A Sermon by The Rev. Dan Rondeau

Love in Truth and Action

The Rev. Dan Rondeau

St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School

Acts 8:26-40 | Psalm 66:1-11 | 1 John 3:14-24 | John 14:5-21

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 1 John 3:18

On this Fifth Sunday of Easter, which also is Mother’s Day in America, it is the text of 1 John 3:18 that captured and held my attention.

Let me begin to give thanks for our mothers, let me begin to open this reflection on love with the words of a woman, a wife and mother, and the Senior Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Julie Pennington-Russell writes,

“Earl Weaver, who for years was manager of the Baltimore Orioles, was a notorious umpire baiter—he could harass an ump with the best of them. He was especially known for one particular taunt. Whenever Earl disagreed with a call, he’d typically run out of the dugout, charge into the umpire’s face and scream at him: ‘Are you gonna get any better, or is this it?’”

“As a believer in Christ, I find myself often asking that very question about the world, about the church, about myself: “Are we going to get any better?” I look at a world full of violence and despair, greed, hunger. And I look at the church, often half asleep in the sanctuary or bashing each other’s brains out over doctrinal differences.”

“And then I look at my own self-orbiting, narcissistic life, and the older I get the more convinced I become that what the world needs most, what the church needs most, and definitely what my life needs most urgently—more than discipline, more than knowledge, more than zeal—is love. Turns out the Beatles were right: all we need is love! And I’m convinced that nothing will distinguish us as Christ-followers more clearly in this world than a genuine commitment to love, more radically, more earnestly, more deeply.”¹

Julie goes on to explore the grace-filled writing of another Apostle, Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 13). She concludes her meditation with words that illuminate what the Apostle John wrote today (love “in truth and action”).

“See, if you take Christianity and cook it down to the essence-boil away all of the peripheral concerns-you find that one thing remains. What remains is not a doctrine, is not a set of rules, is not a creed, not a confession. You boil the Christian faith down to the essence, and what remains is a face, and it’s the face of absolute, unambiguous, undiluted love. And if we’re wise, we’ll take the advice of the writer of Hebrews and fix our eyes on that face-the face of Jesus, the Christ. When Jesus was here among us, he showed us one thing more about love that is indispensable: love is always something you do. And this is what, every time, distinguishes love from sentimental feelings or mere good intentions. Love, in the end, is always something you do. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be known by that kind of love? In the end, it’s the one thing that will make us recognizable to the world as those who’ve put on Christ and who are wearing his name and walking in his way.”²

On this Mother’s Day I think of my own mother, of course, and I give thanks. I experienced her love in action long before I could understand anything she spoke. She continues to love in truth and action. I think of Carol, the mother of Chris and Nick, I think of the many moms I’ve had the privilege of working with, ministering with, listening to, suffering with, rejoicing with, walking with: women who have loved and continue to love “in truth and action;” women who reveal the love that Christ revealed in his earthly life and ministry.

I also think this day of the many women who never became a mother to a son or daughter but who became the mother of many sons and daughters because of their love “in truth and action.” Mother Teresa comes to mind immediately—though she never bore any children, which one of us doesn’t proudly claim her as our Mother Teresa? Are there women who, while never blessed with a child of their own, have been part of your life—as a child, a teen, a young adult, a peer—women who revealed that God is love by their actions more than their words? I hope so. Give thanks for their presence in your life.

Now, as a way of keeping this light and giving thanks, while at the same time reminding us to love “in truth and action” let me finish with a paraphrase, for moms, of 1 Corinthians 13 (Paul’s poetic teaching about love). Let it remind us, men and women alike, to “proclaim by word AND EXAMPLE the Good News of God in Christ,”³ to love in truth and action.

I can read bedtime stories till the cow jumps over the moon and sing “Ten Little Monkeys” until I want to call the doctor— but if I don’t have love, I’m as annoying as a ringing phone.

I can chase a naked toddler through the house while cooking dinner and listening to voice mail, I can fix the best cookies and Kool-Aid in the neighborhood, and I can tell a sick child’s temperature with one touch of my finger, but if I don’t have love, I am nothing.

Love is patient while watching and praying by the front window when it’s 30 minutes past curfew.

Love is kind when my teen says, “I hate you!”

It does not envy the neighbors’ swimming pool or their brand-new mini van, but trusts the Lord to provide every need.

Love does not brag when other parents share their disappointments and insecurities, and love rejoices when other families succeed.

It doesn’t boast, even when I’ve multi-tasked all day long and my husband can’t do more than one thing at a time.

Love is not rude when my spouse innocently asks, “What have you done today?”

It does not immediately seek after glory when we see talent in our children, but encourages them to get training and make wise choices.

It is not easily angered, even when my 15-year-old acts like the world revolves around her/him.

It does not delight in evil (is not self-righteous) when I remind my 17-year-old that he’s going 83 in a 55-mph zone, but rejoices in the truth.

Love does not give up hope.

It always protects our children’s self-esteem and spirit, even while dealing out discipline.

It always trusts God to protect our children when we cannot. It always perseveres, through blue nail polish, burps and other bodily functions, rolled eyes and crossed arms, messy rooms and sleepovers.

Love never fails.

But, where there are memories of thousands of diaper changes and painful labor(s), they will fade away..

Where there is talking back, it will (eventually) cease. (Please, Lord?)

Where there is a teenager who thinks she knows everything, there will one day be an adult who knows you did your best.

For we know we fail our children, and we pray they don’t end up in therapy, but when we get to heaven, our imperfect parenting will disappear! (Thank you, God!)

When we were children, we needed a parent to love and protect us. Now that we’re parents ourselves, we have a heavenly Father who adores, shelters us and holds us when we need to cry.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.

But the greatest of these is love.⁴

And let me finish with the prayer of a woman, our contemporary, already mentioned and praised, Mother Teresa, who loved in truth and action, and encouraged us, following the Apostle’s teaching, to do the same.

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours....Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you.⁵ Amen.

¹ Retrieved 14 May 2006 from http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/pennington-russell_4610.htm

² Retrieved 14 May 2006 from http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/pennington-russell_4610.htm

³ A promise made as part of our Baptismal Covenant (BCP, pp. 304-305

⁴ Copied from an email sent by Amanda Aberg in May 2004. Original source unknown.

⁵ A Prayer of Mother Teresa, source unknown

Send comments to Webmaster, email: webmaster@stmargarets.org