This Sunday (May 10, 2015) at St. John’s

Posted on May 7, 2015 by St. John's Episcopal Church

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Collect for Sixth Sunday of Easter, P. 225, Book of Common Prayer

While our Collect states our relationship with God in fact, at the same time, it encourages us and gives us hope. Look at this Sunday’s Collect. The Collect states a most obvious fact — we do not always understand the love of God. It goes beyond our human understanding.

It also states that obtaining God’s promises, “exceed all that we can desire.” Really? That can be a hard one to believe…that all of our desires will be satisfied. I expect that as we love God “in all things and above all things,” our desires change from the worldly wanting to a Will-of-God wanting and our desires will be satisfied.

I also know that when we are aligned with God, God’s promises are surprising and more than we’ve ever imagined!

Blessings as you finish your week!

Love, Rebecca+

Rebecca’s Schedule

Rebecca will be in Lexington Monday and Tuesday this week and in Corbin on Wednesday and Thursday, May 13-14. You can get a message to Rebecca by calling the church office at 606-528-1659 or priest-in-charge@stjohnscorbin.org.

This Sunday, the Flowers on the Altar are in honor of Ethan Myers, nephew of Rebecca, who graduated from Temple University on May 8.

To provide Flowers for the altar in honor or in memory of a loved one: Donations for flowers for the altar are accepted for any Sunday of the year. Please sign up on the Flower Donation Chart and let us know if you’d like the flowers to be “in memory of/in honor of” a loved one or special occasion. We suggest a donation of $20. Please place your donation in the envelopes provided.

Godly Play offered for children. All children are invited to participate in this special program of spiritual development.

Adult Forum Our current series is on Ten Ways to Pray. This week Bruce will lead us in The Rosary and The Jesus Prayer.

Al-Anon Group, Tuesdays, 7-8pm.

Work Day at the Church, Saturday, May 30, 10am. All are invited to help with outside and inside projects, such as mulching, lattice-work around the amphitheater, and caulking the windows. If you have a key to the church, you can also come by and take your Prevention Of Sexual Misconduct (POSM) training.

Fun, fun, fun. The next Family Game Night is Friday, May 22, 6:30 – 8:30pm. Bring your favorite games, snacks, and drinks. Pizza will be provided.

2015 Goals: The Vestry has adopted the following goals for 2015, in line with our recently-adopted Mission Statement, Proclaiming the Gospel, promoting justice, and preparing a diverse community of seekers to reflect the welcoming love of Christ:

Support Al-Anon group meeting at the Church.
List St. John’s Church on theIntegrity and Believe Out Loud websites as an open and welcoming church, especially for people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning.
Remodel space for use as a sacristy.
Repurpose the parlor.
Serve as a site for the KCEOC Summer Lunch program for youth ages 18 and under.

The Grow Appalachia Committee meets Thursday, at 6pm through May.

United Thank Offering Ingathering, May 17. Remember to bring your thank offering boxes AND pick up another one for the fall ingathering. A thank offering box is a great way to give thanks and gratitude each day. When combined with thousands of others, it supports wonderful projects in The Episcopal Church.

Rogation Service, Wednesday, May 13, 6pm. We will say prayers around our property and end in the church for Eucharist. Rogation comes from the Latin, “to ask.” The days are observed the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday prior to Ascension Day. They have typically had a focus on agriculture and prayers for the growing season.

Make Pentecost Peace Cranes, Sunday, May 17, after church. Stay after church to make these origami peace cranes to decorate the sanctuary for Pentecost on Sunday, May 24.

Walk the talk (Sermon) April 26, 2015

Posted on April 26, 2015 by St. John's Episcopal Church

Sermon – April 26, 2015

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

Easter IV

Bulletin 4-26-2105 Easter 4

How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 1 John 3:17

Please be seated.

You’ve heard me talk before about my work on undoing racism that started in the 1990s. A group of us met nearly weekly for many years and then at least monthly until about 2006. We called ourselves People Against Racism or PAR.

Ralph was African-American and an active member of PAR. He was a quiet man…the kind that doesn’t talk a lot, but when he did speak, it was something profound and illuminating. One time PAR was meeting with people interested in representing our region in the state legislature. Ralph said something to the candidate I’ve never forgotten.

