Hello my friends.
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks.
Welcome to our seventh session in our series,
How Deep in Your Love,
As we consider what God's love truly is through the lens of the letter of 1 John.
As always,
Let's just take a moment to settle into the stillness together.
Allow your breathing to find its own natural rhythm.
As you allow yourself to simply arrive in this moment.
And as you breathe in,
Just become aware that you're held in God's love.
As you breathe out,
Allow that love to gently flow through you.
So over the past six days,
John's been reshaping the way we understand the spiritual life.
We've discovered that love isn't just something God does.
Love is who God is.
Loves the life beneath all life,
The light that reveals reality.
It's the home in which we abide and the identity that we're invited to receive.
And today John asks a very practical question.
All of that is true.
Well,
What does love actually look like?
So let's listen carefully to the words that we find John writing in 1 John chapter 3 verses 16 to 18.
John Rhodes.
We know love by this.
That Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
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 to help.
Little children,
Let us love.
Not in word or speech.
But in truth.
And action.
As many of you know,
John is probably one of my favourite authors of scripture,
Alongside James.
And I think there's something beautifully grounded about John,
Because after taking us into some of the deepest truths imaginable,
Life,
Light,
Abiding.
Even identity,
He suddenly starts talking about Helping people.
It's almost.
I guess surprising,
But.
.
.
Maybe it shouldn't be.
Because real love always becomes visible.
Imagine standing beside a fire on a cold evening.
Now you don't have to convince yourself that the fire's warm,
You just feel its warmth,
Right?
The fire naturally gives away what it is.
Love works in exactly the same way.
If love.
.
.
Truly fills our lives,
It begins to overflow.
We don't have to force it.
Because that's just the nature.
Of what love does and what love is.
John writes,
We know love by this.
And then.
.
.
You'll notice that he doesn't start into some sort of dictionary definition.
He points to Jesus.
So love isn't some abstract idea.
Love has a face.
Love Washes Feet Feeds Hungry Crowds notices people that others overlook,
Touches those that others avoid.
Even forgives from across.
For John.
We understand love by looking at Christ,
And then.
.
.
By allowing the life of Christ to become visible in us.
John writes,
Let us love,
Not in word or speech,
But in truth.
And action.
And this is a really important reminder.
It reminds us that it's possible to speak beautifully about love and write about it and teach about it and sing about it.
Even pray about it.
And still fail.
To embody it.
Loves always more than language,
It becomes presence.
I mean,
Think for a moment about the people who have most shaped your life.
Maybe it was a parent,
A teacher,
A friend.
A grandparent?
Maybe a mentor.
What do you remember most about that person?
It's probably not the speeches they gave.
You remember how they made you feel,
Right?
You remember their kindness,
Their patience,
The way they encouraged you,
The way they listened to you.
Why'd I stay?
The ordinary moments.
Love's almost always revealed through those small,
Ordinary moments of faithfulness.
I think we sometimes imagine that.
Changing the world requires some sort of extraordinary act,
But John seems to think a bit differently.
He points towards everyday generosity.
Seeing someone in need.
Sharing what we have,
Being present,
Choosing compassion.
Maybe the kingdom of God.
Grows one ordinary act of love.
At a time.
And that should be really encouraging because most of us will never stand before thousands of people.
Will never become famous or end up in the history books.
But every one of us will have opportunities today to listen well.
To forgive,
To encourage.
To notice,
To be patient,
To make room for another.
These moments might seem small and insignificant,
But the economy of God's kingdom,
Oh my friend,
These things are never small.
Because love measures differently than the world.
The world asks questions like,
How impressive was it?
Whereas love asks,
Who is cared for?
Rather than how successful you are like the world,
Love says,
Who became more alive because you were there?
As everyone around you might ask,
Well how much did you accomplish?
Love will ask the question.
How deeply were you present?
And so John's really inviting us to a different way of measuring our lives.
And there's another.
Beautiful phrase in today's passage.
God's love abides.
There's that word again,
Abide.
And notice the movement.
First love abides in us,
Then love begins abiding through us,
Like water flowing through a river.
Rivers don't make water.
They just allow it to pass along.
And our calling's very similar.
We're not asked to create divine love,
We're just asked not to obstruct it.
Sometimes it's easy to imagine that loving others is an enormous effort to put out.
That requires something else.
And I think it kind of does.
But not what we think.
Maybe it just requires.
.
.
Paying attention.
There's a lot of people out there who are starving for attention.
And notice,
I'm not talking about admiration,
I'm talking about.
.
.
Attention.
They're aching for someone who'll truly listen,
Who'll notice them,
See them.
Who stay and remain present.
It was the great Jewish philosopher and theologian Martin Buber who once wrote,
That our deepest encounters happen when we meet another person as a Thou.
Rather than an IT.
In other words,
When we stop treating people as objects to use,
Or problems to solve,
Or obstacles to overcome,
And we begin to encounter them as sacred Persons.
And isn't that exactly how Jesus lived?
Every person.
Became an encounter.
Every interruption was an opportunity.
To show compassion.
And maybe that's why John's words are so challenging.
Let us love in truth and action,
He writes.
Because love itself is looking for hands,
For eyes,
For ears,
For voices,
For ordinary people willing to become channels.
Of extraordinary grace.
Today,
Maybe love will look like making the phone call you've been putting off.
Or giving someone your full attention.
Are offering forgiveness.
Or choosing patience when irritation would be easier,
Or quietly serving without needing recognition.
Love rarely announces itself.
It just appears,
One ordinary act at a time.
And before long?
An ordinary life actually becomes.
A holy one.
As we sit in the stillness.
Just notice your breathing.
And bring to mind someone that you might encounter today and just see their face.
And now just imagine Christ looking at them with infinite tenderness.
Notice the kindness in his gaze,
The patience and the compassion that he shows.
And as you hold this image Just pray,
Love through me today.
And again.
Let your love become visible in me.
And just sit with this question for a moment.
Where is love already waiting for you?
To die.
Just simply trust that the answer will meet you.
As the day unfolds.
And as we close,
We pray.
God of Living Love.
Thank you that you love.
Isn't just an idea,
It became flesh.
In Jesus.
And now it longs to become visible in us.
Open our eyes to the people we might otherwise overlook.
Slow us down enough to notice.
Give us courage to love in practical ways,
In conversations,
In interruptions,
In small acts of generosity.
In hidden moments of kindness.
May our lives become places where others glimpse your presence.
Because your love quietly flows through ordinary people.
Like us.
Help us to remember today that every act of genuine love,
However small,
Participates in your eternal life.
And may grace,
Peace and love be with us and remain with us today and always.
Amen.
Until tomorrow my friend.
May grace and peace be with you.
Bye for now.
