This week’s epistle text from First John (4:7-21) presents us with a mandate to “love one another, because love is from God” (v. 7). That seems straightforward, but in the next verse it’s expressed as something of a mathematical equation: “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (v. 8). The author makes abundantly clear that our actions are the sign of God’s presence within us, and then contrasts love with fear. Finally, he calls out those who act based on fear rather than love: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen” (v. 20).
Of course, actually behaving that way in the real world is far more easily said than done -- especially when the news media thrives on creating a “culture of fear.” Whether it’s petty squabbling or sectarian enmity based on centuries of conflict -- or a combination of them, as with the rift over replacing worn carpet in Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock -- we are often defensive and wary of reaching out to those we define as “others.” In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Robin Lostetter considers how living out the epistle’s commands to love one another as God has loved us can be a difficult task... particularly when it involves those who are different or who we find distasteful. Robin contemplates what it means for us to love as God loves, and offers a powerful example of how one woman made belovedness a part of her life in reaction to an extremely stressful situation.
Team member Leah Lonsbury shares some additional thoughts on how we interact with those who we perceive as “others” -- different in some important aspect from much of society -- through the lens of the Acts text and its account of Philip’s dealings with the Ethiopian eunuch. While he was a respected government official in his own country, the eunuch was clearly an outsider in the area where he was traveling. Nevertheless, Philip reaches out to him and they engage in an impromptu Bible study that results in Philip baptizing the eunuch (thus being welcomed into the faith). Leah touches on several recent headlines to reflect on how we treat those who are marginalized by society.
Beloving
by Robin Lostetter
1 John 4:7-21
In the NRSV (though not in all English Bible translations), our passage from 1 John opens with the best translation of the Greek agapetoi -- “Beloved.” We, along with the letter’s first recipients, are first reminded that we are beloved by God. We are loved before any action on our part, because God first loved us (v. 19). From this assurance, the writer of 1 John then goes on to explain how agape love comes to us, is modeled in Jesus, and dwells within us through the Spirit.
But there are also three instances of “love one another” in these few verses, which build to the last verse of the passage. There we find the command “...those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” (v. 21b). It’s an imperative, but in the context of the preceding verses it’s also a statement of fact. You cannot love God without loving your neighbor.
And yet the world is filled with situations where that love -- either individually or corporately -- is strained to the breaking point. Recently we have seen over 800 brothers and sisters fleeing Libya for Europe, and drowning short of their goal. Pope Francis described them as “men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of war. They were looking for a better life, they were looking for happiness.”
But not everyone in the European Union has been welcoming these refugees/immigrants as “beloved.” New York Times op-ed columnist Kenan Malik writes that “The bloc’s approach to immigration has been to treat it as a matter not of human need, but of criminality.... When the European Union treats immigration as a problem of criminality, it is not just the traffickers who are targets.” Antonio Denti of Reuters describes the attitude held by many: “The leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, Matteo Salvini, called for an immediate naval blockade of the coast of Libya, while Daniela Santanche, a prominent member of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, said Italy’s navy must ‘sink all the boats.’ ”
Where is the love? Is it even possible to apply agape love within the anti-immigration atmosphere of the European Union, amid rampant unemployment and with no unified policy?
But there is a story of hope closer to home, in the account of an ordinary citizen. There was an incident in Pittsburgh this past weekend where an onlooker to another apparent incident of police brutality took the command in 1 John 4:21 to heart. The story of one person’s ability to surmount fear and spread God’s transforming love offers a glimpse of hope in our individual lives. Perhaps we can “reason together” (Isaiah 1:18) and consider possibilities for employing transforming love -- beloving, if you will -- in our corporate lives, with the hope of seeing those possibilities in the “real world” of news headlines.
In the Scriptures
The author of 1 John is speaking to the community as God’s Beloved, noting that everyone who loves is begotten of God, and therefore reflects God the Creator. That reflection, however, is visible through love in action, love that is known through Jesus -- therefore a sacrificial love. “Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” was probably intended for one’s brothers and sisters (adelphon) in the faith community, and to address some internal conflict within it. However, the household of faith is now vastly larger through time and space. And as we apply the Great Commandment (love God, love your neighbor as yourself), we expand the focus of our demonstrated love even further -- to our neighbors both within and apart from the Christian community.
In that context, Claudia Highbaugh suggests that “this text is a test. [It] forces head-on confrontation with fears that divide and separate people who exist together on the planet” (“Pastoral Perspective on 1 John 4:7-21,” in Feasting on the Word: Year B, Vol. 2 [Westminster John Knox Press, 2008]). It is not, as we might interpret, a self-legitimating guarantee that if we “feel” love for those close to us we are comfortably included in God’s family. Rather, this commandment lies in the shadow of the sacrificing love of the Savior of the whole world (Greek kosmou).
In the News
Of course, the command in verse 21 raises our own internal conflict when we view the news headlines. We often place ourselves in vicarious judgement when we consider the task of a jury to determine the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (who bombed the 2013 Boston Marathon), or James Holmes (charged in the mass shooting at a Denver-area movie theater in 2012). We sympathize with the family of Freddie Gray, wonder if the Baltimore police are culpable in his death, and take sides in the ongoing “racism in America” drama. We wonder at the humanity of Mohammed Ali Malek (captain of the capsized fishing boat carrying Libyan migrants), who has been arrested and charged with people trafficking and reckless multiple homicide, and of Andreas Lubitz, the suicidal co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525.