The candidate was a man who was white. He had done many good things in our city. Yet, Ralph explained that he knew without a doubt that at some point working against racism and serving people who were not white would become very difficult for this candidate. Ralph said he knew this to be true…that every person who was white had a point at which working against racism became too hard …a point when they would stop working in an anti-racist way and return to their way of living in White Privilege…a point where they would no longer work for the benefit of all people.

Ralph wasn’t angry as he said this. He was very matter-of-fact and actually very kind and loving as he said it. It was just reality. What he wanted from the candidate, and in turn from each of us there who was White, was to know when we had reached that point and could no longer work to undo racism. He just wanted us to promise to let him know when we could no longer work alongside of him to tear down the oppression inherent in our community.

And today, the writer of the Letter of 1 John poses a similar question. The entire letter is about the absolute necessity of loving each other if we are truly followers of Jesus Christ. We cannot be followers of Christ without love. Our new Mission Statement says we will “proclaim the Gospel” and loving each other is proclaiming the Gospel.

In today’s reading, the writer emphasizes how meaningless our words can be…how meaningless our talk can be. We can talk the talk, but do we walk the talk? It is our actions that demonstrate our love. It is our actions that proclaim the Gospel. The writer asks the question:

How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

We are challenged today to proclaim the Gospel by demonstrating that we are followers of Christ…that God’s love abides in us through our actions. We’re being asked the question that Ralph asked our group – is there a point at which you will stop demonstrating love for your brother or sister? Is there a point where you will say, “enough is enough” and refuse to help a brother or sister in need?

I don’t know about you, but I get tired of being asked for help. Sometimes people have asked for help, coming to the church, and later I find out they’ve totally lied to me. In New York City and Washington, DC, there are many people along the streets or by the transportation centers asking for money. It happens here in Corbin, too. I’m so conflicted when it happens. I read the verse like the one today and know I live extremely well by the standards of the rest of the world. I know the blessings I get when I am generous, even if the other person is manipulative. But sometimes I just don’t want to give. I console myself by giving to the church or the food pantry instead of to individuals.

And today’s Epistle asks us to grapple with…to wrestle with how we demonstrate love, how our entire lives proclaim the Gospel. To grapple with and wrestle with how much of the world’s goods we truly need, especially if those goods prevent us from assisting a brother or sister in need. Could we live in a smaller house and use the savings to give more generously to our brothers and sisters in need, for instance?

And today is a good day to look at us as a community…St. John’s Episcopal Church. How are we doing in demonstrating our love for our brothers and sisters in need? How are we doing in proclaiming the Gospel? When we’re all working together love blooms and multiplies, doesn’t it? We can do so much more together than we can do alone.

I’m so excited about the great idea that emerged from our April Vestry meeting. Remember that the 2 ½ day Diocesan Convention was cancelled due to weather and replaced by a 1-day event in late March. We had paid $700 in registration fees for the Convention and in early April were told we could receive a full refund of those fees OR we could let the Diocese keep the fees and use them for the Diocesan ministries.

You know it was hard to pass up a refund of $700, putting that back into our bank account. But at the same time, if the convention had been held, we wouldn’t have that money back. And we wanted to support the Diocesan ministries and had already agreed we’d raise $400 for Reading Camp.

And then it happened… I’m not sure who said it first…It was one of those things that happen when you’re in a room with a group of people and you’re working together. We’d say, the Holy Spirit moved in that room. It opened us up. Instead of hitting that place Ralph talked about..that turning back place where we’d deny the love of God by refusing to help our brother or sister in need…instead of being fearful about meeting our budget for the year, we became generous!

Instead of getting a refund back into our “savings account,” instead of easily giving the $700 to Diocesan ministries, we, in true Episcopal, middle way fashion, decided to use the $700 as matching funds to raise even more money for the Diocesan ministries! We decided to be generous, extravagant even.

With the help of Katie and Daniel, our first project is raising at least $400 for Reading Camp. St. John’s will match the first $200 raised, dollar for dollar. We’ll do the same for Cathedral Domain and for St. Agnes’ House. We’ll also match the first $100 raised for St. Augustine’s campus ministry. We decided to demonstrate our love by taking $700 and turning it into at least $1,400!

That’s what love in action looks like. Last week with 25 people present, we raised over $100 for Reading Camp! When we help our brothers and sisters in need, our hearts grow, because God’s love lives in us and we live in the heart of God. It’s a great, exciting and beautiful place to be.

