Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in docks.
Welcome to this last instalment of our journey through the letter of One John,
Looking at what love might be through the lens of John's statement that God is love.
For the last 12 days,
We've walked slowly through John's little letter.
We've listened,
Reflected,
That becomes still.
We've prayed.
And in little ways we've begun to see differently.
But before we do anything else today,
Let's just stop and pause and still ourselves.
And as we have been doing,
Just become aware of your breathing.
And notice that breathing doesn't require any effort.
Life is already being given.
So as you breathe in,
Just silently pray,
Thank you for your love.
And as you breathe out.
Teach me to live within it.
Thank you for your love.
Teach me to live within it.
Thank you for your love.
Teach me to live.
We did not.
And so today we come to the last part of John's letter.
And we'll read from 1 John chapter 5 verses 13.
And then verses 19 through 21.
John Wrights.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God.
So that you may know you have eternal life.
We know that we are God's children.
And we know that the Son of God has come.
And has given us understanding.
So that we may know God who is true.
And we are in God who is true.
In God's Son,
Jesus Christ.
He is the true God.
And eternal life.
Little children.
Keep yourself from idols.
John's letter ends in pretty much the same way as he began it.
With confidence.
I write these things so that you may know.
Throughout the letter,
John's used that little word over and over again.
Null.
And remember,
This is not knowing as you know.
Getting information in your head.
This is knowing as in intimate relationship.
Participation.
Awakening.
John has never been interested.
In giving us certainty about every theological question we might have.
Life remains mysterious.
Prayer remains mysterious.
God remains wonderfully beyond our understanding.
John does want us to have confidence,
Particularly about one thing.
That we're already living within God's love.
Think back over the journey that we've shared to this point.
On the first day,
We discovered that love is the source of life.
And then we learned that love is the light that reveals reality.
We discover that love becomes visible in the way that we live.
That love alone endures,
That love is our home.
That love becomes our identity,
That love takes shape in ordinary acts of compassion.
We learned that love teaches us to discern,
That God is love,
That perfect love gently loosens the grip of fear.
That eternal life.
Begins now in that love.
So John's really not been giving us 12 separate lessons.
He's been teaching us one thing again and again.
And again.
And maybe he just wants to keep doing it until our hearts begin to believe it.
And that is that we need to live.
In love.
Because love is where God is and God is where life is.
One final sentence that often surprises readers.
Why would John end?
His letter with this,
Little children,
Keep yourself from idols,
It almost feels out of place.
John's been speaking about love and life,
About eternal communion with God.
Why?
Finish with this,
With idols.
I wonder whether it's because John knows how easily humans forget.
Remember.
.
.
Idols doesn't just refer to little carved statues,
It's anything that's we ask to give us.
What only God can give us.
Anything we believe will complete us.
And so in that sense,
Work can become an idol.
Success.
Can become an idol.
Approval,
Even the need to be right.
All of these can become idols,
Even religion.
Can become an idol if it becomes more important than love itself.
An idol is anything that replaces God as the centre of our lives.
And Sir John's been spending this entire letter.
Moving our attention back to the true center.
To love.
And it's not that love is a priority among a number of other priorities,
It's that love is the life of God.
And everything else finds its proper place when love becomes the center.
Mansion.
The wheel of a bike.
And then you have spokes on that wheel.
Every one of those spokes matters.
But everything depends on the hub.
If you remove the center,
The whole wheel collapses.
And so our lives have lots of spokes.
Family.
Work,
Prayer,
Friendships,
Health.
Dreams,
Responsibilities.
Every one of them matters.
Ultimately the only find.
Harmony.
When love remains at the centre.
And maybe this is why Jesus summarized the whole law and the prophets so simply.
Love God.
Love your neighbor.
Love one another.
Everything else grows from there.
And I must say that as I've prayed through this little letter over the years,
I've become convinced that John's inviting us into something that's much larger than just being nice people.
He actually wants us to come into a different way of seeing reality and to begin recognizing that every moment is held within love.
Every breath we breathe is sustained by love.
Every person we meet is created by love.
That every act of compassion is participating in love,
That every moment of forgiveness reveals love.
Eventually.
.
.
We stop asking where is God and we start asking can I become more aware of the love that's already here.
And that's a question that you can carry for the rest of your life.
You can hold it in a busy workplace.
You'll find it in Family Conversations.
It's there in seasons of joy and in seasons of grief.
It'll be sitting there with you on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon.
It'll follow you into hospital rooms,
Into celebrations,
Into silence.
Where is love?
Because the answer never changes.
Love is already here.
We never had to create it.
God is love.
And God is here.
And the journey of faith is simply becoming more awake,
More attentive,
More available.
Even more at home.
In the presence of that love.
And I think that's what John's hoped for all along.
It's not just about wanting people to finish reading the letter.
But that after we've read the letter,
We'd live it.
One loving breath,
One loving choice,
One loving encounter.
At a time.
And now for the last time in this series,
I just invite you to become still and notice your breathing.
Be present in this moment.
Held in love.
I invite you to hold in your heart.
A little prayer.
Love is my beginning.
Love is my path.
Love is my home.
Love is my beginning.
Love is my path.
Love is my home.
Love is my beginning.
Love is my part.
Love is my home.
Just continue to pray those words and simply rest,
Knowing that you are held,
That you are known.
And that you are loved.
Love is my beginning.
Love is my path.
Love is my home.
Let us pride.
God of eternal love.
Thank you for walking with us through these days together.
Thank you for opening our eyes little by little.
To the life that has always surrounded us.
As we complete this series.
Don't let us leave this way of seeing.
Help us recognize your presence in ordinary moments.
Help us to choose love when fear seems easier.
Help us to remain when distraction pulls us away.
Help us to become people.
Whose lives.
.
.
Quietly reveal the beauty of Christ.
May our homes become places of love.
May our work become expressions of love.
May our friendships reflect love.
May our prayers deepen love,
And when we forget,
Bring us home again.
Return.
Abide,
Remain in your love,
For you are the love in which we live and move and have our being today,
Tomorrow and forever.
And may grace,
Peace and love go with you and remain with you always,
My friend.
Now and forever.
Amen.
So as we conclude,
Just one final thought.
I'd like to leave with you.
People often ask what the Christian life's really about.
Well,
After 12 days with John,
Maybe the answer is simpler than we might have ever imagined.
The Christian life is learning to live from the deepest reality there is,
Not fear or success or certainty or power.
But love.
To see through love,
To listen through love,
To pray through love.
To forgive through love,
To serve through love,
To suffer within love,
To rejoice because of love and to die in love.
And to discover that there's never been a moment,
Not one,
In which you were outside.
The love of God.
Thank you for allowing me to walk this path with you.
May the peace of Christ go with you and may you continue day by day to discover just how deep God's love truly is.
Thank you so much for sharing this time with me.
If you'd like to explore a more intentional journey of spiritual formation,
You'll find more information through the link in my Insight Timer profile.
Until next time,
May you know the peace and presence of God.
Bye for now.
