Love One Another - A Pastoral Letter

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35

Dear siblings in Christ,
          We are now over a week into our Lenten journey. As we continue through this season so often marked by acts of individual introspection and various spiritual practices of giving up this or that, as a way to help us focus more clearly on God and where in our lives we might be called to repent, to make a change and to turn back to God, it is important to remember that our call as Jesus’ followers lead us to participate in Lenten practices that go beyond our own individual piety. For our Lenten journeys are not meant to be done in isolation but in community, for God created us as communal beings, and it is because of our communal-ness that we have been given the various commandments for how we are called to live with each other, with creation, and with God. And in the above passage, we hear one of the last commands that Jesus gives to his disciples within the gospels. And this command is to love not power but to love people, to love others, to love each other much like other commands Jesus gives throughout the gospels, and it is through our love that we will be known as Jesus’ disciples. During a time when there seems to be so many people who say they are Christians but struggle to follow Jesus’ commands to love neighbor, enemy, each other, and God we can be left asking what does it mean to love one another? And how do we share and show this love to others?
          This command from John 13, comes from the assigned gospel passage for Maundy Thursday, where before Jesus gives the command, he takes time to wash each of his disciples feet, including that of Peter who will go on to be instrumental with spreading the good news of Jesus within the events as told in the book of Acts and Judas who Jesus knows will soon betray him and turn him over to the powers that be to be executed on the cross for all to see. Jesus gave his love freely throughout his life, giving us many concrete examples of how to share and show love to others. Like how in response to the question ‘who is my neighbor?’ Jesus shared the story of the good Samaritan, how the one who was most despised because of where they were from is the one to lend help, care, and love to the one in need while others looked the other way and ignored the need of another (Luke 10:25-37). Or how Jesus shared within a parable that ‘truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these you did it to me” in response to the question of when have they seen him hungry and thirsty and gave him food and drink, or seen him as a stranger and welcomed him, seen him naked and clothed him, sick and cared for him, or in prison and visited him (Matthew 25:34-45). Jesus reiterates that it is how we treat the least of us, in other words, how we show our love and care for the vulnerable, the marginalized, and often the most dehumanized amongst us, that this is how we not only love one another but how we love Jesus and God as well. Jesus shared his and God’s love through feeding, healing, and caring for the physical needs of others. And amongst his acts of love, included that of flipping the tables of oppressive systems, like how in Mark 11:15-18 & Matthew 21:12-13, Jesus flipped the tables and benches of money changers and the sellers of the sacrificial animals, who were exploiting those who came to the temple to worship God for their own finical gains.
​          There are so many examples from Jesus’ own life and teachings, as well as examples from our fellow children of God throughout time and space of how we can share and show the love Jesus’ commands us to share out in the world. And so as we continue through Lent, I encourage you to take some time to truly look at our world and in our communities, to see where people are not being treated with love, where people are being dehumanized and hurt by the powers that be and the systems in place, and ask yourself, how might I, how might we respond with God’s love? How might we be in need of repentance, of changing something in our live to better respond with love to all people? How are we being called to act so that all will truly know we are also Jesus’ disciple by our love? Trust that even when at times when it might be difficult to share love with others, that because God first loved you, and called you a beloved child, that it is from God’s love for us that we are able respond out in the world with our own love that was first given from God.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Tamara Siburg