What Disciples Do, a Reflection on 1 John 5:3-6

"For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the word. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith" (1 John 5:3-5).

Love is obeying commandments. Following commandments is the victory that conquers the world. We aren't talking Alexander the Great kind of conquering. We talking Christ conquering.

I've been thinking about these verses from 1 John, and I've been reading about the ministry focus of the UMC for the next quadrennium. Here's an excerpt from Four Areas of Ministry Focus.

The Four Areas of Focus express the vision and yearnings of the people of The United Methodist Church. Over the next quadrennium, the church will seek to focus the work of making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world around these areas of ministry:

* Combating the diseases of poverty by improving health globally.
* Creating new places for new people and revitalizing existing congregations.
* Developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world.
* Engaging in ministry with the poor.

Vocabulary Lesson, Reflection on 1 John 5:1-2

Several years ago, to help me understand the message of  1 John, I looked up several words in these first two verses of chapter 5 in The Greek New Testament, 3rd ed., ed. by (among others) Kurt Aland. believe, born, love, know, commandments.

believe, pisteuo, believe (in), have faith (in), have confidence (in), entrust.

born, passive voice of gennao, be fathered by, borne by, having been conceived by.

love, agapao, love, proof of love, placing first in one's affections.

know, ginosko, know, have knowledge of, learn, understand, perceive, discern, recognize.

commandments, plural of entole, commandment, order, instruction

Since then I have purchased The Jewish Annotated New Testament edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler.  The note to 5:1 explains that "born of God" indicates "remade in the image of God," Genesis 1:26-27, and "born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God," John 1:12-13.

Make a Joyful Noise, Reflection on Psalm 98

I'm reading Psalm 98 with its call to praise the Lord, for the whole world to praise the Lord.

And I thought about those worshipers. How does having God in their lives change those lives?

Robert Putnam and David Campbell have written a book about how religion is shaping our lives ("our" being American because that's what I am). Here's a discussion of it with David Campbell in the Pew Forum.   Here's an excerpt:

One is, we have a lot of evidence in our book that religious Americans are happier and, for the most part, better citizens and neighbors than their more secular counterparts. And what do we mean by better citizens and neighbors? Well, they’re more likely to volunteer. They’re more likely to give money to charity. They’re more likely to help out in informal ways their neighbors and those around them.
I want to emphasize that that’s not just religious people giving to religious charities or volunteering for religious groups. The secular volunteering and the secular giving of folks who are religious is actually higher than folks who are secular. And so that’s the part of this chapter that gets religious people all excited. Oh, great, there we go; we’re better than everybody.
But it turns out the story’s not quite that simple because the explanation for why we find those high levels of giving and volunteering and just general good citizenship and good neighborliness among religious folks is not what you might expect. It’s not what they believe. We can find no evidence, in tracing 25 different religious beliefs, no evidence that any one of them explains this relationship between religious — religious folks who give a lot.
Instead, it’s their congregation or, more specifically, it’s the friends they have at church. So it’s not just having a lot of friends. Anybody who has a lot of friends is actually more likely to do these good citizenship sort of things. It’s whether or not they have a lot of friends within their religious congregation, which suggests that perhaps what’s going on could be replicated in secular organizations, although the sort of secular group that would replicate what a congregation does is pretty rare. We’ve actually not found many examples of it, but it’s useful fodder for discussion.

Can anyone withhold baptism? Reflection on Acts 10:47-48

In this passage from Acts, baptism is preceded by the receiving of the Holy Spirit. But, in Acts 8:14-24, the Samaritans were baptized before receiving the Holy Spirit.

I don't think that which came first is as important to Luke as that they both do, and, even more important, that they both come to people that the rest of us might not have thought likely or even worthy.

Methodists believe baptism is the beginning but not the end. See this overview of the United Methodist  understanding of baptism.

Astonishment about the other recipients, Reflection on Acts 10:44-46

In Acts 9, Paul learned that Jews could be Christians. In Acts 8, last week's lesson, Philip learned that Gentiles could be Christians.

In Acts 10, Peter, too, learned that Gentiles could be Christians. A messenger from God came to Cornelius, a Roman centurion. A Gentile, an enforcer of the occupation of Israel. Prompted by the Spirit, Peter was willing to break the law and eat with him.

In this week's passage, Peter's sermon to Gentiles is interrupted. We are told that the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to him.

All. The ones who had already belonged. And the ones who had not. The old-timers were astounded that the newbies would be included.

