An invitation for all

"The hardest things to get right in life are love and God." This quote from Eugene Peterson opened Pastor Barbara Moyer Lehman's sermon this Sunday. As Christians, we see God and love as inseparable. 1 John is a letter written out of great concern for a church. Apparently this church was struggling with doctrine. They did not seem to have a good grasp of who God is, or who Jesus is. They did not seem to have a good moral base. Pastor Barbara gave a broad outline of the themes of 1 John , and highlighted the central thesis of the book. "We should love each other." 1 John 3:16-24 highlights what love is. Pastor Barbara confessed that she would rather pass over the part about laying down our life for each other. But Jesus gave the example of, and calls us to, self-sacrificing love. Can we learn to love, not with words only, but with actions? John 10:11-18 provides a model of active love that prods us to lay aside our own needs so that we can meet the needs of others. It is through our actions that people can know what is in our hearts. What action needs to be connected to our words?