1 John 4:7-21
June 23
David A. Davis
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“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way…”
I have shared before about a summer conference I attended each year when I was in high school. It was held in Western Pennsylvania on the campus of Westminster College north of Pittsburgh. It was called the New Wilmington Missionary Conference. It was a multi-generational conference attended by lots and lots of people. On the campus there was a huge outdoor covered auditorium. That is where evening worship happened each night with hundreds of people in the congregation. One year the keynote speaker in the morning and the preacher each night was a traveling evangelist from Brazil whose name was Juan Carlos Ortiz.
At one of those evening services of worship after someone else read the scripture for the sermon, the preacher stood up, looked out at the gathered community and said “let us love one another”. Then he went and sat down. After a long awkward silence, he stood up again and said with a bit more volume, “let us love one another” and sat down again. Then a third time he stood up at the podium to proclaim “let us love one another” with pretty much a shout. He sat down. There was a long time for silence reflection. It became apparent he wasn’t going to say anything else. Eventually, the congregation was led in song.
Now when I think about it, if he were not speaking five times in the morning and five times at night, I would wonder if the preacher earned his honorarium. Or maybe he was taking a lesson from Jesus asking Peter three times: “Do you love me more than these”. Regardless, it was the shortest and one of the most memorable sermons ever. He made his point. The preacher made his point on the clarity of I John on love.
“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent God’s only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent God’s Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.”
It happens over and over again. A family picture up on the wall. A photograph of a grandfather as a young man in his military uniform. A great grandmother’s baby picture. Someone looks at one of the newest generation in the family; maybe a child in arms at a holiday meal or a picture on a phone sent from cousin. Everyone can see it. Two, three generations later in the facial features, the hair, the eyes. She looks just like her great grandmother. He looks like grandpa when he was in high school. “Well, will you look at that!” When our son Ben was only three or so, back when his hair was much more blond and mine still was, back when we could have dressed for Halloween as “The Incredibles”, a neighbor watched the two us walk up the driveway between the church and manse where we lived. Our backs were to him. He said to me later, “You know, you two walk the same way.”
According to I John, first among distinguishing traits for the followers of Jesus referred to as “Beloved”, first among the traits, first in the DNA is love. It is the author point to a picture of Jesus hanging on the wall and looking back at the Beloved. Looking back and forth and saying to the Beloved, the Body of Christ, “Well, will you look at that!” Perhaps it out aspirationally, or more of a prayer, maybe a plea. “We also ought to love one another.”
“By this we know that we abide in God and God in us, because God has given us of God’s Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love, abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us…”
I leave tomorrow morning for the meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Part of the Presbyterian tradition is conducting a meeting by Roberts Rules of Order. Actually in the Presbyterian church, it has become a bit idolatrous. Because those who know Roberts Rules have a huge advantage and can sometimes manipulate a debate. But there will be 500 or so voting commissioners next week so Roberts Rules are pretty essential. “Perfecting the motion” is a term from Roberts Rules. It is the way the body works a particular motion that is on the table; amending it, amending the amendments, offering substitute motions, debating. The irony, of course, is that process of perfecting a motion can sometimes decay into an utter and complete mess. A confused moderator, a less than patient parliamentarian, debates that have nothing to do with the motion on the table. Perfecting love? Even with humanity’s best effort it can be a mess. But that’s I John on God’s love being perfected in us.
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as God is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us. Those who say, “I love God” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or a sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from God is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”
Some folks from our congregation traveled to Israel-Palestine now I think ten years ago. When we were in Jerusalem, in the evenings after dinner, we invited various local speakers to come and sit down with us. An American rabbi who took his young family to live full time in Israel. A mission co-worker of our denomination who lived and served in Jerusalem with her husband who worked in Gaza for the Carter Center. Some of the folks we met with were members of group called “Parents Circle”. The members of “Parents Circle” are members of Jewish and Palestinian families who have lost family members due to the conflict. The organization has existed since 1995 and this week I went to the website to see if they still exist given the terror attacks in Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza. The headline on their website right now reads “We are heartbroken” and it is followed by a compelling statement.
Listening to those few family members who joined us that night was something not to forget. There were still tears as they shared of the death of a child, a father, a mother, or a sibling. They pled for the end of hatred and violence. They pled for healing and a lasting peace. It was (it is) a gut-wrenching call for love. A love that dares to rise out of death. A love that is bold and courageous love that is found among people where love has little reason to exist. Finding within an example of what Dr. King labeled “the strength to love”. A love that comes from nowhere but above. A love that overcomes hate and death. A I John kind of love.
Of all the upsetting video clips to be seen when protests and counter protests were being held on college campuses this summer including the one behind, one of the most chilling was the one from the University of Mississippi. That scene of white students confronting the mostly student of color who were encamped was so disturbing. The hateful things being said, the words being used, the gestures. The white students drinking beer like they are watching a football game. All of it just on the edge of becoming really violent. And somewhere, someplace, some time, a preacher says to the gathered community and beyond, “let us love one another” and then she turns and sits down.
“God is love and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” This verse is the call to worship in the liturgy for marriage in the Book of Common Worship in the PCUSA. Yes, I have lost count of how many times I have said it from here in the chancel or somewhere else with a couple standing before me. I will say it again in two weeks when Elizabeth Katen-Narvell and her fiancé Kyle stand here to make their solemn vows to one another.
But the text of I John really has nothing to do with marriage. Like I Corinthians, “Love bears all things” it is a lot bigger than marriage. A I John kind of love is much more than a romantic love. It is more prophetic than that. A I John kind of love also comes with a promise. Earlier in the letter, the author writes “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before God whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts and God knows everything. (I John 3).
“God is love and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” and “God is greater than our hearts”. God is greater than our feeble efforts to perfect God’s motion. That bold, courageous, prophetic, world changing I John kind of love comes full of promise. God is greater than our hearts! (let the church say “amen”!) I John on love. God in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit on love. For the one who raised Christ from the dead promises to lift our hearts and enable, anoint, empower our ability to love. For Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Abide in love as God abides in us. Before you weigh in on all that is going on around us, before you let the angst in your heart turn to a numb not caring anymoe, before judgement or anger or guilt or sorrow or despair rises up, before you find yourself overwhelmed by the magnitude of death and suffering in Gaza, Ukraine, and the rest of the world, before your weariness gets the best of you when it comes to an election that is still almost five months away, when love seems all together absent in the world and far from perfect in your corner of the world, your corner of the family, your corner of life and faith, remember and never forget God’s love for you made known in Jesus Christ. Remember and never forget that you are created in the image of God. Love, bold, courageous, prophetic, world changing, salvation bringing love is in your DNA. God has shown us what love looks like in Christ Jesus. Will you look at that? Will look at him
Abide in love because God abides in you.