Hooray for summer! Classes are finished, finals are over, and graduation is done! Good for you, everyone! Another year is complete and we are all at the edge of some kind of transition. Whether you are starting something very new or returning to familiar places and activities, summer is a wonderful change. May your summer be filled with new experiences, opportunities to learn and grow, time to relax and refresh with people who matter to you, and chances took back and reflect on all that happened in the year that has passed.
As our whole community is in the midst of transition, in this week’s gospel reading we find Jesus and his disciples on the edge the biggest of transitions. These verses follow immediately after last week’s gospel reading – the evening just before Jesus is betrayed and arrested. Soon, everything will change dramatically. In these final moments, Jesus highlights for them (and us) the core of his teaching and their lives together, saying, “Love one another as I have loved you.” He tells the disciples that he is no longer talking to them as servants compelled to follow his commands, but rather as friends who understand and embrace what Jesus is about, who freely take on what Jesus calls them to.
Loving one another is a tricky task. It may sound like fun, but love is more than a warm feeling of affection or appreciation. Love is making the choice to act with kindness, generosity, inclusion, compassion, forgiveness, patience, justice, and peace even when we don’t feel like it. And toward people we may struggle to tolerate, let alone love. Love is a way of life – treating others with respect even when it is hard. Acting kindly toward both the people we truly enjoy and appreciate and the people we don’t as beloved children of God, because that is just what they are. Surely Jesus knew this was a tremendous task as he invited the disciples to “love one another,” and it has certainly not become easier for us today.
At the important moments of transition in our lives, we reflect on the ways God has been present, bringing support, growth, and compassion to us. God’s love touches us through the people we encounter, the beauty of creation, the creativity of art and music, the movement of our bodies, the ways food tastes, the ideas we explore . . . the list is nearly endless, for God’s love is endless. May we all find ways to love one another in this transition, and in all the transitions of our lives.
Peace,
weekly prayer | Jesus calls the disciples to love one another in John 15