In all of these scenarios, showing God’s love and justice means that someone in the justice system will be asked to balance calls for “justice” that respects the harm done to victims with the obligation to love all of our brothers and sisters. We may not be in those shoes, but we participate in the conversation through social media and water-cooler chat, and we may judge within our hearts. We demonize not only the perpetrators of violence, but also those like Daniela Santanche, whose solution is to “sink all ships.” And yet there is the command to love all these, our brothers and sisters -- to love these neighbors as we love ourselves.
In the Sermon
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Practicing agape love, God’s love, identifies us with God and is undoubtedly the best form of evangelizing. Allowing God’s love to flow through us as God’s instruments can also be transformative. In Pittsburgh last weekend, there was yet another police clash with a young black man. Details of his arrest are not available, but he was indeed breaking the law, and he was apprehended without loss of life. (The incident in question happened on Saturday, April 25, 2015, about 6:30 p.m., near Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh’s Central Northside.)
However, a woman was caught up in the drama as she exited her home and became a witness to the arrest. In her account (related in a Facebook post with a “public” setting), she tells of being confronted by an angry police officer and threatened with arrest:
I saw the teen laying face down, surrounded by about 15 cops with more nearby. The body language of several cops vocalized that they no longer felt the teen was a threat. I paused. I thought of all the cases, the ones we read about, the ones that infuriate us, that lead us to challenge the power exerted by police over people, especially youth, especially black youth. I thought that regardless of what that boy did, I wanted to make sure he was treated like a human. I... stayed away off to the side. A cop approached me yelling, yelling at the top of his lungs, screaming: “You need to leave right now! You are trespassing on private property! You are interrupting our investigation! Leave right now!” and on and on. There was no space to say anything; when I looked at his eyes, he was not seeing me. He was yelling his rage at someone or something else, or himself, or his fear of many things. I slowly uttered, “I think it’s good to have other perspectives,” which triggered more continual pointing and shouting: “He’s fine! There are cameras everywhere here! You need to leave now! He had a gun and just shot someone! Do you want him in your neighborhood, do you want him to shoot you? Is that what you want? Leave now, or I’m citing you!” As I slowly, in a surreal and somewhat frozen state, crept backwards towards the curb... he suddenly came at me: “That’s it! I’m citing you for disobedience. I’ve asked you 10 times to leave now! Give me your wallet! Where is your wallet? Give it to me now!” And suddenly he was grabbing me and putting his hands in my pockets. Two other female officers and multiple more around me joined in, grabbing me, putting hands in my pockets, shouting in my face, my bike crashing to the ground, the sergeant telling me to turn and face the cop car, and I was stunned out of my body, like I was watching myself... I thought, but was not given space to reply, “My common sense told me that a teen on the ground surrounded by 20 cops should have more citizens watching given the country’s history of unwarranted police brutality, given that it was clear he no longer had a gun, given that it was clear that he was no longer a threat given the ratio of 20 mostly white male cops to one black male teenager.” But there was not time to speak; there were so many voices telling me why I was wrong, how I disobeyed, comments from the woman officer: “You know, he had a gun, you know, I don’t even live here but I come and risk my life every day for your neighborhood, and you can’t just let us do our job.” ...The fear was incessant. Fear Fear Fear Fear. It was thick, a black veil hanging heavy over the whole situation. There was fear that they were doing something wrong, which was my fear too, a fear founded on too many lives shed without good reason. But why their fear?
The explosive rage of the officer, making reference to cameras, can most likely be attributed to defensive behavior in the current atmosphere of anti-racist protests, and now officers injured in Baltimore’s protests-turned-violent. However, it is not the officer’s behavior that is remarkable in this story. It is our shaken witness’s:
I biked away, and on my way to East Liberty I took turns singing loudly to release some of the anger in me, and collapsing my breath into fits of sobbing -- for the teen, and for [the officer] and those women, and all the cops and military that work and live in this system, who are trained to not be humans in so many moments, and for the world that dreamed up this culture of constant fear of the life and the living that surrounds us. I tried to remind myself to find the beauty and the hope in it all, to look up at the trees in glorious pink and white blossoms, to smile at two older folks dancing and laughing down the street, the birds singing, happy people.
I kept thinking, “What can I do?” What can I do with this rage, this feeling of powerlessness, that our youth are growing up in a country that names them as criminals before they know their true names, that we all live with so much fear of everything. As I biked I saw a black male teen walking down the street in Garfield, black hoodie pulled, hands in his pockets, and I looked at him as I biked by I pointed and I shouted “You are beautiful!” and he paused and turned and smiled. I kept singing and sobbing, and I saw another black male teen a few blocks down waiting for the bus stop, and I smiled at him and looked him in the eye as I passed and pointed at him and said, “You are beautiful!” And he said “Thank you,” and then I started saying it to everyone I passed, and each time I felt an earnest love leave my heart as I said it, and a doubled love return in their smile, and they would sometimes say “Thank you” and “You are beautiful too.” And I passed people that I realized I didn’t know if I thought they were beautiful, they looked a mess, they had flamboyant makeup and hair, or were yelling at their babies or unkempt or carrying bags or walking crooked or anything that is something that I don’t do or understand or like.
