Love indiscriminately
I’m not very good at imagining things, but this morning I want you to try and imagine a group of friends – for some years this group have relied on one man for so many things. He is the one that they turn to when they have a problem. He is the one they approach to discuss spiritual issues, the one who has so often calmed the storms in their lives, he is the one who has encouraged them to welcome strangers into the group, the one who has looked kindly on the supposed outcasts, the one who has always refused to judge or condemn.
He is the one who, when preparing to leave, talked to one of his friends, and suggested they could be a new leader for the group – when that person says that they’re not worthy, he says he has confidence in them, and tells them to just be themselves…
But now this incredible man has gone, and the friends are left to fend for themselves and you begin to wonder what the residents of Ramsay Street will be like without Harold Bishop ! For those of you who haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about, Harold Bishop has been one of the star characters in the Australian soap Neighbours for years, but he has now left.
It leaves a huge hole in the lives of so many of the other characters, but of course this is nothing compared to the hole left in the lives of Jesus’ disciples when he left his friends – He was all that Harold Bishop was and far, far more…
There is of course one crucial difference though – and that is that Jesus promised he would never leave his disciples to fend for themselves at all – they would have the memories, the things they’d learned from his teaching, the motivation of the resurrection, but they would also have the gift of the Holy Spirit of God living in them.
The Holy Spirit would comfort and inspire them, would give them wisdom and would give them a power to love, even the seemingly unlovable. And in the reading from the 1st letter of John (4:7-11) we are reminded of the importance of this command – ‘Beloved let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.’
In this plea John is recognising the importance of unity in witnessing as well as asking people to consider the love of Jesus for all people and our response to his command to do the same.
It’s not such a bad command so far – the letter’s addressed to friends and is just a plea for unity within the fellowship of Christians – it doesn’t seem too bad until we consider it from our own experiences – any member of any Church anywhere will tell you that loving everyone in Church is not easy !
But then the demand gets even wider as the letter goes on, ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.’ Again we are clearly instructed that love is the central component of the gospel message – created in the image of God we are to try and see signs of God in everyone we meet, and we are to greet them just as if we were greeting Jesus himself.
The Church of today is built on the love of Jesus, the love that took him to the cross and in the centuries that have followed, it is love, not laws or wars, that have enabled the good news to be shared.
It is love that took people like Mother Theresa out on to the streets in India, love that prompted William Wilberforce to stand up against slavery, Martin Luther King to protest so strongly against racism, the current Archbishop of Canterbury to open up his room to homeless people at night when he was a student – these are among many displays of love which have transformed lives.
In the reading from Acts (8:26-40) we have the account of Phillip listening to God and obeying the command to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. It is described as a wilderness road then and today of course it is a road which is almost impossible to travel. It provides one terrible example of a place where hate seems to be conquering love, where efforts of reconciliation and peace between Israelis and Arabs are literally bombed into little pieces.
But there, even there, there are people working, motivated by a love for all people, to build a better place…
But moving back to Phillip’s journey to that road, there he meets the Ethiopian reading from the prophecy of Isaiah – he speaks to him, invites him to join him on his trip where he shares the good news of Jesus – 1 great part of this account is that the Ethiopian goes on his way rejoicing that he has heard the message of Jesus, but Phillip also leaves inspired to tell more people about the love of Jesus.
His love for every person, in each of whom he sees the image of God, inspires him to proclaim Jesus… Today we are called to love – it’s not easy, but we are called to love indiscriminately, to look for the image of God in everyone we meet, however distant that image may seem – it is a non negotiable command of Jesus.
To build the Church and to proclaim the message of Jesus, we must be seen to be people who love each other, but also people who have a passion for creation and every living being within it. So often we leave Church with a hundred things on our minds and few of them have anything to do with the worship or even with God but today let’s leave here asking ourselves in what way can we love someone who we find it difficult to love – in what way can we challenge or change our own barriers preventing us from loving indiscriminately – today, this week, let’s make a commitment to love more!
And so, may the Holy Spirit fill us with that desire to love…. AMEN
He is the one who, when preparing to leave, talked to one of his friends, and suggested they could be a new leader for the group – when that person says that they’re not worthy, he says he has confidence in them, and tells them to just be themselves…
But now this incredible man has gone, and the friends are left to fend for themselves and you begin to wonder what the residents of Ramsay Street will be like without Harold Bishop ! For those of you who haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about, Harold Bishop has been one of the star characters in the Australian soap Neighbours for years, but he has now left.
It leaves a huge hole in the lives of so many of the other characters, but of course this is nothing compared to the hole left in the lives of Jesus’ disciples when he left his friends – He was all that Harold Bishop was and far, far more…
There is of course one crucial difference though – and that is that Jesus promised he would never leave his disciples to fend for themselves at all – they would have the memories, the things they’d learned from his teaching, the motivation of the resurrection, but they would also have the gift of the Holy Spirit of God living in them.
The Holy Spirit would comfort and inspire them, would give them wisdom and would give them a power to love, even the seemingly unlovable. And in the reading from the 1st letter of John (4:7-11) we are reminded of the importance of this command – ‘Beloved let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.’
In this plea John is recognising the importance of unity in witnessing as well as asking people to consider the love of Jesus for all people and our response to his command to do the same.
It’s not such a bad command so far – the letter’s addressed to friends and is just a plea for unity within the fellowship of Christians – it doesn’t seem too bad until we consider it from our own experiences – any member of any Church anywhere will tell you that loving everyone in Church is not easy !
But then the demand gets even wider as the letter goes on, ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.’ Again we are clearly instructed that love is the central component of the gospel message – created in the image of God we are to try and see signs of God in everyone we meet, and we are to greet them just as if we were greeting Jesus himself.
The Church of today is built on the love of Jesus, the love that took him to the cross and in the centuries that have followed, it is love, not laws or wars, that have enabled the good news to be shared.
It is love that took people like Mother Theresa out on to the streets in India, love that prompted William Wilberforce to stand up against slavery, Martin Luther King to protest so strongly against racism, the current Archbishop of Canterbury to open up his room to homeless people at night when he was a student – these are among many displays of love which have transformed lives.
In the reading from Acts (8:26-40) we have the account of Phillip listening to God and obeying the command to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. It is described as a wilderness road then and today of course it is a road which is almost impossible to travel. It provides one terrible example of a place where hate seems to be conquering love, where efforts of reconciliation and peace between Israelis and Arabs are literally bombed into little pieces.
But there, even there, there are people working, motivated by a love for all people, to build a better place…
But moving back to Phillip’s journey to that road, there he meets the Ethiopian reading from the prophecy of Isaiah – he speaks to him, invites him to join him on his trip where he shares the good news of Jesus – 1 great part of this account is that the Ethiopian goes on his way rejoicing that he has heard the message of Jesus, but Phillip also leaves inspired to tell more people about the love of Jesus.
His love for every person, in each of whom he sees the image of God, inspires him to proclaim Jesus… Today we are called to love – it’s not easy, but we are called to love indiscriminately, to look for the image of God in everyone we meet, however distant that image may seem – it is a non negotiable command of Jesus.
To build the Church and to proclaim the message of Jesus, we must be seen to be people who love each other, but also people who have a passion for creation and every living being within it. So often we leave Church with a hundred things on our minds and few of them have anything to do with the worship or even with God but today let’s leave here asking ourselves in what way can we love someone who we find it difficult to love – in what way can we challenge or change our own barriers preventing us from loving indiscriminately – today, this week, let’s make a commitment to love more!
And so, may the Holy Spirit fill us with that desire to love…. AMEN
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