And that’s just one example of how we as a community walk the talk about love. That’s just one way we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. It’s not easy…it’s a challenging way to live in this world…it’s counter to much of our thinking about the world… Yet, if we are to call ourselves Christians…if we are to be followers of Jesus Christ, who freely and humbly gave his life on the cross because God loved us so deeply, if we are to proclaim the Gospel, it’s what we MUST do.

Amen

PS. Aren’t these the best donation boxes you’ve seen??

This Sunday (March 22, 2015) at St. John’s

Posted on March 19, 2015 by St. John's Episcopal Church

Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise…. Collect for Fifth Sunday in Lent, Book of Common Prayer, pg. 219

Love is not always easy, is it? That’s a huge challenge in being a Christian. Last Sunday, we heard, “God so loved the world….” The passage is inclusive and broad. God loved the world…God loved all of creation. That’s what we are charged to do.

Yet, as humans, we’re judgmental. We find it easier to love people who are more like us and who think like us. We judge people who are not like us or think differently from us. Sometimes we judge them harshly. We don’t always understand other people and how they live their lives. We give our love conditionally, based upon our judgement about who deserves our love.

We need God’s grace to love fully. We need God’s unconditional gift. Thankfully, we have it…

Blessings as you finish your week!

Love, Rebecca

Rebecca’s Schedule
Rebecca will be in Lexington Tuesday and Corbin Thursday and Friday. Her Sabbath Days will be Monday and Wednesday. You can get a message to her by calling the church office at 606-528-1659 orpriest-in-charge@stjohnscorbin.org.

A Confusion of the Spirit: Holy or Distilled? Saturday, March 21, 10am – noon. The Rev. Dr. Stuart Hoke, a priest in North Carolina and one of Rebecca’s professors at General Seminary, is coming to Corbin to raise our community’s awareness about addiction and recovery. As a recovering individual himself, Stuart is very much involved in helping churches, congregations and individuals deal with the disease of alcoholism and addictive illness. He will also preach at the Sunday service.

Godly Play offered for children. All children are invited to participate in this special program of spiritual development.

Adult Forum During Lent, we are discussing various issues in Appalachia. This Sunday, Rev. Dr. Stuart Hoke will talk about recovery from addiction.

The Vestry adopted the following Mission Statement for St. John’s Church: Proclaiming the Gospel, promoting justice, and preparing a diverse community of seekers to reflect the welcoming love of Christ.

What are our 3-5 goals for 2015? Vestry is considering various goals to reflect our mission statement. Ideas include sacristy renovation; support of LGBT people, possibly through a chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) or ongoing support of Union College’s Gay/Straight Alliance; Support for people dealing with addictions and their families; opening up the amphitheater and park to church bands; providing our parish hall to other religious groups; more ecumenical church services. What do you think we should be doing to put our mission statement into action?

Wednesday Evenings During Lent through March 25, 6:00pm, series on Appalachia. Plan to come on Wednesday evenings for a soup and bread supper, followed by a special series on Appalachia. Next Wednesday, Professor Jimmy Dean Smith will lead a discussion on the second half of the movie, Matewan.

The Grow Appalachia Committee will meet Thursdays through March 26. If you’re interested in planting your own garden, either here in St. John’s Park or in your own backyard, or helping with a community plot here in the park, please plan to attend these meetings.

Diocesan Convention has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 28, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Lexington.

Donations are being accepted until March 29, for flowers to decorate the church for Easter. Use the donation envelopes and write if the donation is “in honor of/in memory” of a loved one or a special occasion. Donations in any amount will be accepted.

Honor or remember a loved one through altar flowers. Please sign up on the Flower Donation Chart and let us know if you’d like the flowers to be “in memory of/in honor of” a loved one or special occasion. We suggest a donation of $20. Please place your donation in the envelopes provided.

The Altar Guild and Worship Committee will meet Friday, March 20, 4:30-6:00pm to plan for Holy Week and Easter. If you are able to assist with altar and worship preparation for this busy week of the Church year, please try to attend or let Rev. Rebecca know.

Make a Covenant with St. John’s! God has made unconditional covenants with us that God will always be with us, always be our God. Likewise, through our annual pledge, we state our promise and obligation to the mission and work of the people of St. John’s Episcopal Church. Our mission and work not only includes our worship, Grow Appalachia, and family game nights, but also God’s work in our region through our Diocese and in our nation and world through The Episcopal Church and The Anglican Communion. If you’d like to make a covenant with St. John’s through a pledge, please see Rebecca or Gay Nell Conley.

