Exploring the Intersections of Faith and Life

Posts tagged ‘Love’

The Business of Love – Sermon Seeds for the Church

Scriptures for Sunday, April 28, 2013

John 13:12-17, 34-35  and 1 Corinthians 131-3

As I read through the responses to my earlier question – what is the business of the church? – I considered what it was that linked all the responses together.  There were no wrong responses to the question, but the responses didn’t all fit into one neat category either.  So what links them together?  What underlies them?  What is it that motivates our need to come to be “refilled” on Sunday?  What spurs us to go out and share?  What connects us with those who have gone before?  It’s not enough to say “faith” or “God” or “the cross.”  We throw out those words so easily, we don’t often think about what we mean by them.  So is there something else that is more tangible that links our earlier responses together?

If you read the scriptures, you’ll see where I’m going – what if the business of the church was to become experts in love?  What if love is the linkage?  And if it is, what would the church look like if we became experts in love?  What does that mean?  What does that look like?  How does that challenge us?  What doors does that open for us?

Feel free to comment – I would love to hear your thoughts as I delve deeper into this in preparation for Sunday’s sermon.

Sue
~Rooted in Love
~Open to Grace
~Filled with Joy

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Discipleship

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Love – Daily Meditation

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

Probably the most common word to describe God is love.  Love in our culture is most often associated with a feeling, but in the Bible, love is not so much a feeling, as an action.  God is described as love:  the one who loves us so much that God gave up God’s only son to death for us; the one who frees us from slavery; the one who puts up a shield around us when our enemies attack; the one who walks with us, and heals us, and teaches us, and casts out demons.  Jesus also described love, not as a feeling, but as an action, especially the depth of love that would move a person to give up his or her own life for the sake of a friend.  We can say the words all we want, but if the words are not backed up by actions, what power is really there in the word?

  • What was your closest moment to God today?
  • When today did you feel in the presence of love?
  • If you did not feel it, for we don’t always feel it, did you notice anyone acting with love toward you or another today?
  • How did you act in love today?

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Daily Meditations

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