May 13th:
He Expects Potsdam Call: 1 John 5: 1-6 Text: John 15: 9-17 Read: "A Mother Lined A Basket" (2189) He Expects Today is a double celebration It's Mothers Day And It's the day on which we celebrate the graduation of students who have been a part of us during their college years. Like for most celebrations, I have annual traditions for both Mothers Day and College Graduation Each Mothers Day At some point in the service I mention my own mother Her name was Marjorie, but Dad and her friends called her "Peg." My siblings & I called her "Mom" She was "Nana" to her g'kids My mother passed away at age 71 back in February of 1998 That was just a few months more than 14 years ago. Even now, however, Her life still influences me Her love still inspires me And I still give God thanks for her. Every year on the days when we celebrate graduations I try to work something into my message That shows that I remain literate - at least to an extent Even 44 years after my own college graduation This year that "proof of literacy" reference is in the answer that I will give later to the question that I ask now The question is, "What do Mothers, Charles Dickens, and Jesus Christ have in common? But before we get to that, we need to take a trip back to last week And what we talked about at that time. By looking at the words on love from John's letter And at the image of us as branches on the vine that is Christ; With help from recalling - at least for those of us old enough - A powerful AM radio station Broadcast from Wheeling West Virginia And seemingly omnipresent every night while I was growing up; We examined what it is that Jesus desires from us And we recognized that what he desired was that we love God by loving one another. Knowing what Jesus desires from us should be enough. We should not want to disappoint Him any more than we want to disappoint our mothers I know I have always hurt badly when I recognized that I had disappointed my mother I still do even today - and she has been gone for 14 years And I hurt just as badly when I recognize that I have disappointed Christ and he will never be gone But human beings who call themselves Christians and who say they do not want to disappoint Christ have a 2000 history A 2000 year history of disappointing Christ A 2000 year history of ignoring Christ A 2000 year history of excuses and justifications For doing either or both. And Christ knew and knows that same history. But the history of disappointing and ignoring God And then justifying ourselves with excuses Did not begin when Christ was born It was a part of Jewish history long before and one does not have to read much of the OT to figure that out. Thus, in the words of today's text Which immediately follow last week's text (And in actuality make up the second part of the same text) Christ goes one significant step further In telling us that he wants us to love one another Listen [John 15: 9-17] He makes it a commandment He commands us to do it. No longer is it a simple desire that we do it Which, as I said, should have been enough, It is now an expectation. It is now Christ saying "Loving one another is not only what I want you to do It is what I expect you to do." There is a difference between Wanting, desiring or hoping for something And Commanding and expecting something The difference is like the difference Between A misdemeanor and a felony Between liking some one and loving someone Between a creek and a river If we can see the difference Then we should be able to live the difference. I am amazed at how often we don't. Jesus tries so, so, so hard to get this across to us. He does so in the great commandment "Love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul, AND Love your neighbor as yourself He does so when he talks of separating the sheep from the goats "What you do unto the least of these, you do unto me." And he does so in chapter 15 of John's gospel where Where after telling us that this is what he wants/desires He tells us that it is what he expects us to do That it is what he commands us to do Jesus makes the point over and over and over There used to be signs saying, "What part of 'No!' don't you understand?" Maybe we should make signs saying, "What part of 'love one another' don't we understand?" I asked you a question earlier. I asked you, "What do Mothers, Charles Dickens, and Jesus Christ have in common? And the answer is (and at least the English majors may have figured it out) "They all have "Great Expectations." Dickens, of course, had a novel by that name And probably had great expectations for the success of that novel Mothers had - and have - great expectations for the success of their sons and daughters Christ had - and has - Great expectations that his brothers and sisters (you and me) Will successfully grasp, understand, and adopt as a way of living The idea and practice Of loving one another. I don't know about Dickens But as for the other two (mothers and Christ) Those expectations were - and are - born in love Love for the ones for whom they have those expectations. Today we give presents to our mothers and to our graduates. Let's do one more thing Let's give a present to Christ By giving him what he desires By giving him what he expects By giving him what he commands. Let's love one another.