Reading Camp Meeting, March 26, 10:15am. The Reading Camp Group is working on raising $2,000 to support five children at the Pine Mountain Settlement Reading Camp, July 12-18. If you are interested in helping recruit children, mentor children, volunteering for Reading Camp, or raising funds, let Rebecca know. St. John’s has committed to raising $400.

Schedule for Holy Week and Easter Services, Monday, March 30 – Friday, April 3

Monday through Thursday, 10am, Morning Prayer
Wednesday, April 1, 6:00pm – Stations of the Cross
Thursday, April 2, 7:00pm – Maundy Thursday Service with Eucharist, Washing of the Feet, and Stripping of the Altar
Thursday, April 2, 8:30pm – Friday, April 3, 6:00am – Prayer Garden Vigil
Friday, April 3, 6:00am – Morning Prayer with consuming Reserved Sacrament
Saturday, April 4, 7:00pm, Easter Vigil followed by Champagne and Chocolate Reception
Sunday, April 5, 11:00am, Easter Day Celebration, followed by Easter Egg Hunt for the Children

Reflecting the Welcoming Love of Christ (Sermon) March 15, 2015

Posted on March 16, 2015 by St. John's Episcopal Church

Sermon – March 15, 2015

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

Fourth Sunday in Lent Year B

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16

Please be seated.

Last week the Vestry adopted a Mission statement: Proclaiming the Gospel, promoting justice, and preparing a diverse community of seekers to reflect the welcoming love of Christ. At the meeting we also discussed what 3-5 goals we want to work on this year to make this statement not just words, but reality. Between now and the April 12 Vestry meeting, we’re asking you to think about this.

As I reflected upon the Gospel for today, I was reminded of part of our Mission statement…. “reflect the welcoming love of Christ.” Whenever I think about my experience of being welcomed, I think of my grandson. Yes, it’s a danger to have a grandmother in the pulpit!

Logan is my first grandchild. For nearly the first year of his life, I lived about 20 minutes away from him. Needless to say, I visited frequently. At one point, I developed a pattern of going every Sunday afternoon, taking my laundry with me. I’d play with Logan and do my laundry, while my son and daughter-in-law went grocery shopping or had a little break. Often Logan’s parents would arrive home to find me holding Logan on my shoulder and both of us sound asleep taking a wonderful afternoon nap.

But eventually I moved to Washington, DC, and visited about once every 5 weeks. Now, I got to stay at Logan’s house. Again, we developed our routines. I’d usually arrive on Friday evening in time to read Logan a story and put him to bed and then on Saturday morning, I’d get up when he was awake and we’d play and I’d fix breakfast for him.

When Logan was about two, he had his own mini chair – an Elmo chair. I’d call my son as I was leaving my home to let him know I was on my way. Logan would watch a movie, probably Cars, in his little chair. They’d hear my car pull up to the house, usually at 7:30 or 8:00. Logan would be tired, but he’d fight to stay awake when he knew I was coming.

I’d get out of my car and open my trunk to get out my suitcase. Then my son’s front door would open and little, bald-headed Logan would break into a huge smile and squeal, “GRANDMAAA!” He would be so excited to see me.

That’s what I think about when I ponder what “welcoming love” looks like. Have you ever or do you now know what that welcoming love feels like? That’s what we’re saying we’d like to be as St. John’s community.

And while my story makes welcoming love sound so easy, we all know it’s challenging. It’s easy to love people we get along with and generally enjoy being with. But John the Gospel writer, doesn’t say, “God so loved the people you love…..” John says that God loved the world.

The word in Greek is from the word cosmos! The entire creation!

And that’s why the church is essential and wonderful. We have the chance to know and to learn to love people who may be very different from us…people we may not have ever met.

We are called to reveal… we are called to model to others the love that God has shown us. Maybe we’ll have to work to be as excited as little Logan was to see me. God welcomes each of us with deep love and joy. Let us do the same….

Amen

Sing and Rejoice O Daughter Zion (Sermon) Christmas, 2014

Posted on December 25, 2014 by St. John's Episcopal Church

Sermon – December 25, 2014

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

Christmas Day

Zech 2:10-13

zech 2:10-13

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

Be silent, all people, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

1 John 4:7-16

God Is Love

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 among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; 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, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

John 3:31-36

The One Who Comes from Heaven

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

Well, it’s that time of year. TV, newspapers, blogs and all kinds of media have retrospectives of the year…2014 in review. Even Facebook and Google Plus will take the photos you’ve posted this year and create a year in review. It’s kind of scary to see what they put together.

