Love In-Deed May 3, 2009 1 John 3:16-24

The message is quiet, but clear--powerful, and convicting. The tragedy wasn't their lack of compassion, but their lack of action. They didn't do anything. Well-wishers are one thing; but actions speak louder than words.[1]

I think the author of the letter known as the First Epistle of John would agree. ^"My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love," he writes to a community of believers sometime around the year 90 BCE. "Let's not just talk about love, let's practice real love," the kind of love made visible in the life of the one we call Jesus the Christ. Love that became visible as Jesus walked the village streets preaching good news to the poor; visible in the healing of lepers; visible in the casting out of demons; visible in feeding the hungry; visible in his acceptance of the outcast and the downtrodden; visible as he willingly gave his life to demonstrate the depth and power of God's love.

One of the things that we often forget about the book we call the Bible is that those so-called books we find in the later part of the Christian testament are actually letters written to specific communities facing the challenge of how to live out their faith. If the author of John felt compelled to write a letter reminding this community to put love into practice, it was, more than likely because they had lost their focus and forgotten what they were called to be and do. After all, the message Jesus came to bring and the truth he came to proclaim is less about where we will spend life after we leave this earthly existence and much more about the quality of life we create in the here and now. Or, put another way, "all the way to heaven is -can be, is meant to be- heaven when we learn to live as Jesus lived and allow the love of God to shine through our words and our deeds, our thoughts and our actions.

Stan Wilson, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Clinton, Mississippi wrote the following about his congregation[2]:

Our church has an unwritten rule: we will never ignore a member's basic need. Whenever our members know of a need in the church, they call me. "Is there any money in the benevolence fund? You know Johnny got cut back on his hours, and his kids need help with school supplies." The answer is always yes. We've yet to encounter a need we couldn't fill. ... We will not let another member go without food or medical treatment. If a young person needs help going to school, we'll find a way. If someone's house is unlivable, we'll find them a new one or invite them into a spare room. 

This congregation sought to practice real love in concrete and tangible ways. They understood in the core of their being that "If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, ... God's love disappears." But the reverse is also true, when we reach out in love and compassion to care for one another God's love is visibly alive and joy fills every heart.

We know this is the way it ought to be. We know that it is somehow what a community of faith ought to be doing. It's why in the midst of these difficult economic times some of you are holding weekly mini-sales to raise money for a Discretionary Fund to help our members in need. But for such a fund to be useful, for such a caring response to be possible, we need to be willing to share with one another not only our resources but also our needs. We must be willing to be vulnerable with one another and trust that, no matter what our need, we will be cared for with love and not judgment, with kindness and not criticism. A number of years ago Bill Withers recorded a song that put it this way:

Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you don't let show

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

The year was 1979 and I was in my first year of seminary. My daughter was 8 and my son was 4 ½. There was a new member in our congregation, a single Mom named Joanne with two children -a son Jeff who was 8 and a daughter Amy who was 4 ½. I didn't know her well, but I knew that she didn't have much of an extended family support system. She had some severe breathing problems and each time she had an acute event and was rushed to the hospital, she checked herself out as soon as the crisis was over because she didn't have anyone she trusted to care for her kids. At church we prayed for her healing each time she was in the hospital. Then one Sunday after learning that she was back in the hospital, something move me to go and visit. When I asked about who had the kids, she said a neighbor who she didn't really trust. I knew she needed to stay in the hospital and I knew she was about to leave, so I said, "Terry & I will take the kids, they can live with us until you are healthy enough to care for them. I won't take 'no' for an answer. Call your neighbor and tell her, I'm picking the kids up."

With tears in her eyes, she picked up the phone, called her neighbor and then gave me the additional information I would need. As I left the hospital, my mind was going 1,000 miles an hour trying to figure out how we would manage everything. I called my seminary and when I told them the situation, they OK'd my bringing Amy along with my son Eric to the pre-school on campus. We worked out the details to get Jeff to and from his school and my mom who lived next door would watch Jeff and Justin on the days when I didn't get home until later. About that time the phone rang, it was the pastor of our church. He said, "Nancy, I have arranged for different members of the congregation to prepare meals for your family every night as long as Jeff and Amy are with you."

 "Oh, I don't need any help with meals," I responded quickly.

"Don't be selfish," was his surprising reply.

Startled, I said, "What do you mean, selfish?"

"You are helping Jo, give other people a chance to help as well. I know your finances are really tight and I know your schedule is even tighter, let us help you help Jo."

With tears in my eyes, I gratefully said "yes".

Surrounded by a community of faith that was ready to practice real love, Jo stayed in the hospital long enough to get the kind of treatment she needed.

In all we say and do in this community of faith let us "practice real love" so that our love muscles will be strengthened and we will be empowered to practice real love in all the times and places of our lives.

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on.

Amen