Psalm 116:1–15 Acts 7:54–8:3 John 15:12–17
Memorial Day is not only the official beginning of the summer season, with beaches and swimming pools and parks open, it is a day set aside to remember. We remember those who sacrificed their lives for this nation , those who fought in Saipan, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Normandy, the Bulge, Northern France, Italy—Vietnam, Iraq , Afghanistan.
On this day , I ponder as well on the meaning of faith in Jesus .Very few of us associate our call to our Christian faith with an ultimate sacrifice. We live in a society where our faith is pretty much free of demands . But it has not been so for much of our history. There have been and are those who were willing to lay it all on the line.
Near the end of his life , Jesus looks his disciples and says to them “ If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I have a new commandment for you: love one another as I have loved you.” And further he says to them —“ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
That is what he did, and he wanted them to know why he did it—because he loved them and he wanted them to know that God is love and that God loved them enough to lay down life for them; God is love,” John will write elsewhere in a little letter, near the end of his own life. Not God is creator; not God is power; not God is a judge. God is love. It is the essence of God to act lovingly. And therefore, because each human being bears the image of God, it is the essence of humanity, of human beings, to love.
In this sermon , I make the case that until you love that deeply you are not fully, truly alive. What the gospel conveys is to live in that love, to live loving life and God and family and friends enough to die for them, to die for that love.