Sometimes it’s hard not to despair. I’ve told you before that everyone alive on earth right now has the same mother from 50,000 years ago….mitochondrial Eve, she’s called. So, technically we’re all brothers and sisters. Yet we treat each other so badly, sometimes. I mean ISIS/ISIL is so horrifying, aren’t they? They’re such a puzzle. And we were touched personally whenAbdul-Rahman Kassig, Anne Day and Jeff’s friend of their daughter Sarah, was executed. Every day, we hear things that break our hearts or make us shake our heads at how cruel we can be.

That’s why this vision from Zechariah is so comforting:

This is a vision of joy, because God has come to live with us and thus bring all nations together as one people. A vision of unity. Now, we know that this does not mean we are all alike or think alike. We are a typical family and very, very diverse! Yet, we hold one thing in common and that is our joy in God’s coming.

And then in our reading from 1 John, we get a second dose or guide to hope. We hear the central truth that God is Love. And we get this guidance:

Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:11-12

Our love of each other is a response to God’s amazing love to us…a love we celebrate this morning. And in loving each other, we create a place for God to dwell and not only that, God’s love becomes perfect in us.

The best gift we can give today…the best way we can reflect our joy on this day, is to resolve to better love each other. It’s not easy, we know, but we can redouble our efforts to try. Loving each other is the only way to know God.

Amen

The Greatest Gift (Sermon) Christmas Eve December 24, 2014

Posted on December 25, 2014 by St. John's Episcopal Church

Sermon – December 24, 2014

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

The Eve of the Nativity of our Lord

Christmas II

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see– I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

Please be seated

One of the things I’ve always loved about Christmas is the surprise of the gifts. When I was a little girl, some of my relatives lived far away, so they’d send us our gifts. I remember they’d arrive in the mail and my mom would put them under her bed. Why my brothers and I never tried to open them, I’m not sure. Maybe it was because their bedroom was mostly off limits to us.

Anyway, on Christmas Eve, we were allowed to get all of the gifts from under my parents’ bed and place them under the tree. Of course, we tried to guess what they were, shaking them a little and looking at the shape. But we were never allowed to open them early.

Trying to get to sleep Christmas Eve was nearly impossible. The excitement of the presents under the tree and then, anticipating what Santa would bring. So many surprises. I could barely sleep and was up very early in the morning. My poor parents….they said we were not allowed to go into our living room until they were awake, but we woke them up SO EARLY! The waiting was so hard.

When my children were young, for some reason, they’d sleep in on Christmas morning, which drove me crazy! I was so excited to see their faces when they opened their gifts. Some years I woke them up!

There’s just something about finding the perfect gift for someone, isn’t there? Seeing the look on their face…the surprise and joy.

And then there’s the joy we feel as the giver. We’ve used our precious resources – our money. We’ve spent time and thought. And sometimes we’ve made the gift, using our talent.

I wonder if God was that excited by giving us the gift of Jesus! We had certainly lost our way. We had become judgmental. We had become more attached to rules than to relationships with each other. We had become dishonest. We had become unjust and uncaring.

But God didn’t destroy us. God didn’t just pick out a few good people and destroy the rest. No, God decided to come down to earth…to be born as we are born…to grow as we grow…to live as one of us. Jesus came to show us how to love each other. Jesus came to show us how precious we are to each other…how important we are to each other.

Yes, sometimes the message of Jesus has been distorted and misused over the past two millennia, but somehow the essence continues to come through…. The good news that God is love and that God so loved us that God came to earth to show us and to teach us how to love each other and what justice looks like and how living in peace is the goal.

Yes, we are probably tired from searching for that perfect gift for our loved ones. Yet, on this night, look around you and know in your heart that God is showing us the most perfect gift – that of the love of each other. Right here in this place…. The baby Jesus, God incarnate, is laid in the manger bidding you to rest in the love of God and the love of each other.

Amen

The Obligation of Love (Sermon) September 7, 2014

Posted on September 7, 2014 by St. John's Episcopal Church

Sermon – September 7, 2014

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 18) Track 1

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

Please be seated.

I don’t know about you, but I have thought a lot about love over the years. When I was 13, a church youth newspaper printed my thoughts about love. It was a contest of sorts and I remember receiving a check in the mail for a few dollars. My favorite popular song at that time was, “Love Can Make You Happy.”

