1 John 3:16-24
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us– and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth… These words from one of the pastors and leaders of the early Church speak to us across millenia, a reminder of what the Christian life really looks like. When the world tries to tell us that Christians look like a particular political party or nationality or skin color or style of worship, the words of scripture call us back to the simple truth of who we are, people called to the Way of Love. When we call ourselves Christians, we are claiming to be the kind of people who lay down our lives for one another, who love in truth and action, who answer the needs of our brothers and sisters with help and hospitality. It is no easy thing, but it is who we are and who we must strive to be.
I think sometimes it is easier to imagine we would all be heroes, that if the opportunity to lay down our life to save someone else’s came along we would absolutely make the sacrifice. I think it’s easy to imagine that because it doesn’t happen that often in most of our lives, day to day. Most of us don’t have daily opportunities to risk our lives to save the lives of others, and the ones who do will be the first to tell you that it is not easy and comes at a great cost to their health and the lives of their families. For most modern Christians in the West, becoming a martyr is incredibly rare. So if every Christian is called to lay down our lives for one another as Christ has done for us, how do we do it?
What does it look like to lay down our lives for one another? Perhaps, sometimes, it really does look like dying for one another, putting our bodies between innocence and evil. But I think more often, it looks like the kind of dying to self that every person is called in baptism to do, and every one of us falls short of every day. It looks like dying to consumerism, choosing the more sustainable and just option every chance we get, which very often means denying ourselves something we want right now. It looks like dying to false urgency, giving up the instant gratification that has become more and more our default, always at the expense of our environment and our fellow human beings. It probably looks like dying to our ideals about productivity and perfectionism, laying down the belief that a person’s worth comes from what they can do for us or what we can do for them. It looks like saying no to some things we want to say yes to, and sometimes it looks like saying yes to people we would rather walk past and pretend we didn’t see.
To lay down one’s life for another is about sacrifice, but that sacrifice will very rarely be newsworthy or qualify you for a date on the calendar of saints. Most of the sacrifices we are called to by our commitment to the Way of Jesus are small, inconvenient, and may never be known by the people they help most. These sacrifices include how we spend our precious time, where we spend our money and on what, who we prioritize and how we go about our day. These sacrifices include asking questions about where things are made and by whom and in what conditions, asking questions about where our food comes from and how much the people who planted and tended and harvested it are paid. These sacrifices include taking the extra few minutes to break down the boxes for recycling instead of throwing them straight in the trash, and also choosing to limit the impacts of packaging and shipping wherever we can. These sacrifices include the kind of stewardship we offer our land, what plants we introduce and what pesticides and herbicides we use. These sacrifices include enduring the discomfort of masks sometimes, and seeking vaccinations when we qualify for them, and sometimes missing out in order to keep others safe.
People in this community lay down their lives for one another every day. You sacrifice a slow Sunday morning in bed or at brunch to spend time worshipping God together, praying for one another, checking in with one another. You sacrifice your time and your resources to support ministries like Nelson County Kid Care and Amherst Cares. Members of Grace come every day to check the Blessings Pantry and restock it, and many people of both congregations give financially to make sure there is always enough. Members of St Mark’s and Grace give their time and talent and belongings to the Episcopal Thrift Store, ensuring that our community’s dollars go back to our community’s most vulnerable people and offering an affordable and environmentally conscious alternative to big box stores. Members of Grace, St Mark’s, and several of our neighbor churches have given innumerable hours and material support to loving and empowering a refugee family of 6, allowing people who gave up everything to participate in their community and make their own contributions, making a place for four young children to grow up safe and strong. Members of Grace and our neighbors give an entire afternoon every month to welcoming, feeding, and connecting with the clients of the Candlelight Ministries Food Pantry, and the St Mark’s ECW is taking on a new project to offer affordable homemade meals to our community in moments of need and to raise money to meet future needs for our neighbors. Members of both congregations offer up time and skill to the creation of prayer shawls of all sizes and colors so that those we love can have a tangible sign of that love in moments of stress or grief. You come together to study, to sing, to create, to care, to serve, to celebrate and to mourn. When you keep showing up, you have infinite opportunities to love, infinite chances to lay down your life for one another. My friends, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. Let us lay down our lives for one another, in every way we can. Let us be heroes. There is no greater love than this.
Mother A Writes 