Then I saw myself, I saw my judgment of these people, and I realized that if I don’t believe these people are beautiful, how can they believe it about themselves? What if that teen boy that was on the ground at AGH (Allegheny General Hospital), or the cop, what if they grew up and lived in a world where people everyday told them and treated them as if they were beautiful, and those people believed it about them so deeply that they started believing it about themselves? How would that change their actions? And in my judgment of these people who I don’t understand why they dress or look or act the way they do, I saw my anger towards how I was judged in so many ways by those cops. They put me right into a box -- out of their own fears, out of their judgments of me being the “other.” I thought, if I cannot smile and really believe as I say to these strangers on the street “You are beautiful,” is that different from the judgments I just experienced? And I wrestled my anger, and considered my judgments of all those people on the street -- the woman with the dyed hair and black lipstick and outrageous outfit, and the dude blaring music I don’t listen to from his expensive car, and the group of teenagers who act cocky and self-obsessed, and the woman at the bus stop yelling on her phone -- isn’t that what they need to see and hear and deep down believe about themselves, that others see the beauty and the good in them, all the Light and life that may be buried by pain and fear and insecurity? Surely we judge others with the measures that we judge ourselves, and when we accept ourselves just as we are, then we can accept others too, and that is the place of love that spurs transformation. Isn’t that what Jesus and Mister Rogers and every great and humble teacher reminded us, that if we are willing to love others as we love ourselves (which first requires deeply loving ourselves, our Shadow selves, all the parts we avoid, the parts we have not transformed, even our habits and challenges and addictions and behaviors, that we might be full of compassion for ourselves), that we can then love others with that level of acceptance and grace, and in this, we will see even the darkest Dark transform into Light?
What would happen if each of us were to be reflective rather than reactive? What would happen if each of us were to share God’s love, even in the face of another’s anger? What would happen if our churches and denominations advocated for love in the workplace and in the social welfare and legal systems? If this were our evangelizing, and if it spread “to the ends of the earth,” then how would the jury members respond to the humanity of both the victim and the assailant? If we truly believe in the transformative power of God’s love; if we believe as Martin Luther King Jr. did, that “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” then there is no other credible way to respond to the violence and pain in this world.
“God’s love doesn’t seek value, it creates it. It is not because we have value that we are loved, but because we are loved we have value” (William Sloane Coffin, The Courage of Love [Harper & Row, 1982], p. 11). Our witness was a vessel of God’s redeeming love, and her courage to share that love created value for the folk she met as she fled the violence. May we do likewise.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Leah Lonsbury
Acts 8:26-40; 1 John 4:7-21
Let’s face it. This is one of those weeks in which the full complement of lectionary texts is overshadowed by the big, powerful, and familiar message of one of its members. 1 John 4:7-21 -- what text could possibly overshine its bright light? It does, after all, get right to the heart of Christian faith and practice. It gives us a measuring stick (love), an identity (love), a goal (love), and a plan (love). Love -- it’s the beginning and the end of this life of discipleship in community that the author of 1 John is writing about in this letter.
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him... if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us... perfect love casts out fear.... Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also (1 John 4:7-9, 12b-13a, 18, 20-21).
When one looks at the headlines in the news, however, it becomes apparent that we also need our passage from Acts for this week if we really want to understand and live into the description of Christian life found in the headliner 1 John text.
What does it mean to love one another? How might we reveal God in the ways we love each other? What does it look like when we abide in God and God in us? How can love cast out fear? How in the world do we begin to love in these divine ways in the messiness of our very ordinary, broken, and divided lives?
Philip began with the one he could see, or at the least the one he could see once the Spirit urged him to do so. Who are the ones the Spirit is urging us to see and engage? The Spirit sent Philip to one who was fully other -- in terms of nationality, position, sexuality, education (at least in terms of scripture), and experience. To whom is the Spirit sending us? What lines will it expect us to cross?
Philip goes -- immediately, it seems. If there was any arguing or dilly-dallying, the author of Acts certainly doesn’t record it. He receives his direction, and he runs. He physically puts himself in the same place as the eunuch, and asks a question that opens a conversation and invites mutual understanding. He embodies the Good News before he begins to proclaim it. He gets into the chariot, but he lets the eunuch direct his own journey. He attends to the eunuch’s readiness at each step, and baptizes the eunuch when he asks.
We could learn much about loving one another, revealing God’s love, and abiding in God by observing the way that Philip accompanies and serves the one who is other.
How might we follow Philip’s example in our response to what is happening in Baltimore this week? The mainstream media is using the word “thugs” to refer to those who are rising up in the streets, a word Baltimore’s own mayor used in her press conference yesterday. Hundreds of Baltimore-area clergy are doing their part to change the vocabulary being used around the protests, though. They’re doing the equivalent of running to the people in the streets, getting into their “chariots,” and striking up a conversation around the power of a nonviolent presence and the Good News of “treat[ing] everybody right.”
Baltimore television reporter Deborah Weiner’s eyewitness account shared what these clergy know from walking with the people who are protesting: “I asked the clergy what they thought of the state of emergency that the governor declared. They said there has been a state of emergency way before tonight in Baltimore City, an emergency in poverty, lack of jobs, [and] disenfranchisement from the political process.”
What else might we learn and how else might we embody the Good News when we follow the Spirit’s call to accompany those our culture has deemed as “other”?
How will we be the Good News this week when the Supreme Court hears arguments that could make gay marriage the law of the land?
How will we abide with God and love our sisters and brothers when they come out as transgendered, like former Olympian Bruce Jenner did recently? How will we let God’s love be perfected in us when families share their stories and struggles around raising transgender children? How will we join the conversations they are beginning and accompany them on their journeys?
How will we respond to the humanitarian crisis happening around the Mediterranean Sea, where 800 migrants drowned when a single ship crossing from North Africa to Europe sank this month? Italy’s Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”) search and rescue program had to be discontinued because of its heavy price tag of 9 million euros a month, so a joint European commission called Operation Triton has been formed in its place. With this change, the focus of the mission has shifted from humanitarian aid to border security. What would Philip’s guidance be for policymakers regarding this crisis? How can we be an influence of abiding love and accompaniment for these migrant brothers and sisters? How might the Spirit be calling us to them?
