When we read the letters of John, or the Gospel of John for that matter
—there is a different tenor to it—a different accent,
when compared to the rest of the New Testament.
John’s Letters return again and again to a theme,
circling around the point again and again like a merry-go-round
—it’s a dizzying thing, like a tilt-a-whirl,
returning again and again to a few key points.
Like a cat or dog circling around and around their bed,
until they find a comfy position upon which to rest.
And, when you untangle 1st John chapter three’s winding words,
you find a very important, and very basic, message:
God’s Children, Love, Boldly!
Prayer
God’s Children Love Boldly.
God’s Children Love Boldly.
We are God’s Children!
Ours is not a God far off!
God is not unsympathetic to our being, or unaware of our doings. No!
Nothing can separate us from God!
God is closer to us than breathe, or heartbeat, or the hairs on our head.
Jesus Christ is the invisible God made visible
—we don’t need to speculate or make up a god of our own minds,
there he is in the flesh!
The Word made Flesh, the Logos in the flesh,
the Blueprint of Creation before us
—wow! He’s our Brother!
Do you not know,
the Resurrected Lord is seen in us!
The Father abides with you. You are born of God!
You are in relationship with the living God through Jesus.
You have an Advocate—the Spirit of God, right there at your side!
Didn’t you know they had to create a new word when they translated scripture into English
—At-One-Ment
—every breach bridged,
every wrong being righted through Jesus Christ.
Our identity is our Baptism,
brows wet with our adoption into God’s family.
God’s Children Love Boldly.
Love!
God’s Children don’t hate.
God’s Children aren’t indifferent!
God’s Children are not mean! No!
Those who hate abide with the Devil!
Those with hate in their hearts are murderers!
Love does not stop with words or emotional flutter!
Love is the embodiment of the Gospel
—as Francis of Assisi was supposed to have said,
“Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary.”
Have you not heard, “they will know that we are Christians by our love.”
Love like Jesus!
Love in a Maundy Thursday kind of way!
A last supper kind of way!
A washing the disciples feet kind of way!
A giving them a new commandment kind of way!
Stripped, kneeling as a servant.
A love enacted,
a love that is concrete,
a love that is sacrificial,
a love that is generous!
Sometimes people tell me that I preach a weak Gospel
—just love all the time.
“Real Christians,” they say, “add something more to make it harder
—a more muscular kind of Christianity.”
I don’t think these folk have the first clue about Love!
To love, when it is hard, as well as when it is easy, that takes real muscles!
Ongoing sustained love!
That’s the only commandment Christ gave,
and it is enough!
God’s Children Love Boldly.
Bold!
Christian love is not timid or guilty.
Nor does it fear, or counts the costs. No!
For shame would stifle the Spirit’s work,
we just don’t have time for it!
Love is not afraid of loss
—for in Christ all is gain!
In Christ the hidden is revealed,
the empty is filled,
the dead are raised!
Once Philip Melanchthon,
the Robin to Luther’s Batman
—Melanchthon, was worried about what to do at the congregation he served,
he had a serious choice to make,
and he desperately didn’t want to get it wrong…
he was stuck in analysis paralysis,
and asked Luther’s advice,
and Luther responded, “Sin boldly!”
“Sin boldly, but trust that Christ is bolder still,
rejoice, for Christ is victorious over sin, death, and the world.”
Be of good courage!
Make mistakes, because that means you’re alive!
It means we’re stumbling forward!
Fail forward, in love!
If your choice is between loving imperfectly,
or not loving at all
—make the mistake!
After all, you can be reassured,
it is never a mistake to love!
God’s Children Love Boldly.
God’s Children Love
—that’s no small statement,
in fact, many who claim the title, Child of God, in the public sphere,
are observed to be anything but loving.
Yet, if your noun is Child of God,
your verb will be Love!
They Love boldly.
Love is a big word
—or at least should be.
Love is not a small or sentimental thing,
but concrete and extravagant!
The experience of loving and being loved
—it is out of this world!
Love can be risky, dangerous, necessary!
This Boldness comes from being Children of God
—because we are grounded and rooted
in the Love that we ourselves first experienced
—the concrete awe-inspiring Love of our Father
expressed by our Brother Jesus.
Be confident not in your work,
but that God works in you.
God’s Children Love, Boldly! Amen & Alleluia!
