Read: John 3:1-17

…For God sent the Son into the cosmos not that he might pass judgment on the cosmos, but that the cosmos might be saved through him. (Excerpt translated by David Bentley Hart)

How can we show agape to one another? How can “a divine and soul-changing love” be transmitted through us?

This will happen naturally as we personally accept the truth that it is the whole cosmos that God loves, a realization that creates in us the desire to love everyone and everything for the sake of God. This involves a discipline of prayer, quite simply. One has to trust Divine Love, to pay attention and listen. Richard Meux Benson describes this process:

The Divine love enlarges the heart in proportion to the correspondence of the saint with the Sanctifier. The more we exercise God’s love, the more does he strengthen us with the capacity of doing every thing in love to Himself. We grow to that which God Himself is until we lose ourselves in God. (Love’s Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness, p. 449)

We can’t transmit that which isn’t in us to transmit. But God is ready at all times to fill us with Love, and then we’ll overflow.

Jesus, I can’t even get my head around the idea of the cosmos, but maybe I could start by getting my head in a space to accept that you really love me completely, and maybe things can go from there. I’ve heard that prayer at church about how you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and to give more than we desire or deserve, and so what the heck, do your thing with me. I think I’m ready for that. Amen.
-Fr. Jonathan Weldon 

Read: John 3:1-17

Not really knowing the definition of agape, I checked out the Google version to find that “in Christianity, agape is the highest form of love, charity and the love of God for man and of man for God. It embraces a deep and profound sacrificial love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstances.”

I also found another interesting tidbit: “Agape (visceral love) is the love you have for all living things without a question, that you extend knowingly without expectations for anything in return. It’s a very pure and conscious love, it’s similar to what we refer to as unconditional love.”

So with all that word salad, I thought of a person that fit that description, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa. She was born August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia and died September 5, 1997 in Kolkata, India. Besides being made a saint for two miracles that she performed, she dedicated her life to serving the sick and the poor, established the Missionaries of Charity, opened the Kalighat Home for the Dying, opened a charity to care for homeless children, was awarded the Bharat Ratna (the highest civilian honor in India), helped to evacuate thirty-seven children during the siege in Beirut, and received numerous peace prizes including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

She lived and worked in India for twelve years and had a deep compassion for humanity. She helped the poorest of the poor once saying that “they lived like animals but die like angels”.

Dear Lord in heaven, thank you for your servant Mother Teresa for her work with humanity and her mantra “We are all God’s children. We have been created for greater things, to love and be loved.” Amen.
-Mary Ann Taylor

Read: John 3:1-17

There’s an awful lot to unpack in this passage from John. Even if your knowledge of Biblical verse doesn’t extend beyond signs held up behind the goalposts of sporting events, you are likely familiar with the fundamental Christian credo expressed in John 3:16. But the part that speaks most to me is in the middle of this passage, and the Greek word that translates as both “wind” and “spirit.”

When my son, who recently turned 44, was in high school, one of the bands he introduced me to was an LA-based ensemble known as Tool. These days, I tend to describe them to the more staid among my peers as a “guilty pleasure” — although as time goes by I wonder what I have to feel guilty about. All these many years later, they are still around and producing some amazing music. Despite their being lumped into the genre of “Heavy Metal,” their songs have always struck me as nearly symphonic in their composition. Their most recent album, released in 2016, includes a song called “Pneuma”, which translates from Greek as “the vital spirit, soul, or creative force of a person.” I share some of its lyrics as another way of thinking about what Christ had to say to Nicodemus.

“We are spirit bound to this flesh
We go round one foot nailed down
But bound to reach out and beyond this flesh
Become Pneuma
We are will and wonder
Bound to recall, remember
We are born of one breath, one word
We are all one spark, sun becoming
Child, wake up
Child, release the light
Wake up now
Child, wake up
Child, release the light
Wake up now, child”

I first “awoke” on April 15, 1951. I have reawakened at various times in my life to the spiritual world as I “reach out beyond this flesh,” and I am assured that I will awaken again, bound to recall (remember) that I, like all of us, are born of one breath, one word.

Lord, I journey to you, my starting and ending point, with one foot nailed down in this material world. I thank you for surrounding me with the sound of the spirit and, in hearing it through my life, with the assurance that I will be born anew.
-Michael Boss

Read: John 3:1-17

I can show love to this congregation by . . .

Asking how you are today and next week and the week after that
Being kind at all times regarding any division that might separate us: age, background, infirmity, faith walk, politics
Cherishing time together before, during, and after worship—and through the week
Doing flowers for the altar, lovingly and intentionally
Edifying each member of this body in all I say and do
Facing uncertain times at your side
Giving of my time and talents: reading, writing, singing, stitching
Holding your hand (and walking my talk, i.e. moving to and sitting in a different pew to do so)
Investing in your life story: your background, family, career, hobbies, hardships, joys, travels, celebrations, and grandkids (and yes, even dogs and grand dogs!)
Joining your table at coffee hour
Keeping appointments and obligations and promises I’ve made to you and the church
Listening
Mourning with you
Nursing your wounds, literally and figuratively, by word and action
Opening my heart to yours—and not being afraid to do so
Praying with you and for you
Quietly seeking you out
Reaching out to you by phone or email or text in between worship services
Studying God’s Word with you one-on-one or in a group, in person or via Zoom
Taking time to sit with you or talk with you or walk with you
Using unusual and creative ways to show love (valentines aren’t only for February)
Visiting you when you are sick and administering prayers for healing
Worshipping beside you, in and out of the church building
Xing-out any negative thoughts that cross my mind
Yielding to you in conversation
Zeroing in on your needs, mind-to-mind and heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul

Dear Lord and Author of Life, take these simple letters and help us to mold them into love in action, showing one another that we truly care. Amen.
-Ashley Sweeney