Reading: Psalm 23, Acts 4:5-12, John 10:11-18, 1 John 3:16-24
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin,NY, April 29th 2012
A printable PDF file can be found here
Yvonne and myself are extremely fortunate in that we both came from homes where we had two parents who let us know that we belonged, we were loved and we were valued. As children this was not something we appreciated as we should have done, until we were out of the family home and making a home of our own.
Both of our parents grew up in the lean times near the beginning of the last century, just after the First World War and on into the Depression. As young people their lives were torn apart by the Second World War. Yvonne’s late father was interned in a prison camp, an experience that left its scars.
My own late father was shipped from miserable destination to squalid encampment in the North African arena. Along the way he contracted malaria. He managed to collect a kit-bag of memorabilia, only to have it stolen when he returned to port in England. Even his good memories were taken away.
Our brothers and sisters, and eventually ourselves, were born in the 1950’s, a time in Great Britain when you still shopped with ration coupons and the best food you could eat was that which you could grow for yourself.
As children we didn’t realize the giving up and the sacrifices that our parents went through so that we could have the things they never dreamed of. There were times when our childish selfishness, must have driven them to the point of despair, but they carried on loving us just the same.
We’re continuing to look this morning at the first letter of John. For the first two chapters he has spoken of the need to ‘Walk in the Light’ and live up to the name of being ‘God’s Children’. He has spoken of the reality of evil in our own lives and in the world, and the corresponding reality of God’s salvation that can be known by placing our faith in Jesus.
In the middle of the third chapter he moves on to speak about love. John speaks of God as a parent, of the love of Jesus Christ and the nurturing of the Holy Spirit. Many of us have a point of reference, in the love we have experienced at the hand of our own families. However, John’s point of reference was not his own mom or dad, but the love he had experienced at the hand of Jesus and amongst the community of the disciples.
Some scholars believe John’s letter to be the authentic writings of John, ‘the disciple Jesus loved’. According to tradition, John ‘the elder’ was the only disciple whose life did not end in early martyrdom but he lived to a ripe old age and exercised leadership in the earliest church.
1 John speaks of the love of Jesus as though it were first hand experience. Jesus had washed his feet. He had heard Jesus teaching, “I am the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep”. He had stood at the cross with the mother of Jesus and heard Him pray, “Father Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing”. John was the one who, in His dieing moments, Jesus asked to take care of His mother and John took Mary, the mother of Jesus, to his home and cared for her. (John 19:26-27)
John knew what sort of love surrounded the life of Jesus. From out of that rich experience the author of John tells us, 1 John 3:16, “This is what love is, that Jesus laid down His life for us.”
When I hear those words I think of my own parents, who during the war years were literally prepared to lay down their lives, who went without so much that we may have an abundance, whose love was not often expressed through a gush of words, but was rather a reality we experienced through daily actions.
But hold on - ‘laying down His life’, that’s only half the verse. We who have been loved have an obligation laid upon us. We who have been touched and nurtured and raised by those who loved us, we whom Jesus Christ calls God’s children and who claim allegiance to the church of God have a responsibility. The verse continues “….and we ought to lay down our lives for each other”. Particular those with material and spiritual needs. As verse 17 lays out before us: “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
C.S. Lewis comments, “It is easier to be enthusiastic about Humanity with a capital ‘H’ than it is to love individual men and women, especially those who are uninteresting, exasperating, depraved or otherwise unattractive. Loving everybody in general may be an excuse for loving nobody in particular.”
“Love everybody, Love Life, Love the world”. It sounds good. Admirable even. 1 John insists that love is not expressed through verbalizing high-sounding ideals, but through actions that benefit people other than our selves. Again this is a lesson that many of us first learned in our home environments. Part of our capacity to love others comes from having first been loved ourselves.
Sadly, not everybody is as fortunate as many of us have been. Some grow up in homes where love is at a premium. Some have parents unable to care for them. Some suffer abuse and neglect. Some have parents unwilling to commit themselves to anything but self-interest. But we should never rule out the possibility of love. Which brings me to Brigadoon.
Brigadoon is a musical that for many years ran on Broadway. The story is about 2 men from New York, Tommy Allbright and Jeff Douglas, who are on a hunting trip in Scotland when they stumble across a village called Brigadoon in a valley that isn't even marked on the map.
It turns out that Brigadoon is a magical village that only appears every 100 years, and whose existence will be destroyed should any of the villagers ever leave it. There is much romance and talk of folk being married to other folk whilst all the time they are wishing they could be married to somebody else. And into this smushy mix comes Tommy Albright who is supposed to be marrying his fiance Jean in New York, but manages to fall in love with one of the Brigadoon lassies by the name of Fiona.
In the First Act of the musical, whilst all the romantic entanglements are still interweaving Tommy, looks at Fiona, and asks the wise local schoolteacher, Mr Lundie, if an outsider could be permitted to stay. Mr. Lundie replies, "A stranger can stay if he loves someone here - not jus' Brigadoon, mind ye, but someone in Brigadoon – loves them enough to want to give up everythin' an' stay with that one person. Which is how it should be. 'Cause after all, lad, if ye love someone deeply, anythin' is possible."
Anyway, to cut a long story short, they don't get married, the New Yorkers leave Brigadoon and that's the end of that. Or is it? Of course not! By the end of Act 2 Tommy and Jeff have returned to Scotland. But the village has gone. And won't be back for a hundred years.
Tommy laments, "Why do people have to lose things to find out what they really mean?" Just as he and Jeff turn to leave, they hear the music again ("Brigadoon"), and Mr. Lundie appears. Tommy walks across the bridge in a daze to him, as Mr. Lundie explains: "Oh it's you Tommy, lad. You woke me up. You must really love her," to which Tommy, still dazed, stammers "Wha- how....?" and Mr. Lundie replies "You shouldna be too surprised, laddie. I told ye when ye love someone deeply enough, anythin' is possible. Even miracles." Tommy waves goodbye to Jeff, and disappears with Mr. Lundie into the Highland mist to be reunited with Fiona and live happily ever after.
And there you go... I just went and ruined the ending for you!
But my point is that the whole musical is based upon the highly biblical proposition that with love all things are possible. As Mr Lundie explains: “I told ye when ye love someone deeply enough, anythin' is possible. Even miracles."
In this third chapter of the first letter of John he writes, verse 18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” In the real world miracles don't just happen. They are the result of loving actions. The miracle of the resurrection could not be without the commitment of the Cross. The miracle of hungry people in our community being fed only happens when we seek to meet their needs.
It is interesting to see how 1 John 3:16 complements John 3:16.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. '
1 John 3:16 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. “
We have received a great legacy of love from those who went before us. From our parents. From our mentors in the faith. From the examples of Church history and the saints of our traditions... whether they be Saint Patrick, St David, John Calvin or John Knox.
There remains only one way our families and communities can experience the love of God. That we allow it to transform our lives. That it begins in us and spreads to others. So on this Tartan Sunday, whomsoever our kith, kin or clan maybe, we are each invited to allow our lives to be changed by the love of God that we may draw others into the experience of the joy and love of God's Kingdom that can be found through Jesus Christ.
Through God's amazing Grace, may we seek to be those who are making a loving difference wherever this week may lead us. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
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