When we follow Philip’s lead to love our brothers and sisters across cultural, economic, religious, identity, racial, and national boundaries and borders, we are responding to and joining in the work of Love that God has already set in motion. Heeding the Spirit’s call to Love and a common journey is a way of saying “yes” to discipleship and the pattern of the One who came the incarnate God’s love of the other. It is embracing the measuring stick (love), identity (love), goal (love), and plan (love) laid out for us in 1 John. It is how we know we are faithfully abiding in God. We would be wise to follow Philip’s example and run to the stranger to discover those next steps on the journey of Love.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
John 15:1-8
Branching Out
“I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus tells us, speaking about the deep connection between his life and ours. As the branches, we follow him into reaching out to the world around us. Mike Hunter, who has multiple sclerosis, literally uses branches to reach out.
After his MS diagnosis, Hunter looked at the available canes and didn’t like any of them -- so he made one for himself. When his nurses admired his cane, he began making more to donate to other people. “Each cane begins with a carefully selected branch -- Hunter says chokecherry wood works best -- which he peels and dries for up to 20 days, depending on the weather. While he waits for the wood to dry, he carves the handles, some with animal faces. He sands each stick for hours so they are smooth and won’t crack.”
In the past two years, Hunter has made and donated 300 canes to his local hospital -- each one starting with a simple branch, and going on to enhance someone’s quality of life. (Read more here.)
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1 John 4:7-21
Love How-To
“Beloved, let us love one another,” the writer of First John urges. Barbara Fredrickson, author of Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become, says that, from a scientific point of view, “Love is not romance. It’s not sexual desire. It’s not even that special bond you feel with family or significant others. And perhaps most challenging of all, love is neither lasting nor unconditional. The radical shift we need to make is this: Love, as your body experiences it, is a micro-moment of connection shared with another.”
The science lines up with our faith, as we understand love as the way we react to the world, following the example of our teacher, Jesus. The more we do the work of love, the better we become at it. Fredrickson says that these small moments of connection have a lasting impact, adding, “Your micro-moments of love not only make you healthier, but being healthier builds your capacity for love. Little by little, love begets love by improving your health. And health begets health by improving your capacity for love.”
As we already know from our faith, love and compassion come from the same place. Fredrickson says, “If we reimagine love as micro-moments of shared positivity, it can seem like love requires that you always feel happy. I learned that this isn’t true. You can experience a micro-moment of love even as you or the person with whom you connect suffers. Love doesn’t require that you ignore or suppress negativity. It simply requires that some element of kindness, empathy, or appreciation be added to the mix. Compassion is the form love takes when suffering occurs.” (Read more here.)
Let us love one another, trusting that even the small moments hold great power.
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1 John 4:7-21
What Kids Say About Love
When adults asked kids what love is, their answers were about both the feeling of love and the actions that reveal it. One girl (age 8) reported, “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Love can show up at dinnertime. A five-year-old noticed, “Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Or at a piano recital, as an eight-year-old saw: “During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.”
Even a four-year-old notices that “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Love is apparent to kids, even in the madness of Christmas, as one seven-year-old observed: “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” (Read more here.)
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1 John 4:7-21
Servant Leadership
Understanding leadership as a process of service brings love into leadership, says Jim Hunter, author of The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership and The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader. In an interview with Tami Simon, he says that love is an essential part of the leadership process. Some years ago, Hunter had to make a decision to talk about love in his seminars and books. “I almost chickened out,” he says, feeling that it sounded too wishy-washy. “But in the end, the reason I didn’t was that I just could not be intellectually honest and leave it out. It wasn’t because I was so courageous, it was just I couldn’t be intellectually honest. Why? All the great servant leaders in history all talked about love.”
The difficulty comes in our idea of what love is. “The problem with it is that most people have a pretty weird idea about what love is. Hollywood has butchered the word. The classic definition of love is not a feeling. It’s not a noun about what we feel. The classic definition of love is a verb. It’s about what we do. Love your neighbor -- the verb in the sentence is love. It’s not about what we feel, it’s about what we do.”
For Hunter, the work of leadership is the work of love: “Love is an extension of yourself. It’s a willingness to extend myself for you, meet your needs, help you to grow. That’s what real love is. Regardless of how you feel, you’re the leader. You signed up to do this. I tell people in business seminars, ‘I don’t care how you feel about your people. I don’t care if you like them or not. I’m not asking you to like them, I’m asking you to love them. Love is an extension, your willingness to extend yourself for them. Hug them when they need a hug. Spank them when they need a spank. Help them to be great.’ ” (Read more of the interview here.)
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1 John 4:7-21
Love Letters to Strangers
In a time of discouragement in her own life, Hannah Brencher started leaving love letters all over New York City for strangers to find, a gesture of love that she hoped would also make her feel better. As Brencher says, “Though the idea sounds romantic, it was really a way to forget about my own feelings of sadness and loneliness for a while and focus on others in the big city who may have been feeling as let down as me. Every morning since that first love letter, I’ve pinned my cursive to writing and mailing love letters to people all over the world, packed with words that hopefully will help, heal, and hold them during a tough time.” Brencher also takes requests from people who need a dose of love in their lives. She’ll write a letter to anyone who asks, giving a dose of love where it’s needed. (You can read more here.)
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From team member Chris Keating:
Acts 8:26-40
Encountering Those Who Are Different
Philip’s life-changing conversation with the Ethiopian official came because he refused to remain silent about the Good News of Jesus Christ. In a similar way, high school senior Victor Agbafe, who recently was admitted to all eight Ivy League universities, refuses to remain silent when he sees injustice. Agbafe wrote a compelling essay about his desire to speak up against oppression and injustice.
