Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks.
Welcome back to another day in our series,
How Deep Is Your Love?
,
As we consider love through the lens of John's first letter.
Just take a moment now to settle into stillness.
Become aware of your breathing.
Just notice the gentle rhythm of your breath.
And as you breathe in,
Receive this moment.
As you breathe out,
Just release whatever you've been carrying that feels heavy.
As we give ourselves fully to this time and to this space together.
Over the last couple of days,
John's begun to unfold a beautiful vision.
We discovered that beneath everything is the life of God.
And then we discovered that this life is also light,
A love that gently reveals reality and invites us to live honestly.
So today,
John asks a question that every spiritual seeker eventually asks,
And that is,
No.
That I really know.
God,
And it truly is a question that's echoed through every generation.
And John's answer is both beautifully simple.
But also incredibly challenging.
So listen to these words from 1 John chapter 2.
Versus three.
211.
John Wrights.
Now by this we may be sure that we know God.
If we obey God's commandments.
Whoever says,
I've come to know God,
But does not obey God's commandments,
He's a liar.
And in such a person the truth does not exist.
But whoever obeys God's word.
Truly,
In this person,
The love of God has reached perfection.
By this we may be sure that we are in God.
Whoever says,
I abide in God,
Ought to walk just as God walks.
Beloved,
I am writing you no new commandment,
But an old commandment that you have had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
Yet I'm writing you a new commandment that is true,
In God and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says,
I am in the light,
While hating a brother or sister,
Is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light,
And in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.
But whoever hates another.
Is in the darkness,
Walks in the darkness and does not know the way to go because the darkness has brought on blindness.
Now at first glance,
The passage can sound a bit confronting.
It seems as though John's giving us a test.
Do this,
Don't do that,
Pass or fail,
Know God,
Don't know God.
But if you've been listening carefully over the last couple of days,
We know that John isn't writing from that place.
He's already told us that God is life.
He's already told us that God is light and we know that soon he'll tell us that God is love.
So everything he writes must be understood through those lens.
So what does he mean when he says,
By this we know that we know God?
Well,
The little word no is much richer than it first appears.
In our world,
Knowing often means possessing some sort of information.
You know someone's birthday.
You know the capital city of that country.
You know how to answer a question,
But in the scriptures.
Knowing is almost always relational.
It's intimate.
It's participatory.
It's transforming.
You don't simply know about God,
You come to know God.
In the way close friends know one another.
In the way a musician knows their instrument,
In the way that a gardener knows the seasons.
Through relationship,
Through attentiveness.
Through living together and this changes everything.
So the Christian life isn't about collecting more information about God,
But gradually participating more deeply on the life of God.
And this was truly the mistake I think we've been making.
Within the Christian tradition for generations.
And John tells us that One of the signs that this participation is happening is that we begin to live differently.
Now notice the order here,
We don't become loving.
In order to know God.
We become loving because we're coming.
To know God,
Loves the fruit.
Is not the entrance requirement.
Imagine standing beside a river.
No,
You don't create the current of the river,
You just step into it.
And once you're in the river.
.
.
The current begins carrying you,
And love works something like that.
As we learn to abide in God.
We gradually find ourselves being carried by a different current.
Our reactions soften,
Patience grows,
Judgments on others become less severe.
Forgiveness becomes possible.
You're not an extraordinary person all of a sudden,
But you're learning to live from an extraordinary source.
And then John reminds us of what he calls an old commandment that is also new,
Love one another.
How can something be both old and new?
Well,
I reckon it's because every generation has to discover it fresh.
Every morning we wake up needing to learn to love again.
There's no graduating from the school of love.
Even after decades of prayer,
We're still beginners.
The saints knew this.
They didn't become saints because they mastered love.
They became saints because they kept returning to love again.
And again.
And there's another subtle point here too,
John says.
Whoever loves,
Lives in the light.
Now notice the word feeling isn't there,
Not whoever feels loving.
Love's deeper than an emotion then.
Feelings rise and feelings fall,
But love remains.
There'll be days when affection comes easily and there's going to be days when it just doesn't.
That love continues to choose patience.
Kindness,
Mercy,
Presence.
Even in times when it's going to be hard.
It's not the absence of difficult emotions,
But the deeper current that runs beneath them so we can follow through.
And maybe this is why John places so much emphasis on our relationships.
It's easy to imagine ourselves loving when we're by ourselves,
But it's much harder when another person misunderstands us,
Or interrupts us,
Or disagrees with us,
Or disappoints us.
And so relationships become the classroom.
The place where love slowly teaches us how to live patiently.
Every encounter with someone,
An invitation,
Every difficult conversation,
Every unexpected interruption,
Every act of forgiveness,
Every opportunity to listen,
Every single one asks the same question,
Can you remain in love here as well?
And this is why John says that hatred keeps us in darkness,
Because hatred narrows our vision.
It reduces another person to a label or an opinion or a grievance,
But love restores our sight,
Reminding us that every person we meet carries the image of God,
Even when it's difficult to see it.
And maybe this is one of the deepest movements of the spiritual life.
And we begin asking questions like,
How can I find God?
But then eventually discover that another question matters just as much,
And that is,
Can I recognize God in the person standing next to me?
Before me.
You know,
The neighbour,
The stranger,
The colleague,
The family member.
Even the person who's hardest to love.
Because of God is love.
And if every human being is held within God's love,
Then every encounter becomes holy ground.
John is gently teaching us that love is not just one virtue among many,
But it's what reality looks like when we begin to see clearly.
Just allow what you've heard to settle down deep into your heart.
Become aware again of your breathing.
Maybe picture someone who's easy for you to love.
And allow gratitude to rise in your heart.
And now just bring to your mind someone.
.
.
With whom the relationship is a little bit more difficult.
Without forcing anything,
Just hold them.
In God's light.
And just quietly allow your heart to pray,
Teach me to see through love.
Teach me to see through love.
You're not being asked to solve the relationship today,
Just to place it within the current of God's love.
And so we pray.
God of love,
You know us more deeply than we know ourselves.
Thank you for inviting us into relationship.
Rather than performance.
As we continue this journey.
Teach us that knowing you isn't just believing the right things,
But learning to live from your life.
Open our eyes to recognise your image in those we meet today.
When love comes easily.
May we be grateful when love is difficult.
Help us to remain open.
May every relationship become a place where your spirit continues to shape us.
May we discover day by day that the deepest sign of knowing you isn't how much we understand,
But how deeply we love.
And may grace,
Peace and love be with us,
Remain with us and flow through us today and always.
Amen.
Until tomorrow,
Friends.
Bye for now.
