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10:30 am Worship

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

John 15: 12-17

¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

A conundrum. A riddle. A paradoxical puzzle. Difficult to solve.

My prayer guide today asked a question I found difficult to answer: Can I try to let go of the concerns that disturb me? What if my concern is for another? What if the disturbance is evidence of love? Consider Jesus on the cross, giving his life for others. Could he find the peace of God as he cried out the words from Psalm 22, words of despair? And yet the scriptures assure us if we but wait, we will see God waiting for us, all the while offering peace, joy, hope, and love. (Isa. 30)

I ponder the problem not just for myself, but for others as well. I have friends who suffer today, for they are carrying great burdens of love. I know those who are waiting and watching for death itself. My wife, recovering from open-heart surgery, was diagnosed yesterday with pneumonia in one lung. I thank heaven they have finally discovered the source of a terrible cough which has plagued her for days, that treatment can now begin. And yet each new setback, each new difficulty presents its new load of worry and doubt.

Can I cast off my fear? Can I trust in the God who waits with loving arms spread wide to receive us?

My fear and pain rise precisely from love. So too with Jesus on the cross. Our fears and our pain stretch our capacity to love almost to a breaking point. We cry out for relief from the terrible burden of love, yet refuse to let go.

What a powerful teacher Jesus was!

What wisdom he revealed in the simplest of sentences. Blessed are those… Who are the ones of whom he speaks? The poor. The grief-stricken. Those who hunger for justice. Those who attempt in every moment to create peace in the midst of terrible storms. Those who suffer for his name’s sake.

What can we do in the midst of the storm? Perhaps this: remain pure in heart, wait patiently, trust.

The storms of life will remake us into something beautiful if we will allow it. God is forever making all things new. Forever working to expand the boundaries of love.

Hymn of the day: Sweet Hour of Prayer/His Eye is On the Sparrow. Online at Rossford UMC - Media.

Rev. Lawrence Keeler