Good morning, Friends! Thank you all so much for coming here today!
We’ve got a lot of things going on this morning. We collected food for people in need here in our community. We prayed for people who are part of our family who are ill.
Later this week, we’re remembering an enormous tragedy that happened 25 years ago on 9/11.
This week I’m starting my 11th year of work and ministry here at Springfield.
The very first Sunday I preached here, I read the same Scripture that I’m about to read again. I’ve read this Scripture to you, every year. You all ought to be used to it by now!
I read to you every year from the first letter of John, because it says what I believe, and because it says what I think we’re all about. It’s one of the best, short versions of the entire Christian message.
I’ve always found something new to say about today’s Scripture. I’ve never repeated myself. It’s old, and it’s new. It’s fresh, and it’s eternal. This is what we’re all supposed to be about.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:5-7
You’ve heard these words before, if you’ve been coming here for a while. They’re nothing new. And I hope we all try to live these words, to put them into practice, every day. This is how we try to be Christian. This is how we try to follow Jesus.
Jesus said, “Love one another, as I have loved you. . .This is my commandment, my new commandment.”
Over and over, we hear Jesus saying, “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”
It’s so simple – and yet, in today’s world, sometimes it feels so complicated.
These are hard times for people who want to live what Jesus said. There are terrible wars in many places. And some people just want to keep them going.
There are homeless people, here in our own community, begging on the street corners. And most of us don’t know how to help.
There are people everywhere in our country, who are terrified that they’re going to be arrested without a warrant, locked up and deported, because they don’t have the right papers.
I’ve got a lot of sympathy for them, because no one in my family had any papers when they came to America.
The Bible says, “Love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners and slaves in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19) That’s right in the very same chapter in the book of Deuteronomy where God wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says,
“You used to hear people say, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:43-47
It’s not that hard to understand. When Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” I think he meant, “Don’t kill them.”
The apostle Paul wrote, “Owe no one anything, except to love them. Whoever loves their neighbor has fulfilled the whole law. . .” (Romans 13:8)
God looks at people all around the world and says, “You only had ONE JOB!”
Have you ever heard somebody say that? “You only had one job! You only had one thing you have to do!”
“You just had to stand there, and push that one button! You just had to stir that one pot, and keep it from scorching! You only had to watch that one door, and keep anybody from going out, or coming in!”
Our one job is to love. A little later in today’s reading, the writer of 1st John says, “Whoever says, ‘I love God’, and hates their brother or sister, is a LIAR. If you don’t love a brother or sister who you see every day, you can’t love God who you can’t see.”
Only one job. To love. It isn’t always easy. But that doesn’t mean we can ever stop trying.
A whole lot of love is simple stuff. Sharing. Forgiving. Letting go of the past. Listening.
One of my favorite Quaker books for almost 50 years has been the Journal of John Woolman. John Woolman was a Quaker from New Jersey in the 1700’s. He traveled in the ministry, visiting up and down the American colonies.
He was a cousin to our own Nathan Hunt, and a close friend of Nathan Hunt’s father, William.
Ten years before Springfield got started, John Woolman felt God calling him to go and visit the Native Americans on what was then the frontier. It was at the height of the French and Indian War. People were being killed every day, on both sides, and the Native Americans were both fighting and suffering. But John Woolman felt God calling him to go and visit them.
The Quaker elders came and advised him not to go. They said it was too dangerous. But he prayed, and God wouldn’t let go of him.
The way John Woolman took was a path used by warriors. At one place he camped, they had peeled the bark from giant trees, and used them to paint murals of warriors going to war and returning, and people being killed in battle. It must have been really scary.
But John Woolman thought about how people were suffering. And he thought about how the warriors themselves must suffer. So he went on.
On Sunday as he got closer to the frontier, it was pouring rain, and he stopped for the day. He looked out of his tent, and he thought about the trip he was on, and he asked himself, ”Why am I doing this?” This is what he wrote:
“Love was the first motion. And from that a concern arose to spend some time with the Indians, that I might feel and understand their life and the spirit they live in. [Perhaps] I might receive some instruction from them, or [perhaps] they might be helped by my following the leadings of truth among them.
It pleased the Lord to make a way for my going at a time when the troubles of war were increasing. . .it was a favorable opportunity to season my mind, and to bring me into a nearer sympathy with them. My eye was to the Father of Mercies, humbly desiring to learn his will concerning me. I was made quiet and content. . .” (John Woolman, Journal, p. 142)
He didn’t go there to lecture the Native Americans. He didn’t try to force them to stop fighting.
He said, “Love made me go. I just wanted to spend some time with them, and understand the life and spirit they live in. Maybe I might learn from them. Or maybe they might be helped, if they heard and saw me following the leading of truth.”
Maybe listening, and being humble, and being faithful, are what love in difficult times is all about.
Jesus certainly lived in difficult times. His country was under military occupation. The Jewish people were being ruled by puppets. Taxes were outrageous, and the tax collectors were totally crooked. Even the religious leaders were crooked.
People were desperate for medical care. People who were blind or who had horrible diseases were begging by the side of the road. There was no social safety net at all. And what did Jesus say?
“Love one another. . .As the Father has sent me, so I send you. You didn’t pay me to hear this. I’m sending you out without any money, without extra shoes, without anything you might think you need.
Go and look for my lost sheep. Wherever you go, tell the good news – the kingdom of heaven is very near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, make the untouchable people clean again, cast out whatever bad spirits you find.
Whatever town or village you come to, find a good person, and stay in their house till it’s time for you to go. When you enter the house, greet everyone who lives there, and let your peace come upon them all.
I’m sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves. Be as wise as rattlesnakes, and be as harmless as doves. Don’t worry what to say; the words will be given to you at the right time.
Don’t be afraid! Nothing that is covered up that won’t be uncovered. Nothing is secret that won’t become known. When I whisper to your heart when you’re praying in the middle of the night, shout it from the housetops in broad daylight.
Don’t fear those who can kill the body, but not the soul. Don’t be afraid! You’re worth more than any sparrow that falls to the ground. Even the hairs on your head are numbered.
If you try to hang onto your life, you will lose it. But if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll surely find it. (Matthew 10)
Love isn’t always easy, and these are hard times. But it’s always been hard times, hasn’t it? There’s always been hardship. There’s always been violence. Poor people always seem to be here with us.There have always been refugees and homeless. There have always been people in every kind of need.
And none of us can stand back, or walk on by and say, “Who is my neighbor? They’re not MY neighbor!” Jesus doesn’t give us a hall pass on that.
We may not have all the money in the world, but we can share what we have, even if all we have to offer is a prayer or a listening ear.
We may not be able to stop all the violence in the world, but we can walk with people who are suffering, so they know they’re not alone. We can speak up and speak out.
Even when people disagree strongly with us, or try to hurt us, we can remember that Jesus said to pray for them.
Even when it’s hard for us to see what’s going on, we can remember what Jesus said: Always look at the fruit. Good trees produce good fruit. Bad trees produce bad fruit. You will know them by their fruits, by the results of what they do. If it’s poisonous, stop eating it.
Or as Paul said, when the Holy Spirit is at work, you’re going to find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There’s no law against any of these things. (Galatians 5:22)
And the opposite is true. When the Holy Spirit isn’t at work, you’re going to find very different stuff.
When the Holy Spirit isn’t around, you’re going to find jealousy, rage and selfishness. You’re going to find murder and division. You’re going to find envy and endless arguments. None of this belongs to God’s kingdom. It’s not that hard to tell.
Love may be hard to do. But it’s not that hard to understand. And remember – we’ve only got one job.