They Will Know We are Christians by our Love

This past Sunday my parish celebrated the new ministry of our new priest,  Rev. Sherry De Jonge by holding an Induction service.   At the service, the homily was delivered by the Rev. Dave Hewett, who was a classmate of mine in theology at Huron University College.

In his sermon, Dave made a number of very good points – it was an excellent sermon.  One which particularly moved me was that the church is not called to defeat the powers and principalities of this world, Christians are called to give the world an alternative to the way the world often works.  Jesus gave the world a loud and clear message that his kingdom is not of this world.  He did not call upon a host of angels to overthrow the Roman Empire which ruled the world that Jesus chose to be born into.  He showed the world a different and better way that the way offered by the Roman Empire or the Religious authorities in Jerusalem. 

Central to that message and example of Jesus Christ is love.  We, the followers of Jesus and the world were given this message in word and deed by the one we proclaim as our saviour.  We are to love God and to love our neighbours (all inclusively) as ourselves.  There is a hymn which was very popular in the 1960’s and was probably overdone in my church experience like a few other hymns such as Morning Has Broken or Lord of the Dance.  It was composed by Fr. Peter Scholtes and was based on John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It expresses this message very well and makes clear what Christians are called to do.  It is remains one of my favourite hymns despite its overuse back then:

We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity
May one day be restored

And they'll know we are Christians
By our love, By our love
Yes, they'll know we are Christians
By our love

We will walk with each other
We will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other
We will walk hand in hand
And together we'll spread the news
That God is in our land

We will work with each other
We will work side by side
We will work with each other
We will work side by side
And we'll guard each man's dignity
And save each man's pride

All praise to the Father
From whom all things come
And all praise to Christ Jesus His only son
And all praise to the Spirit
Who makes us one

Of course, this is one of the hardest things that people can do, whether they are Christians or not, to love our neighbours or enemies as Jesus also said.  It seems to go against our human nature or perhaps I should say our ego-based nature.  It may take a life-time of work and effort but it what we are called to do if we profess to be Christians.  One way I have found helpful in trying to love those who I find unlovable is to pray that God will help me to see them as God sees them.

Blessings on your journey.