of the text,
Jesus gives this answer:
“No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Before he gives that admonition to the disciples
he’s said this about himself:
“I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep…
I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it up again.”
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia.
“And this is his commandment,
that we should believe
in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and love one another,
just as he has commanded us.”
In this Epistle attributed to John,
the link between belief and action
that I try to make abundantly clear
is laid out.
It’s all well and good
to say believe something.
“I believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ.”
As a result of the Enlightenment, however,
belief is tied too closely
and limited too narrowly
to trusting the scientific process
or acknowledging the intellectual veracity
of a claim.
I had a physics professor in college
tell an interdisciplinary group of students
“I don’t care if you believe
in evolution
or the big bang.
The question in this classroom
is not one of belief.”
That’s how “belief” gets used, though,
right?
That’s not what the school of John means, though.
Belief for John’s school of thought
is a life changed
because of putting one’s full faith and trust
in Jesus the resurrected Christ.
“I lay down my life
in order to take it up again.
No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it up again.”
“Love one another,
just as he has commanded us.”
What then is love?
How is it known?
How is it shown?
This is a tightrope to walk.
We talked in Christian education this morning
about the call of the gospel not being
“Try harder! You can do it!
Just keep getting better!”
Unlike Jesus
we do not have the power
to take up our lives
if we lay them down.
At the same time
we’re confronted with opportunities for love
at every turn.
Following Jesus,
loving one another
loving our neighbor as God has loved us
takes some sacrifice on our part.
St. John Chyrsostom challenged the church,
“If you cannot find Christ
in the beggar at the church door,
you will not find Him in the chalice.”
A part of following Jesus
is not only seeking and serving Christ in all persons
loving our neighbor as ourselves.
It’s also striving for justice and peace
and respecting the dignity of all people –
even the people whose presence makes us uncomfortable.
A part of following Jesus is probably
not only seeing him when people park in our lot
but organizing to legislatively and administratively
resolve the housing crisis
with all available speed.
Lay theologian Hannah Bowman
posted on Bluesky this week,
“You want to hear
my long rant
about how attempts to hide homelessness
arise from our own shame
at the way they reveal our own sins
of wealth and complicity,
or no?”
She added,
“(The point is,
repentance defeats shame
and builds life-giving homes for people.)”
There’s a reason repenting and returning to the Lord
comes pretty early in the baptismal covenant.
Jesus says today,
“I am the good shepherd.
I know my own
and my own know me,
just as the Father knows me
and I know the Father.
And I lay down my life for the sheep.”
In God’s tender love for us,
God knows us personally
and has sent Jesus to us
that we might know God personally.
God has also sent Jesus to creation
so that creation is being redeemed
as the spiritual and material are bridged.
Jesus the Good Shepherd knows us,
and we can recognize his voice
when he calls to us.
What then is love?
How is it known?
How is it shown?
Where is the Good Shepherd calling us?
We’re going to explore that this year.
between now and June
the College of Congregational Development graduates
as of yesterday –
me, Gerry Thompson,
Valerie Kelley, and Valerie Conner
are going to analyze
all the ways we’ve said
we feel we’re being called.
We’ll look at the
sources of transformation dots
from last year’s annual meeting.
We’ll look at essay answers
that were part of this year’s pledge forms.
We’ll review all the conversations we’ve had
one on one and in groups
about greeting ministry
and faith formation.
We’ll analyze the dots from this year’s annual meeting
and the descriptor words Gerry so beautifully wrote.
And we’ll share with you
what we think we as a congregation
have been saying.
During Eastertide we’ve been singing
“Listen to the word of God. Alleluia.
Hear the living word. Alleluia”
before the gospel.
After the College for Congregational Development graduates
present our analysis,
we’ll spend my sabbatical –
separately –
listening for the word of God.
We’ll discern together
and then work together
to answer what love is,
how it’s known,
and how it’s shown.
We’ll listen to the word of God
as the Spirit is speaking through us together.
Jesus the Good Shepherd
is always calling us.
We will know his voice,
and we’re going to try to listen. Amen.