A new commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you… 

5 Easter Year C

May 15, 2022

Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; John 13:31-35

A new commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you… 

Jesus said, And now, I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” We hear these words during Holy Week…on Maundy Thursday…too…

In our service and scriptures on that evening, we commemorate the Last Supper and Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist on the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas…The service also includes the scriptures about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet… Jesus gives the disciples gathered with him in the upper room that evening an example of what they too should do…the disciples are given a new commandment…

Love one another as I have loved you.

This new commandment…wasn’t just to love one another…but to love one another as Jesus has loved them…as Jesus has shown them…not just in the example of the foot-washing, but by the many examples of his love in action revealed through his: teaching, healing, praying, serving and welcoming of all people….

The washing of the disciple’s feet that evening…was just one way that Jesus chose to show the disciples what that new commandment was all about…a different kind of love than the world boasts of…a different kind of love that invites one to love others, through humble sacrifice and service…a love that reminds us, that it is a love which is to be offered for all people….a generous, abundant offering of love for another human being…for another beloved child of God…

At this time of the year, when children are finishing up school, students are transitioning from one school to another, and students are graduating from high school and colleges, and even here in the church, where some of the regular and seasonal programs are finishing up and new summer offerings, are set to begin soon:

I can’t help but be reminded of the teachers, here in the church, in our schools, in our community and in other places, who have taken this new commandment to heart and lived it out daily in their personal lives and in their workplaces…giving selflessly and with seemingly unending wells of love…for the children of all ages…These past couple of years of the pandemic have certainly brought to light, just how much love and sacrifice teachers have made for the well-being of children growing up in these unsteady times…

I can’t help but be reminded of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and others who gather here in the church and in the community…who have also reached out to love and nurture the young people who have been entrusted to their care, and who have opened up their hands and hearts to love and support them, in a variety of ways…Like the teachers, these adults have poured out their unconditional love in all the ways they possible could in these past couple of years of the pandemic…learning to love in new ways…that they had even yet to imagine was possible…

Yet, there are still many children and teens who are struggling… there are children and teens fleeing places of war and violence…there are children and teens growing up in a world where acts of hate and gun violence are in the daily news. There are children and teens growing up in abusive homes…there are children and teens struggling with mental health issues…So, the need is even greater, now, for more caring adults to love, support and nurture the children, teens, and their family members as we continue to move through these troubling and uncertain times…and seek some much-needed healing for the entire human family…

All children deserve to be loved and nurtured and welcomed into the family of God…All children deserve to be loved and respected and cared for and accepted…as the beloved child, God created them to be…

I am thankful, that the church family can be a safe and welcoming place for children and youth to look to the adults and elders here…for signs of love, and support and guidance…

I am thankful, that the church can be a place where we practice what it means to love one another….not just any kind of love for one another…but the love that Jesus has shown us….by His walking in the way of love…blazing a path of love before us …and by His inviting and encouraging us to do the same, not only here in the church…but when we walk out the doors of this church building to all the places that are need of the healing power of God’s love and touch….

We are called every day to go out into the world to love one another: Just as Jesus has loved you, you also should love one another. 

Jesus said, “If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

Everyone, young and old…will see God’s love and healing at work in the world, through the love and loving actions of each one of us…

A love that we can believe in, hope in, and trust in, for all the days of our lives…in this life and in the life we have yet to fully imagine, in the presence of the Glory of God.

I invite you to prayerfully consider how you might be called to love and nurture and support the children and families in our church and by reaching out to those in the community and beyond, as we continue to move through these uncertain times, these times of transitions and new beginnings, these times of opportunity to work together to bring to fruition some much needed healing for the entire human family…

 

Rev Julie Platson

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church

Sitka, Alaska

 

Hymn at the conclusion of sermon:

The Servant Song

St Peter’s Episcopal Church, Savannah, GA

Aubrey Brawner, cantor, Tim McKee, organist