It began, he wrote, after a little girl said these words to him after he had finished reading an essay about Florence Nightingale: “Wow,” the little girl innocently said, “I thought black people were supposed to be scary.” The candid comment “tore down my dignity and self-esteem to shreds like a machete chopping off the foundation of a plant. Nevertheless, these words instilled a spark in me to relentlessly stand up for others that are unjustly judged.” (Read more here.)
Agbafe’s passionate essay outlines how he refuses to remain silent when he hears LGBT youth attacked or bullied:
I don’t know what it feels like to be gay, bisexual, or transgender, but I do know what it is like to have a facade of inferiority hang over me because I look “scary.” I know how worthless it is to pat the victim on the back or assure him in times of privacy that “it doesn’t matter what she thinks.” This applies even in the most intimate of settings as I find my friend is not the only one I must confront on such issues but also my own personal heroes. “But Granny, regardless of what the Bible says, isn’t the struggle for gay rights just like the struggle for racial equality?” I know that it may seem wrong to challenge those that have unconditionally loved and taken care of you, but I must do so in order to ensure that others can feel this same love from all people.
I speak up because when one sees an injustice and just shrugs one’s shoulder it is just like promoting it. We live in a society of interdependence in which we must be allies for each other in all social spheres for the continual progress of society as a whole. If one analyzes any prolonged societal injustice against any social group in history, one will see that a critical component in its persistence was the silent approval of the unaffected. I will admit that it can be very confusing at times to stand up for others, especially when it involves challenging ideal systems I’ve always considered absolute or people I look up to. But in order to reap the vast benefits of the great diversity around us we must take to heart the sorrows of our fellow human-being and make them our own.
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Acts 8:26-40
Unsettling Transformations
Philip was surely uncertain about entering into conversation with the Ethiopian. After all, the man was the quintessential definition of “other.” He was a foreigner, of course, and not Jewish. And there was the matter of gender identity. As a eunuch, he embodied shame and powerlessness. (See F. Scott Spencer, “Eunuch,” in The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 2, p. 355.) Many congregations are likewise uncomfortable with the conversations around transgendered individuals. Bruce Jenner’s long-awaited interview over his own gender transition was the source of sour late-night television jokes and awkward conversations around dinner tables. Yet, as Jonathan Capeheart points out on the Washington Post’s “PostPartisan” blog, it was indeed a teachable moment, and an entrée into an often-delayed cultural conversation.
Capeheart observes that Sawyer’s sensitive interview “took a sensitive topic reduced to crude jokes and lurid observations and restored its humanity. By asking Jenner intelligent yet uncomfortable questions, Sawyer elicited smart and moving responses that educated the nation about an issue it knows nothing about.”
During the interview, Jenner relayed thoughts about how his children and stepchildren are handling his transition. He added that his famous stepdaughter’s husband helped lead the way into the conversation:
Jenner told Sawyer that his stepdaughter Kim Kardashian came around on his being transgender thanks to her husband, Kanye West. “And he says to Kim, ‘Look it, I can be married to the most beautiful woman in the world and I am. I can have the most beautiful little daughter in the world and I have that,’ ” Jenner said West said to Kardashian. “But I’m nothing if I can’t be me. If I can’t be true to myself, they don’t mean anything.”
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Acts 8:26-40
How the Church Approaches the Other
Following the suicide death of Leelah Alcorn, a transgendered youth from Ohio, Catholic writer Jennifer Mertens wrote a thoughtful column on how Christians might respond thoughtfully to the various pastoral, theological, and ethical questions surrounding gender variance. Just as Philip felt unprepared for his unlikely conversation with the Ethiopian, the church may also feel unprepared for conversations with transgendered persons.
Speaking from her perspective as a young Catholic and recent graduate of the Catholic Theological Union, Mertens offered these reflections:
As communities struggle to integrate a fuller understanding of gender identity, this journey often unfolds within a linguistic framework suddenly experienced as inadequate. Leelah -- Josh -- has left people stumbling over cracked names and pronouns, the fragments suddenly plunged into a sea of mystery. What does it mean to experience oneself as female or male? How do we -- or ought we -- express a gendered identity? In what ways can we define, even name ourselves? Tiny yet glaring pronouns protrude in our speech, cracked open alongside our hearts, our communities, and our faith.
Engagement, she said, must come from a courageous and receptive heart, and involves reaching out and listening just as Philip did in Acts 8. “Such engagement demands a commitment to dialogue, one that springs from God’s own dialogue with humanity as modeled in the Incarnation.”
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1 John 4:7-21
A Honeymoon They’ll Never Forget
John’s proclamation that “there is no fear in love” might have been tested for a couple who had gone on a honeymoon climb of Mt. Everest last week. The couple had just completed the first stage of the climb when the massive earthquake hit. British bride Alex Chappatte and her husband Sam Schneider recounted what happened: “The ground started shaking violently, but before we could react [Summit Climb group leader] Dan was shouting ‘Get out of your... tents, grab your ice axes!’ We staggered out to see an avalanche coming straight at us. A blast of wind knocked us down, but we were able to get up and run to shelter behind some tents and anchor ourselves with our axes.”
For now the couple is safe (you can check Alex’s blog here). Love is being perfected among them through the efforts of rescuers, the sherpas, and Nepalese authorities. But the instability of the situation is gripping. Avalanches occur as the result of aftershocks, and supplies are limited. They are discovering firsthand what it means to abide in God -- and perhaps wondering why they didn’t book that cruise after all.