Our popular culture gives us plenty of messages about love, but it’s mostly about romantic love and even distorted love.

In our lessons today, we hear a lot about love…about the love of God. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, emphasizes our sole obligation to each other – to love one another. The Greek word used is Agape. According to one commentary, Agape is actively doing what God prefers. This is not about how we feel, it is about how we behave…. This is NOT about how we feel, it is about how we BEHAVE.

We are reflections of God’s love for us. God showed us Agape, in that God came to live among us. God, through his son, Jesus Christ, died the most horrible death at our hands. Yet, instead of revenge, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. God continued to show love and interest in us, despite our unworthiness and despite our rejection. Agape is acting in ways that promote another’s good…that promote another’s welfare.

Open your Book of Common Prayer to page 305. Let’s read the second paragraph on that page:

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

That’s what Agape is. That’s what Paul says is our Christian obligation.

But make no mistake, this is not romantic love. This is not conditional love – you do this for me and I’ll do that for you. This is clear-eyed love. This is love freely given, even when we reject it.

For example, look at our Exodus passage. Now, most of us don’t live on farms anymore, so it might be hard to hear the details regarding the slaughter and eating of the lamb. But even before the Israelites are freed from their oppressors, God is telling them to remember God’s love in action in freeing them from their oppressors.

Throughout this beginning part of Exodus, we continually hear God telling Moses and Aaron to go to Pharaoh and demand that the Israelites be freed. “Let my people go,” is the cry. Now God, I believe, loves Pharaoh AND God is realistic about Pharaoh. God gives Pharaoh so many chances to take the love actions. Yet, God says in Exodus 7:14, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.” God gives Pharaoh chance after chance to be loving to the Israelites…to not oppress them. Yet with each time Pharaoh rejects God’s demand, Pharaoh and the Egyptians face tougher and tougher consequences.

God’s love of Pharaoh isn’t like the sweet love we so often see reflected in our culture. This is clear-eyed love. And just like Pharaoh, we get the chance to be guided by God…to be guided by the way God wants us to live — love in action. And just like God, we are smart and shrewd, wise and discerning about the reality of ourselves and of our fellow human beings.

We can work for the good of the people involved with ISIS and we are wise to the facts about the violence and evil they perpetuate. I’m not sure I can exactly articulate how to work for their good, but it is the way we Christians are called to live. Working for the good – active loving of the other AND knowing they are hard hearted and must face the consequences of that hard heartedness.

This agape love is challenging and hard, because our emotions pull us. Also, our either/or thinking. I must either love ISIS or hate ISIS. But as Christians, we live in a both/and world.

Look at the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me,” says the father’s youngest son. Now, you know the father knew what was going to happen, but the father does as the youngest son asks. The father doesn’t try to stop the son. The father doesn’t lecture to the son. And the father does not rescue the son, either. The father lets the son leave, lets the son squander his inheritance – all that the father had to give to him. The son must face the consequences of his actions and his choices. The son ends up feeding pigs. We read, “He would have gladly filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.” (Luke 15:16)

Finally, the youngest son decides that living as a hired hand working for his father would be preferable to the life he is living. We read, “He came to himself….” He decides to go to his father, to own up to what he has done. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” (Luke 15:18-19)

And we are totally unprepared for his father’s response. “But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20) God gives us guidance and direction and ultimately lets us choose the way we will go. And God knows that we humans make unwise choices and reject God. God knows this about us. God lets us “make our own beds and lie in them” as the saying goes. Yet, when we want to return…when we come to ourselves…God runs to meet us and embraces us.

That’s the love Paul is speaking about…the love that God wants us to show each other. The clear-eyed, firmly set in reality kind of love, that works for our own good, despite our own bad behavior. That works for the good of others, despite their own bad behavior.

And so today in our Gospel, we are given specific instructions about acting in love when another church member sins against us. We are to go to that person and talk to them directly. If the person cannot hear us, then we take two to three others with us and talk directly. If the person still cannot hear us, then we take the issue to the church community. If the person still does not listen, there are consequences. The person cannot be part of the community any longer. Many chances and opportunities are given to the person. And the person has choices to make, with consequences. Tough, clear-eyed love.

So, each week, we gather as God’s community. To the best of our ability, we confess our sins to God. We pass the peace and greet each other. We come to the table and eat the meal of love given to us by Jesus our Savior.

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another….” (Romans 13:8)

Amen