Three things will last forever-- faith, hope, and love -- and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT)
Pastor Erwin Lopez titled his sermon from this past weekend, "A Growing Faith," but if I was going to give it a subtitle, it might be a Beatles reference: “All You Need Is Love.” The picture on the message’s title slide was a tree with roots growing down into the soil, much like faith roots us in place, makes us strong even in the hard times. So then I think of love as being the fruit that comes from those deep roots and helps feed those around us. Faith and love in action can show the world who God is.
I loved hearing about the UCF Wesley "community nights", where students not only experience the fellowship of a meal and games, but also the underlying message that they don't have to make it through college alone. Others are there to love and care about them. Who doesn't want to be accepted? I think most of us have experienced a time where we just wanted to believe, “You belong.”
The expert in the Jewish law in this week’s scripture passage (Luke 10:25-29) put Jesus to a test about who belonged. He agreed with Jesus about the two greatest commandments -- love God, and love people. But this guy wanted to be clear: who, exactly, did he have to love? Showing he was missing Jesus’ whole point.
Jesus's big message during His ministry was that no one should be an unloved outsider. He has come to call everyone. And as Christians, we need to be just as inclusive. We don't worry about who fits in. We don't even wait for them to come to us. (How likely is it that someone who's never been to church is going to just wake up one day and decide to give it a try?) We have to connect to people where they are and build relationships with them.
We can never love too much, as long as we’re clear on what it means to love. Love is not about enduring abuse or enabling someone else to refuse to face up to their responsibilities. Instead, it is about being generous, sharing the abundance of love that God has given to us, and wanting the best for others.
Love also means being vulnerable. In the story of the good Samaritan, the effort to rescue an injured stranger put the Samaritan at risk and expense. He had to go further than just the merely righteous people who had refused to help. As Pastor Erwin said, we will find this same call throughout scripture -- God wants us to give mercy, not mere justice. Help now, don't wait.
As the message came to its close, I saw virtually the same words Pastor Erwin was saying on one of our sanctuary banners: "Known by Love." That's who we are at Community of Faith, and it's who we are still working to become, together and as individuals. Events like Trunk or Treat and our Easter egg hunts are some of the excellent ways in which our church can be known by love by a wider audience, so let's all make sure to support our community events.
We are blessed so we can bless others, included so we can be inclusive.
Natasha
