those who love me

John 14:15-21
Jesus said, ”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

”I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 

"They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

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We pray: Lord, may we be ever mindful that your Holy Spirit who gave us life, abides with us and within us, making us part of you, and you part of us. That knowing this is the gift of Baptism.

In this time of trial, assist us as we live hopefully into the future. In the face of change, help us to set unnecessary fears aside and to recognize our potential for creative response. 

Help us develop a reasonable optimism when confronted by “the new” and to guard against our own defensiveness. 

Be with us as we remember and celebrate former times, and keep us from unreasonable yearning for them which takes us from the work you have set before us in our time. 

This we pray in the name of your Son our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Adapted from "For times of change” by the Rev. Linda C. Smith-Criddle in Women’s Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed, Nurtured, Ce. Appreciation to Bishop Russell Kendrick for sending me this prayer. TW+

I am no televangelist, and I know that. Worship at Holy Nativity is filled with loving energy, and I am incomplete preaching to a camera without your faces and eyes and smiles and encouragement. In an otherwise empty church, eight people are here this morning, including I persuaded Linda to come. She’s alone in the back row to give me a smile or thumbs up and keep my spirits high, as you would if you were here!

It is lonely here without you folks who make Holy Nativity such a wonderful church to be part of. Maybe that’ll ease a bit two weeks from this morning, May 31st, when we hope to be back together, moving along into whatever is becoming life’s New Normal. 

You've known me, and seen and heard me for years: if I belabor anything too much from this pulpit I hope you'll hear it as Jesus’ imperative, “Love God, Love Neighbor”. Humans worldwide have somewhat come together against Covid-19, and it would be a blessing to enter the New Normal - - leaving divisions and hatreds behind us. Jesus says If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and my commandment is this, that you love one another as I have loved you. That can happen for us if we live by agape - - ἀγάπη, agapē, agápe, the Gospel word for love that is not a feeling but how we treat other people, especially people who are not like us, people who are different from us.

Agape love is not friendship. 
Is not hugging and kissing, is not patting someone on the back. Is not shaking hands at The Peace. The OT Hebrew word is CHESED, lovingkindness, its NT Greek word is AGAPE. Agape is courtesy and kindness, 
charity, generosity and thoughtfulness - - consideration. 
Agape is plain common human decency. 

In agape love, there’s no slamming the libs and right-wingers and the gays and the blacks and the Muslims and immigrants, and other brands of Christians, and those who’ll vote the other way in November. 

In agape love there’s no division, no hatred of people who do not think as we do. 

No badmouthing other people and groups on Facebook and Twitter and other social media. 
In agape love every human being is your brother and your sister and your mother and your cousin and BFF, your best friend forever. 
There’s no rudeness, no pushing and shoving, no road rage, no contempt 
and no hatred. 

In agape love the people of God are One, as Jesus and the Father are One, can you imagine a world like that? Because imagining and reimagining and reimaging to take the gospel seriously, and truly love Jesus, is all it would take for agape love to be the New Normal. 

This morning St Paul is in Athens, preaching at the Areopagus, where the city’s wise elders gather to hear and ponder ideas, for discussion and debate, and to administer justice. Before coming there, Paul wandered all over town, seeing shrines to various gods whom the Gentiles honored - - including an unknown god “just in case they missed one”! Seeing the shrine to an unknown god, Paul tells the elders gathered at the Areopagus that this unknown god whom they do not know is the One true God, Creator of heaven and earth, God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God uniquely raised from death - - and that in raising Jesus from death, God designated Jesus as the Son of God, to return from heaven and rule the earth as God’s chosen Son.

Our Acts reading this morning is only a small part of the story, that goes on to say some scoffed and some believed and some wanted more information. 

Paul did not have the gospels, which were not written until after Paul’s death. But WE have the gospels, and this morning we have the Gospel according to John, with Jesus telling us what his God and Father is like. God does not seem ego-obsessed with religion and belief and adoration and worship - - but concerned with love alone, again the Greek word for love is agape, how we treat each other. With corona virus 19 as our new sitz im leben, our situation in life, we’re already into a New Normal, because the virus is with us to stay. So the issue is NOT “how it’s gonna be” but how it IS, how things are becoming for us. 
How we’re going to adjust. 
What we’re going to change. 
How we’re going to accommodate. 

We’ve given up handshakes and hugs and all manner of closeness, and we miss that, as more and more we realize that we need and love each other. For a wonder, instead of enemies, division and hatreds, we’re treating each other as fellow humans in a common fight against disease that threatens us. Our news these days is less about war and killing and fighting each other. As wars and brutality pause in the New Normal, the news is about our worldwide struggle against a common enemy that seeks to kill us all. At last we are united on something! 

Covid19 is no blessing, but like the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, with God’s help we can bring a blessing out of it, if we will. And it starts with you. By giving up all that makes life ugly, to live as Jesus calls us. 

This is nothing new - - in your baptismal covenant you’ve already promised to do this. If everyone was here in church this morning, I’d say let’s stand and renew our promises to God. But you can do it at home, or wherever you are right now; and I can lead you through it. We’ll skip the “I Believe” part because we’ll say the Nicene Creed in a moment as usual, and that's what's in your online bulletin. Besides, I think God is little concerned with what we say We Believe. God is concerned that each of us live in the way of agape lovingkindness. That’s what Jesus is about, and that’s what these five promises are. 

We’ll do it our usual way: I’ll invite you to make the promise, and it you really mean it you can say aloud, or silently in your heart, “I will, with God’s help”. Remember, these are solemn promises to God, so don’t say it unless you mean it.

Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? Will you, with God’s help?

Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you, with God’s help?

Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Jesus Christ? Will you, with God’s help?

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you, with God’s help?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? and respect the dignity of every human being, and respect the dignity of every human being: will you, with God’s help?

Will you really? Do you mean it, do you promise? Because this is the agape love that living the gospel is all about. Nothing else matters. Nothing matters but love.

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Sermon or homily in Holy Nativity Episcopal E-Church, Panama City, Florida, on May 17, 2020, the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A. The Rev Tom Weller. Texts, Acts 17:22-31 and John 14:15-21.