*****
1 John 4:7-21
Loving One Another in Times of Disaster
As nations send rescue teams and relief dollars to the thousands impacted by the earthquake in Nepal, congregations will gather to hear 1 John’s admonitions that “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear,” and “those who say ‘I love God’ and hate their brothers or sisters are liars...” The response to the catastrophe is heartening, though resources are already tight. In conversation with these scriptures, perhaps leading our congregations in prayer and encouraging donations to relief agencies would offer one concrete way of addressing the disaster.
A prayer from the Mennonite World Conference following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011:
God of healing and mercy, we come before you with our hearts filled with grief as we see the devastation. We pray that your presence would be felt by those who are grieving, who are injured, who have lost their homes and livelihoods. We pray for wisdom and safety for those who are responding to the people in need and the many challenges left in the wake of the event. We pray for our church, that it may be a witness to your compassion and care for all who suffer. God, you are our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. For this we give you thanks and ask that you hear our prayers for the people of...”
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
The Elephant Man
On April 11, 1890, Joseph Carey Merrick was found dead in his bed at the age of 27. Though the exact cause is unclear, it is believed that he died as a result of the weight of his head, due either to spinal dislocation or asphyxiation from pressure on his airway. Measured by doctors at the time as having a circumference of 36 inches, Merrick’s malformed head was one of many deformities that people came to gape at as he toured England as a human oddity.
Billed at the time as “Half-a-Man and Half-an-Elephant,” Merrick’s life entered the American popular consciousness when The Elephant Man debuted on Broadway in 1979. A movie based about Merrick was released the next year, starring John Hurt in the title role as Merrick and Anthony Hopkins as Frederick Treves, the kindly London doctor who cared for him after gawking at “freaks” fell out favor in Victorian England. A revival of the play with Bradley Cooper in the starring role is scheduled to play in London this summer.
In addition to his cranial deformity, Merrick also suffered from grayish skin growths, a curved spine, and a severely enlarged right arm and hand. Though DNA studies on his skeleton have been undertaken to ascertain the exact cause of these abnormalities, the work has been stymied by the repeated bleaching the bones have undergone.
Various diagnoses have been theorized, starting with Merrick’s own folk belief that the problems were due to his mother being frightened by an elephant when she was pregnant with him. While that cause may be safely discarded, the correct one is hard to pin down. Experts are divided, with some favoring neurofibromatosis type 1, a disease typified by tumors arising from nerve tissue. Those with neurofibromatosis can develop skin lesions, spinal curvatures, and large heads. Others believe he may have suffered from Proteus syndrome, a genetic disorder named after a shape-shifting Greek sea god; this very rare (fewer than 500 known cases) syndrome causes unchecked growth in some parts of affected individuals’ bodies, leaving other areas normal.
After police closed the exhibit in which Merrick was put on public display, his circumstances grew progressively more dire. He was beaten and robbed when sent to tour Europe, after which he made his way back to England. His predicament eventually became something of a cause célèbre, attracting even the attention of the Princess of Wales. Over time he gained enough support to live under Dr. Treves’ care in a London hospital, where he received visitors, went to the theater, and composed poetry.
Described by biographers as an avid writer of letters, little of his correspondence appears available to public view. One remaining letter thanks a friend for sending some grouse and a book, the former described as “splendid.” He often concluded with a poem by hymnist Isaac Watts called “False Greatness,” which begins with the lines: “ ’Tis true my form is something odd / But blaming me is blaming God.”
*****
Prom-posal
Yes, girls spend lots of money on prom dresses and hair and nails, etc., etc. But boys now have a new expense they have to contend with: the prom-posal. Asking a girl to the prom can run into big bucks now, with some spending as much as $250-350 having things like “Prom?” written by skywriters and billboard painters.
Sixteen-year-old football star Cope Robinson didn’t spend nearly that much -- but his prom-posal was pretty impressive. His prospective date was 19-year-old Autumn Pollard. She suffers from a genetic disorder called Noonan’s Syndrome which causes short stature, heart problems, and abnormal growth to parts of the body, especially facial features. He knew that she had a crush on him because they go to the same church.
So with the help of his sister and her best friend, he arranged for Autumn to be brought out on to the middle of the gym floor at the school’s last pep rally of the year, where she was invited to dance with the school’s mascot. As she danced and the crowd called her name and applauded, Robinson, some cheerleaders, and friends lined up behind her holding signs that said “Prom?” with an arrow pointing at him. When the mascot had her turn and look at the scene behind her, Robinson came forward with a bouquet of purple flowers, knelt, and asked her to go to the prom with him. The video shows her bursting into tears and nodding “yes.” (I defy you to watch it without crying.) She says she’s looking forward to shopping for a prom dress and spending time with her date.
*****
Crush Gone Wrong
No one knew what to do about Larry.
Larry King was a 15-year-old eighth-grader whose teachers described him as short, slight, and emotionally immature, a slow learner who read at a third-grade level and was “effeminate.” Born to a crack-addicted single mother, Larry was adopted but later removed from his adoptive home and placed in foster care. Shortly after that, he started showing up to school wearing girls’ clothes, makeup, and four-inch heels. No one knew what to do with him. He wasn’t breaking any school rules, but his behavior made him a target for bullies.
One person who was particularly disgusted by Larry’s behavior was Brandon McInerney, who threatened Larry repeatedly. Larry responded in the worst possible way, by developing what appeared to be a crush on Brandon -- someone who was described by his classmates as a “typical eighth-grade boy,” a jock who was tall, athletic, popular, and respectful.
It may not have been a perfect storm, but it was a storm. And it all came to a head a week before Valentine’s Day when Larry gave Brandon a valentine. On Feb. 12, 2008, Brandon responded by walking into the school’s computer lab and shooting Larry in the back of the head twice with a .22-caliber pistol. Larry was rushed to the hospital, where he died two days later. Brandon was arrested a few blocks from the school.
