I shared this sermon with the morning congregations at Indooroopilly on 17 May, drawing on some thoughts from Elaine Huckett (Upper Room Disciplines, 2009) and Kate Huey (Weekly Seeds, United Church of Christ). I share my reflections with you to, on the theme – based on John 15:9-17 – Love … as a verb
What is love? How would you answer that question? What is love? “Love” is all over, under, around and through our gospel reading for today. In fact, “love” or a version thereof features nine times. Nine times. And guess what? For all but two of these instances, “love” is not featured as a word naming the encounter … the interchange. No; in John 15:9-17, love is not a noun … “love” is a verb.
For millennia, “love” has been talked about, written about, intellectualized about, “psychologised”. Love … a noun. We in the church do a lot of that too … we implore each other to love, we pray that we might be a people of love … we hold Bible studies about love … we consider how we might show love to our community … we sing songs and hymns about love. Some of us even write songs … create works of art – all around the theme of love.
The call of Christ is to go beyond this … to actually “do” love – to love one another … love as a verb. On the surface it sounds simple, but you know and I know it is something difficult to do. We know how to be in love. We know about the deep feelings of love connecting us with family and special friends. We know, many of us, the pain of losing a love.
But when love becomes a verb, a command requiring action, the challenging aspects of loving another come sharply into focus. Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you – says Jesus Christ. What does it mean to belong to God’s human family in ways that bear witness to God’s love for us?
John suggests it has something to do with dying … with giving up to God … with letting go. In John’s gospel this is the model. Jesus demonstrates his love for the world by offering his life. Writing for the Upper Room, Elaine Puckett makes the thoughtful comment:
His [Jesus’] response leaves us with a task to accomplish and a question to ponder, “How shall I love my neighbour when love cannot be limited even by death”
Continue reading ‘Love … as a verb’
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