"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." -- verse 16

 

         At the Covenant Ordination service in Minneapolis last Tuesday evening, I found myself sitting next to Mossai Sanguma, the president of the Covenant Church in Congo, and Jorge Maldonado, the president of CHET, the Spanish-language Bible institute and seminary in Los Angeles. The thought came to me, if you could be seated next to anyone you would choose at an event, who would that be? For instance, a sports fan might choose Dusty Baker and Mike Ditka; a movie buff might choose Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts; someone drawn to leadership might select Colin Powell and Jimmy Carter. But I thought, for myself, I cannot think of any two people I respect and admire any more than Jorge and Sanguma. Abraham Heschel once wrote, "When I was young I admired clever people; now that I am old I admire people who are kind."

         I found myself sitting by two outstanding people in our Covenant family who are kind; more than that, who are loving, and who know what it means to lay down their lives for their friends. Both are humble, generous of spirit, very bright, with many accomplishments. Both love Jesus and carry his presence. Sanguma is a scholar and churchman who certainly could live wherever he chose and become a top leader. But he remains in his country, in Congo, and he has suffered with his people in these years of war, he leads now in a depleted situation that remains dangerous. He faces problems that are overwhelming. He is a person of grace, of faith and of conviction.

         Jorge Maldonado has developed CHET into a remarkable school that provides excellent education for Spanish-speaking laypeople and pastors in Hispanic Covenant churches. He too is highly educated and respected in the wider Latino culture, and could no doubt serve in any number of prestigious institutions. But he is giving his life for the sake of pastors and lay leaders of limited means, preparing them for ministry in a program of excellence and integrity that will bear fruit for generations. When I hear of all that he is doing I am deeply moved by the gift of this humble, joyful, gracious man to our church. He loves Jesus, and he loves as Jesus loved.

         The command to "love one another" seems to us obvious and simple. Of course we will love the fellow members of our church. Of course we will love and cooperate with believers in our community. But there are at least two obstacles that get in the way of our desire to love each other. First, we are by nature self-protective, and so we naturally tend to love ourselves, our families and all those who agree with us. That makes it at times hard to love in a church, where we encounter diversity of opinion and background, and where we meet people who are disagreeable. So if we wait for agreement before we express love, we will never quite get around to loving one another.

         The other obstacle to love in the church is that we tend to be ideologues, we tend toward settled convictions on issues and causes and moralisms. We know how to be political, and we know how to split apart for the sake of our convictions. In that we think we know how to be safe.

         In the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus addresses these issues of love, of love of neighbor, or "one another" love. It comes down to a key question, "Who is my neighbor?" Who is the "one another" that I am supposed to love? Is it the one who agrees with my ideas and convictions all the time? Is it the one who shared with me the formative experiences of youth? For example, different generations might ask, "Is my neighbor the one who immigrated to this country with me? Is my neighbor the one who went through the Depression with me? Is my neighbor the one who served by my side in World War II? Is my neighbor the one who faced the pain of Viet Nam with me? Is my neighbor the one who bore the heat of the Civil Rights movement with me? Is my neighbor the one who was raised in the day care center with me? Is my neighbor the one who understands me, who has shared with me life's formative experiences?"

         A lawyer, that is, an interpreter of Scripture, came to Jesus. He asked,

"What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

         Jesus responded with two questions. "What is written in the law?" -- that is, do you know the Scripture? And "How do you read it?" -- that is, what is your interpretation?

         The lawyer responds by citing two scriptures and joining them -- the love of God and the love of neighbor. Jesus agrees with him. They both read Scripture in the same way.

         But then the lawyer, a carefully observant Jew, asks "Who is my neighbor?" in order to justify himself. David Tiede notes that in Luke, observant people tend to need to justify themselves.