In his first trial, Brandon’s attorneys claimed that Larry was sexually harassing him -- and the jury deadlocked between murder and voluntary manslaughter. In 2011, prosecutors dropped a “hate crime” charge and Brandon pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
*****
St. Francis and the Leper
One day while Francis was praying fervently to God he received an answer. “O Francis, if you want to know my will, you must hate and despise all that which hitherto your body has loved and desired to possess. Once you begin to do this, all that formerly seemed sweet and pleasant to you will become bitter and unbearable; and instead, the things that made you formally shudder will bring you great sweetness and content.” Immediately he was compelled to obey the divine command and was led to actual experience.
For among all the unhappy spectacles of the world Francis naturally abhorred lepers; but one day he met a leper while he was riding near Assisi. Though the leper caused him no small disgust and horror, nevertheless, lest like a transgressor of a commandment he should break his given word, he got off the horse and prepared to kiss the poor man. But when the leper put out his hand as though to receive something, he received money along with a kiss. And immediately mounting his horse, Francis looked here and there about him; but though the plain lay open and clear on all sides, and there were no obstacles about, he could not see the leper anywhere.
Filled with wonder and joy as a result, after a few days he resolved to do the same thing again. He went to the dwelling places of the lepers, and visited their houses frequently and distributed alms among them generously, kissing their hands and lips with deep compassion. When he was approached by beggars, he was not content to give what he had -- he wanted to give his whole self to them. At times he took off his clothes and gave then away, or ripped or tore pieces from them, if he had nothing else at hand.
Thus he exchanged the bitter for the sweet, and manfully prepared himself to carry out the rest. All this took place while Francis still lived and dressed as a layman in the world.
-- Brother Thomas of Celano, Second Life of St. Francis, and St. Bonaventure, Major Life of St. Francis.
*****
So He Changed!
And finally, this bit of penetrating satire:
The Kids At School Bullied Him Just For Being Different. So He Changed.
For a long time, middle school was not easy for 12-year-old Alex Lambert. He didn’t fit in with the other boys in his class, which made him a target for constant bullying and ridicule. Every day, Alex was afraid to go to school because he knew his classmates would torment him just for being different.
After months of harassment, Alex decided that enough was enough, and that it was time to make sure that he never got bullied again. So, he did something incredibly brave: He completely changed everything about himself to stop being bullied.
Wow.
Alex’s courageous stand against bullying was a complete success. He says that, ever since he entirely altered the fundamental aspects of his identity that were making him the target of abuse, the kids at school don’t pick on him nearly as much as they used to.
“I used to love listening to One Direction and Taylor Swift, but then everyone laughed at me because that’s music for girls. So, I stopped listening to that music,” said Alex, who maintains he now only listens to the normal boy music the rest of his male classmates listen to. “I also asked my mom to buy me a lot of new clothes, because the other kids would push me in the hallway, and I think it was because of the way I dressed.”
Amazing!
As if these brave steps to combat bullying weren’t enough, Alex has also stopped reading comic books, because being seen with them would usually result in a barrage of ridicule and derision, and he has started wearing basketball jerseys to school to give his classmates the impression that he’s interested in the same things that they are.
One story in particular perfectly sums up Alex’s inspiring campaign against bullying: “I used to take dance lessons after school because it was fun and I was good at it,” said Alex. “But then this kid Ryan Cutler told me that dance lessons are for ‘friendless fags.’ I wanted to make sure nobody said something mean like that to me ever again, so I don’t take dance lessons anymore.”
Since that day, Alex, who now goes straight home after school, has not been called any hurtful names. Looks like this kid definitely knows how to put a stop to mistreatment and injustice!
Sometimes all it takes is one brave little boy to completely restore your faith in humanity. Alex, thank you for your courageous stand against bullying. It’s always nice to hear a story with a happy ending!
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From team member Ron Love:
John 15:1-8
In the daily devotional The Upper Room, a woman who would only identify herself as Claudia submitted a thoughtful article. Claudia said she was the wife of the president of a major corporation. She explained that her husband was near retirement and their children were grown and living away from home before she accepted Jesus as her personal savior. With remorse she looked back over those earlier years and realized how different they would have been with Jesus in her life. She would have had a much closer relationship with her daughters, and she would have used her wealth and status in the community for the betterment of people. Claudia continued to be sad and troubled by this loss until one day during her devotions she read this passage: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25). Claudia wrote: “I just rested upon this promise.” She began a new life for herself, no longer guilt-ridden over the “lost years.”
Application: All of us from time to time look back over our lives with a sense of regret. We think about missed opportunities, mistakes we have made, situations in which we have embarrassed ourselves, decisions we have made that turned out to be inappropriate. As a result of these real or imagined blunders we often feel imprisoned, with no chance for a happy future. This is why we must always be connected to Jesus the vine, for we are truly his branches.
*****
John 15:1-8
In 1946, a California lawyer needed a change in his life. Searching a Whittier-area newspaper, he read this ad: “Wanted: Congressional candidate with no previous political experience to defeat a man who has represented the district in the House for 10 years. Any young man resident of district, preferably a veteran, fair education, may apply for job.” Richard Milhous Nixon answered the ad, and his political career was launched all the way to the White House.
Application: We must know what is important and then follow it. Nothing is more important than being connected to Christ, the vine of life, and as his branches doing great service in his name.
*****
Acts 8:26-40
John F. Kennedy once was asked by a reporter how he became a war hero. Jesting, he responded: “It was involuntary. They sank my boat.” The sinking of PT-109 could not have been prevented; but leading his men to safety and rescue demanded leadership and courage.