How does your congregation react to the notion that the Holy Spirit may be reaching out to people who were raised with different beliefs from yours? Or, how would they react to the notion that the Holy Spirit speaks?

In Acts 2, The Holy Spirit fell on Jews from all lands (We'll read about this week after next). In Acts 8, the Holy Spirit fell on Samaritans (not-quite insiders but not completely different, either).

In this week's reading from Acts 10, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The insiders were astounded that outsiders were recipients.

Questions: Wouldn't the Holy Spirit fallen on them whether they had heard the word or not? Or, is hearing the word necessary for someone to be able to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit? How did the believers know that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on them--that is, was proof necessary?

Love One Another, Reflection on John 15:13-17

Jesus told them and through them tells us, "I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another." When we do what Jesus said and demonstrated that we are supposed to do, we may not meet immediate and widespread acclamation. Some people some times are not going to agree with our words and actions. Yet, we are still to follow the path that Jesus laid out for us. So, if we can't expect the world to be always supportive, we can instead turn to each other. 

A church that follows the commands of Jesus is a church in which we are loved--even when the world would rather we do something other than what Jesus has commanded. Church, keep following Jesus' commands. Church, keep loving those who do.

Love Them as I Have Loved You, Reflection on John 15:9-12

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Michaella Bruezella points out in Sojourner's Commentary the challenge in this command:

Indeed, our hardest task is not loving one another, but doing so as Jesus did—recognizing each person’s ability to receive God’s grace, and then serve as its ambassador to the world.

Remember, Jesus was preaching to people living in hard times, and John's gospel was written to people who knew loss and were facing more difficulties. To these people, at that time, came the command to love.

When we have suffered loss, when  we fear disruption in our community, when we don't feel in control of what is happening or is going to happen, we still need to heed that command, "Love one another as I have loved you."

To be able to withstand difficulties and disruptions, we must love one another--and remember what love looks like. 

How we know that we abide in God, Reflection on 1 John 4:7-21

If the author of this epistle were writing to your congregation today, would he need to include this section? Does your congregation need to be reminded to love? to love each other? to love our brothers and sisters? to love people we don't even know? And which is harder for us, anyway, to love people we have to be around all the time or people that we don't?

Consider for a while today what verse 7 means to you. How does loving someone help you to know God? Or, how does knowing God help you to love someone?

The Father has sent his Son to save the world, verse 14. The world. God hasn't sent the Son to take us away from the world, to live separately from it, but to save it.

All the Ends of the Earth Shall Remember, a Reflection on Psalm 22:25-31

I'm more familiar with the opening verse of this Psalm, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The lament continues in the next verse, "O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night and find no rest." And because I am old, I remember when our communion liturgy quoted from verse 6, "But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people."

This psalm is read on Good Friday because it contains phrases that are remembered in the gospel accounts of the trial and crucifixion. See verses 7-8 and 14-18.

The mood shifts in verse 22 from lament to assurance, "I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."

The portion of the psalm that we are reading this week is the fulfillment of that vow--both parts of it, the praise and that the praise is not silent but before the congregation.

Philip didn't keep his gratefulness to God just between himself and God. I'm assuming that neither did the Ethiopian keep his rejoicing private.

The people that hear their praise directly will benefit from knowing about God. But not only the first hearers. They will tell what they have heard. And those hearers will tell. And so today, we continue to praise God and to praise aloud and widely.

Lectio Divina: Psalm 22:30-31 Posterity will serve you, O Lord; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim your deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that you have done it.

Who Is Eligible for Baptism? a Reflection on Acts 8:36-40

He is not like them. He's from a different place. He lives a different life. But, he asks "What is to prevent me from being baptized?"

Philip sees no reason why not.

A few years ago, the General Conference of the UMC marked the entry into full communion with the  African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Union Methodist Protestant Church and the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church. According to Rich Peck (see umc.org):

“We have a shameful history of blatant racism that led to the breakup of American Methodism into multiple denominations beginning in the late 18th century,” said the Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr., staff executive of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

Noting the existence of the Pan-Methodist Commission, Sidorak said, “There is some solace in the fact that there has been demonstrable dedication within The United Methodist Church to preserve a special relationship with the historic African-American Methodist churches.”

But not everyone is to be include in everything. The GC spent time trying to decide who should be included in decision-making roles, in the clergy, and in church weddings. The view of the Common Witness Coalition is that we did not succeed in inviting-all-to-the-table

Lectio Divina: Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.