         Notice now how Jesus answers him. He tells a story of a Samaritan (a non-neighbor) and two observant people who would see themselves as righteous, who come upon an injured man, presumably a Jewish man. The issue for Jesus is not whether this injured man qualified as a neighbor, but rather who is it who acted like a neighbor toward him, who acted with mercy. In the Samaritan's actions we see the grace and mercy of God. He truly loved God with his whole heart, mind, soul and strength.

         In I John chapter 3, loving one another is a matter of giving life to another person. The examples used are that of Cain and Jesus. Cain murdered his brother, he acted out of envy, seeking recognition, and hoarding the treasure that God had given to him. Jesus shared fully the treasure in his life, not material riches, but healing, teaching, forgiving.

         To love one another, then, is to share the treasure of our lives with one another. If we are among those who have material treasures, we are to share them with those in need. It is clear in this passage that material possessions are not the most important treasure we can have. It is a beginning point, a step toward the giving of spiritual treasure. If our money becomes too important to us so that we cannot give, we cannot be generous, then our expression of love is hindered. If we come to think that money is the only thing we have to give, if it becomes the way we always express love, then we miss the true blessing of spiritual giving. So we must grow in love, expressing it in forgiveness, prayer, actions of reconciliation, presence, words of encouragement or healing.

         About thirty years ago the Covenant Church made a commitment to intentionally and by design change its ethnic makeup, by welcoming and incorporating African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and multi-racial churches. This was not something that came about by chance, or that took place easily. It came primarily through the decision of Oakdale Covenant Church to call an African-American Pastor, Willie Jemison, and then by allowing itself to become an African-American congregation. It was largely through Pastor Jemison's leadership that the Covenant has developed a strong and growing association of black pastors. There are now a number of black pastors of national repute who are in the Covenant Church. The Covenant Church now is made up of over 20 percent ethnic churches. This is a very significant marking point.

         Last week I listened as Pastor Mark Thompson explained that when African-American pastors are recruited into the Covenant church, the association of African-American pastors interviews them, and asks them very intentionally not what they expect to receive from the Covenant Church, but what they will give, what treasure do they bring that they desire to share with the entire fellowship. So we are being greatly enriched in worship, in preaching, in ministries of justice and compassion, in urban ministry. "Love one another" means that we are fundamentally changing our identity for the sake of the Kingdom of God, and in the process we are being strengthened in doing the work of Jesus Christ.

         It is the same with Hispanic churches. First Covenant Church in Los Angeles came to realize that its day as a large and historic church was over, and so it sold all its buildings and possessions and funded CHET, the Spanish Bible institute, and planted an inner-city Latino church, Bell Gardens. So the love of a church that laid down its life for its friends, is now bearing fruit in a prepared and equipped leadership of Hispanic pastors, evangelists, teachers and counselors.

Tom Kelly, a Covenant missionary in Mexico City, spoke at the ordination service, and said that our useful heritage as Covenant people is not that we were Swedish, but that we were alien, we were an immigrant people in a new land. So our life together is marked by mission. We identify with other peoples who are alien to this land, and we welcome them. In loving one another we give of ourselves for the sake of the kingdom of God.

         The central reason that we love one another is that Christ laid down his life for us. He went beyond the sharing of his spiritual treasure, to give his life, literally "to set aside" his life, as one would set aside a garment.

         Gary Burge writes, "Jesus' service for us is not simply in revealing to us a self-sacrificial love. His death is not merely an ethical model; it is a genuine offering, a genuine giving of his life."

         Because of that offering, we are redeemed; we are set free and given power, given the Holy Spirit, to take action on behalf of others.

         In Jorge Maldonado and Mossai Sanguma I sat next to two men who have given their treasure on behalf of others. They are serving Christ; they are living with a humility that expresses the presence of redemption, of freedom, in their lives. They could easily choose easier lives, or lives with greater material reward, or lives with more comfort and safety. But they have chosen to live "one another lives"; they have been set free to love in a way that comes straight from the cross of Jesus. They have come to love with actions and in truth. That is how we are called to love one another.

         Amen.