Friends May 9, 2021Rev. Dr. Kelly GrimesAssociate Pastor and Director of Hospitality and Congregational Care

John 15:9-17“15:9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.

15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

15:11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.15:13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

15:15 I 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.

15:16 You 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.

15:17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” 

 

Kelly: GREETINGS FRIENDS!! On this day, I acknowledge the one who I call Mother, Susan Grimes, Daughter of Artie Mae. For those of you who are just tuning in, you’ll find links for fully engaging in our service in our Facebook and YouTube comments or on our website www.foundryumc.org. If you are in need ASL interpretation, we invite you to join us at www.foundryumc.org/asl.

"In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it. – Marianne WilliamsonWe continue in Jesus’s farewell speech to those whom he loves. Last week we talked about vines and branches connectivity and how the connectivity was god’s plan that we should move into beloved community. Jesus continues this discussion by calling on the listeners to abide and keep. “15:9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 15:11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. Abiding is best described as staying in a place Long enough to soak it in. Jesus wants us to do just that in his love. To be covered and surrounded by it that it is our main focus. There’s an iconic picture of Muhammad Ali as he is preparing for his next boxing match. He is submerged in water and he is in a boxer’s stance. He is not fighting the water he is not attempting to tell the water what to do. He is simply abiding in the water. If you can abide in something, it stands to reason that it’s very nature is too big for any of us to control. That’s this love that God offers to us. It can be shared but it cannot be controlled by humanity. And it’s not the warm and fuzzy ideas of love but it is “agape” love. It is God’s love. It’s important that we set the tone for what does love looks like because we can treat it like it’s a vacation - only on special occasions, only at certain times, and only for a certain span of time.

The people of the Christian community near the end of the first century CE that, in addition to growing oppression by the Roman Empire, was experiencing serious conflict with the Jewish synagogue is the context in which this message is given. We cannot separate the context from the message. And so, they are political and community implications for this call to love. Some would say that politics has nothing to do with the message Jesus is offering us today. Let me remind you that the person speaking, namely Jesus, was resurrected from his political assassination based on the attempt to control oppressed people. And so how we care for those who are oppressed in 2021 is directly connected with that. How we vote, what are community state and national budgets pay for, who we exclude from receiving ju