Love in truth and action

In tomorrow's epistle reading, we'll hear from the letter we call First John in which John writes

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

John is writing here to a congregation that has just gone through a painful split. Some, who held that Jesus was not really fully human, but only divine, were teaching that Jesus only seemed human. They have now left to form their own church. In a sermon on this I wrote,

John gives the congregation a quick test to see if they have made the transition from being hurt by someone, through the process of feeling the pain of that loss to the other side when they can once again love and pray for the very people who caused the pain. John writes, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love one another.” Passing from death to life is a conversion of the heart. John says the test is whether you love one another, even the one another who has hurt you most. This is no easy test.

John ties love to concrete actions. He asks how anyone who has the ability to help someone can see a fellow human in need and not help out. For John it’s not possible to say you have love without acting on that love. John writes that we are to love not in word and speech but in truth and action. This fits so well with John’s teaching in the Gospel and his three letters. For John, Truth is not something you are aware of. Truth is not a fact to learn. Truth is a verb. Truth is something you do.

The full text of the sermon, Doing the Truth, is in our archives.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church