Application: Like Philip, we are going to find ourselves suddenly thrust into the position of leadership. In Philip’s case it was unexpectedly finding himself in the position of sharing the gospel message. When that time comes, we must be as ready as Philip was.
*****
Acts 8:26-40
Everyone in the village believed Pendle Hill was haunted by demons. In 1652 George Fox courageously walked up that hill to exorcise Satan and call for the saints in the name of Christ. While in prayer, a vision appeared before Fox which he described as “a people in white raiment, coming to the Lord.” The vision signified that proclaiming Christ’s power over sin would gather people to the kingdom. And it did. By 1660 Fox had 50,000 followers. At first they called themselves “children of the light,” “publishers of truth,” or “the camp of the Lord.” Gradually they came to prefer the term “Friends,” in accord with Jesus’ words recorded in John 15:14: “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Today the group is often referred to as the “Quakers.”
Application: As Philip was, we can all be led by a vision of the Lord.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Let all the ends of the earth remember and turn to God.
People: Let all the families of the nations worship our God.
Leader: Dominion belongs to God, who rules over the nations.
People: To God shall all who sleep in the earth bow down.
Leader: Posterity will serve God, and future generations will be told about God.
People: They will proclaim deliverance to a people yet unborn.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who is Love.
People: With awe and reverence we offer praises to our God.
Leader: Know God and learn what true love really is.
People: We open our minds to embrace God’s love.
Leader: Take this knowledge and place it in your hearts.
People: With hearts filled with God’s love, we will serve the world.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“The King of Love My Shepherd Is”
found in:
UMH: 138
H82: 645, 646
PH: 171
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELA: 502
Renew: 106
“Cuando El Pobre” (“When the Poor Ones”)
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
ELA: 725
W&P: 624
“The Gift of Love”
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
W&P: 397
Renew: 155
“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”
found in:
UMH: 384
H82: 657
PH: 376
AAHH: 440
NNBH: 65
NCH: 43
CH: 517
LBW: 315
ELA: 631
W&P: 358
AMEC: 455
Renew: 196
“Of All the Spirit’s Gifts to Me”
found in:
UMH: 336
CH: 270
W&P: 401
“Help Us Accept Each Other”
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558
“Where Charity and Love Prevail”
found in:
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
“In Christ There Is No East or West”
found in:
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439, 440
AAHH: 398, 399
NNBH: 288
NCH: 394, 395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELA: 650
W&P: 600, 603
AMEC: 557
“I Am Loved”
found in:
CCB: 80
“We Are One in Christ Jesus” (“Somos uno en Cristo”)
found in:
CCB: 43
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is love: Grant us the grace to live into your love, knowing how difficult it can be to discern what is the loving act that love calls for; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you are love eternal. We have come to worship you and to learn of you. We pray that our learning may be in our minds and in our hearts, in our words and in our deeds. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the unloving ways that we treat others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have not loved you with our whole being. We have not loved our neighbors as we love ourselves. We fail to see others as sisters and brothers. We fail to discern the Christ in the other. Cleanse us with your love and empower us with your Spirit. Amen.
Leader: God’s love and grace are never failing. Receive both with God’s Spirit, that you may live as children of love.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
God of love, we offer to you our worship and adoration. From your great love you have created all that exists.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have not loved you with our whole being. We have not loved our neighbors as we love ourselves. We fail to see others as sisters and brothers. We fail to discern the Christ in the other. Cleanse us with your love and empower us with your Spirit.
We give you thanks for your great love and all the blessings that have flowed from it to your creation. We thank you for giving us Jesus, who declared your love for us in word and deed.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our needs, and especially for those feel themselves to be unloved and uncared for in this world. Where hunger, violence, hatred, or other things have blocked their receptivity to your love, we pray that your Spirit may bring healing.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Ask the children: If someone said they were your friend, would they steal your candy? Would they share with you? How can you tell if someone is your friend? The Bible tells us that if people love us they will do loving things. We can show others that we are God’s children by doing loving things, just like Jesus would do.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Love God by Loving People
1 John 4:7-21
Object: today’s newspaper
I brought today’s newspaper because it tells me something about our relationship to God. Let’s look at the front page. Do you see any stories like what you might have in Sunday school? (Let the children answer.) Probably not. I surely don’t. I see mostly stories about people hurting others or being involved in bad accidents. I don’t see anything about God here. (Certainly if there are news items about people showing their love, note that this indicates a celebration of God’s love.)
There seems to be mostly bad news on the front page of today’s paper. Here’s a story about... (Choose a story about war or crime.) Do you think these people love God? (Let the children answer.) They may say they love God, but they are acting like people who do not know God because they are doing hurtful things to others.
In today’s reading from the Bible, the writer says that God loves us and the way to show this love of God is for us to love one another. Where people love one another, they reflect God’s love. Where people hate one another, God is absent.
How can we say we love God and hate people? (Let the children answer.) We can’t. The only way of showing our love for God is by showing our love for people!
As a church we show our love for God by loving others in some of the things we do. We give money to help the poor of the world. We give money to send missionaries to tell the good news about God’s love and show that good news as they love the people. We show our love for others by the prayers we pray in church for healing of those who are sick. We pray for wars to stop and for people who suffer in any way to receive God’s aid. As a church we show our love by our friendliness to visitors. We show our love by providing teachers for Sunday school and materials for you to use. In many ways we show that God loves us by our love for others. Church is a great place to celebrate God’s love for us and our love for one another and the people of the world. It’s just like the writer of today’s Bible passage says: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God...” (v. 7).
Prayer: Dearest loving God: Teach us to love one another -- especially those who might be different from us. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, May 3, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
