The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide for Saturday, 31 October 2020

 The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide for Saturday, 31 October 2020

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection GPS Guide for Saturday, 31 October 2020

Persistent, indomitable love for all neighbors

Daily Scripture:

Colossians 3:12-14

12 Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. 14 And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, 5 it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, 6 it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. 7 Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.

Reflection Questions:

In these passages the apostle Paul said God calls us to be people who live in loving community with our neighbors. Contracts or policies, though some of them are needed, don’t make that happen. Loving your neighbor grows naturally as we commit ourselves to living as Jesus’ followers, letting him show us who is our neighbor and how to love each neighbor. “Love, which is the perfect bond of unity” is the mighty force that overcomes prejudice, hatred, distrust and all the influences that divide us from one another. “Love your neighbor” reaches well beyond “tolerate your neighbor” to create genuine caring and community, even in places where to human eyes that seemed impossible.

Colossians called all of Christ’s followers to show five qualities: “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” When have you showed those qualities toward a neighbor, or had a neighbor show those qualities toward you? What other responses might you or they have chosen? Would those alternatives have made things better or worse? Colossians went on to make a sweeping statement in 3:17 about loving your neighbor: “WHATEVER you do, whether in speech or action, do it ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus.” How can doing whatever you do in Jesus’ name shape your way of life? How can you work, shop, drive the freeway, react to today’s news (even the political news), cheer for the Jayhawks/Wildcats/Tigers or your kid’s soccer team or discuss the family budget and future holiday plans “in the name of the Lord Jesus”?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, please keep shaping me into a person of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Give me the grace to love as you have loved me. Amen.

Want more reflection on today's GPS?

Read the GPS Insight by Cheryl Bell

Pastor Cheryl Bell has served as a Congregational Care pastor at Resurrection since 2012 and now serves as our Pastor of Community Justice. She is a second-career clergy, having previously worked for Boeing as an Electrical Engineer.

I’m one of those pastors who provides 1 Corinthians 13, the Love Chapter, as one of the options for couples that I marry. The couple selects a passage (or two) of Scripture for their wedding. I share with them, in my sermonette during the wedding, that as Christians, we are called to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And that 1 Corinthians 13 is a great definition of what love looks like!

And I go on to tell them that our neighbor is ANYONE who is not US! That means their spouse to be! That also means that our family members are our neighbors! Parents, spouses, significant others, siblings, children, grandchildren, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews! That also includes our friends, acquaintances, folks from work or school or the neighborhood. All are our neighbors!

I have a confession to make here. That was a revelation to me when it hit my heart!

You see, I’m the type of person who seems to LOVE, reach out to others, outside of my family, easier than to my family sometimes. I’ve learned that I hold them (and myself) to a higher standard.

Just as Jesus LOVED all of the folks around him, including his disciples, and those who followed Him, and came to Him for healing, those who were to come, and even His enemies, we are called to do the same. For God so loved the world… (John 3.16-17).

So in this unique day/weekend in history: Halloween, All Saints Day, Daylight Savings Time, then the up-coming Election, all while in the midst of a Pandemic, Racial Tension, and then,

LIFE, with all that it brings, and

wherever you may find yourself,

I encourage you to take on the challenge to Love your Neighbor,

every single one of them,

as Jesus did!

It can be done.

With God’s help!

Through The Holy Spirit!

Amen? Amen!

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If you have a question or comment about today’s GPS or Insights blog, you can send it to GPS@cor.org. We read them all, but because of the number of responses we receive, cannot guarantee replies.

You might also like:

Finding Jesus in the hungry, the sick and the prisoners

Words without actions can’t “love your neighbor”

The ever-flowing stream of justice

Not ceremony, but justice, faithful love and humility

The parable of the unexpected “neighbor”

Or download this week's printable GPS.

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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.

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