Finishing out a series on the “Way to God” could only be done one way, and that is with love. The reason is simple: because Paul said so! Remember: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” This is why I wanted to put this last, but in a fundamental way it should have been both first and last, since our faith begins and ends in love.
It is out of Love that God created this world it, is out of Love that God gave his Son to this world as his own sacrifice, and it is out of Love that God continues to be involved in this world. If there were a pinnacle teaching in the bible, a verse that everything goes to and comes from, it is Leviticus (yes) 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.“ This Leviticus passage, which holds the highest of all importance because of its location and summary teaching, became the fundamental teaching of Christ and is the foundation that Christ gives in Mark 12:29-31 when he is asked what the greatest commandment is. 9 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” What I find interesting is that the hardest and easiest thing to do in Christianity is love. Think about it: with all four topics we have already been working through, each one we can genuinely find consistent impediments to; granted those are usually our own doing, but they are consistent. Love can be easy, like the moments after birth when a parent instantaneously falls in love with their child, and later if we are so lucky to find someone that we fall in love with. Nevertheless, oftentimes the love we feel is temporary, like when that kid grows up and smashes the new car at 16 or your marriage goes into difficult times. And you begin to question the love and seek ways to love again. The problem that we often face, and have been the basis for many horrid wedding sermons using 1 Corinthians 13, is that the love (philo) expressed in this passage has very little to do with the Love (Agape) that is expressed in our lives through God. This is agape love, which is a special love that is held, set aside for God. It is a love that transcends all things. This is opposed to the Philo love, which in biblical terms is an incomplete love. However, just as the attaining of a perfect faith is not attainable for humankind, Neither is this agape love. Nevertheless, that does not mean we do not strive for it. In fact, if there is anything we ever should strive for as Christians, it is for learning and growing in love, a love that is truly the image of Christ.
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As always, I am totally excited about Vacation Bible School starting July 8. Last year, it was a fun and exciting week where we made new friends, and for the first time in years saw our congregation pull together as a strong cohort of believers for the expressed purpose of sharing the loving message of Christ with children and adults. For me this was a turning point for our congregation, and for the first time I saw a clear path for what God was calling us to do and where God was calling us to be.
What initially drew me to the Westminster congregation was the great diversity she held. Since coming over a year and a half ago, I continue to be amazed when I stand in front of the congregation and see a community of followers that represents the grand diversity of our community. I know in talking with many in the presbytery that while we are small, we are one of the most diverse congregations in the presbytery, if not the most diverse. We boast of having both theologically conservative and liberal members; we have straight and gay members; we have people representing almost every continent in the world; we have wealthy members, and we have members who are barely making it; we’ve got teachers and administrators; handymen and retirees; engineers, tech-workers, and businesspeople; we even have lawyers, doctors and so much more. In many situations, this diversity could cause problems and headaches, but we seem to rise above that in some remarkable ways, modeling Christ’s compassion. First, we are welcoming. Now, many churches boast about being welcoming, and some are, but when I watch the way we welcome and I am humbled by our genuine interest in our visitors. Instead of “sizing” people up, asking them what they do for a living, we ask questions of hospitality and welcome. You know, things like, how are you doing today, or giving them a “thank you” for joining us that day. Moreover, we do this with a real concern for those who we speak with. Second, our “passing of the peace” time when we really make an effort to connect with each other. Every Sunday as I walk around I see many in our congregation go out of their way to make sure people are not awkwardly standing alone. As we share the peace, we also give a moment of grace and welcome. Third, we have a time of hospitality in our coffee hour. We know that the meal was crucial for the development of the church. In the first-century church, the meal was the central aspect of the worship service. This tradition went to the Lord’s Supper and the importance of that communal time. Today we know scientifically that nothing helps us to break down barriers more then eating together. We even graciously share this meal with the occasional person who is in need. It is a wonderful gift to have Julie and Marta for coordinating this and all the rest of the folks that help out in that time. As you can see, there are a lot of really good things that we do, and much of it comes so naturally. As a congregation, one of our greatest gifts is that we can look past all the baggage someone might bring before us and accept them for who they are, deep down inside, being a child of God. As we gear up for VBS in on the 8th, we will do so in the spirit and expression of our faith in Jesus Christ, providing a time for all of God's children to be welcomed into our community and shown the joys and life that come from a relationship in Jesus Christ. |
AuthorRev. Dr. Bryan James Franzen Archives
September 2018
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