May 6, 2018 Sermon on 1 John 5:1-6

Rev. George Miller
May 6, 2018
1 John 5:1-6

(Sermon starts with holding up a small plastic cup) Who knows what this is?

It’s the Family Cup.

Perhaps you had one in your home growing up. This is the cup that was kept in the family bathroom by the toothbrushes.

Maybe you didn’t have a Family Cup.

Maybe you grew up in a home that had a dispenser attached to the wall in which you used disposable Dixie cups with cartoon characters or sassy sayings on them.

Maybe after brushing your teeth, you cupped your hand under the faucet to catch water to rinse your mouth out.

Or, maybe you had the good old fashioned Family Cup. The cup that everyone used after they brushed their teeth.

If you had a Family Cup you can testify that it was rarely washed and would eventually develop its own series of fluoride-based water stains running down the side.

The Family Cup is what you did. You didn’t think about it; you didn’t know any better.

You didn’t think it was gross to drink from the Family Cup.

You were part of a family in which mother, father, sister, brother all used the same cup.

Why not? Sharing is what family does.

Besides, it built your immune system

There is a beauty in the shared Family Cup.

Without anyone realizing it, it symbolized belonging, it symbolized being part of something bigger than yourself, and it symbolized that as a family, we are ONE.

There is a beauty in the ability to share.

Think of what it is like to date. You meet someone you like, you go to the movies. You start off by getting separate sodas and separate bags of popcorn.

But eventually, what happens? You get a tub of popcorn to share, your hands melting into the buttery goodness.

In courtship or friendship, you get to a place in which you share something off the other’s plate.

Then you may share something off the same fork.

You know it’s serious, and you know it’s real, when you eventually sip from the same straw.

This notion of intimate sharing, of family unity is a huge part of today’s scripture.

As we move from Easter into Pentecost, we have a chance to hear the communal nature of the good news.

As theologian Amy Oden notes, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about being a lone ranger; it’s about a partnership that involves all the people of the church.

Today we have a letter that has been written to a congregation. Though the early church attributed this letter to John, the author is actually anonymous, choosing to identify himself as “the elder.”

Already the theme of family weaves itself through this testimony of faith.

It is not a letter written just to the head bishop, or to the board of deacons, but it is written to the entire church family.

It is a letter crafted from words of faith, and words based on belief.

Belief that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the unifying factor of the Christian family.

The elder states that if we believe in Christ, then we are a child of God.

And if we love God, we love All God’s children. More than that- if we love God, than we see God’s children as our sisters and brothers; as our kin.

This is not love as in a general feeling of good will.

This is not love as in the way we love a purse, or love a sports team, or love the latest Marvel movie.

It is love that is communal. It is love that is beyond agreements and like-mindedness.

It is love that is an ACTION.

Love that is a verb.

Love that makes you raise your hand in thanks, close your eyes in gratitude, and makes you want to be a better person.

It is love that says “I will Care 4 U, just as U Care 4 me.”

This is the kind of love that says “We are the same body, filled with the same blood coursing through our veins, and the same water flowing out of our eyes.”

This is the kind of love that says “When you hurt, I hurt. When you heal, I heal.”

This kind of love made known through Christ is the kind of love that manifests itself in welcome; love that manifests itself in acts of compassion.

Love that comes across so clearly in the things we do- like meal sites and pantries, prayer shawls and music programs.

This is the kind of Christian love that manifests itself in cards of condolence, phone calls of care, and Coins for Kids

This is the kind of love that one would experience in the Family Cup, in which everyone shares, and everyone sips.

It’s sad to say, but culture has become way too fragmented, way too divided, way to isolationistic for anyone’s good.

But Christ…Christ calls us to do the opposite.

Christ, as the son of our Heavenly Father, calls us to come together.

To find common ground.

To create community.

Christ calls us to be comfortable with conflict, to take chances, and to welcome complicated conversation.

Jesus Christ, as our sacred sibling, calls us to conquer the world through a few simple commandments-

That we love God. We love neighbor. We love our congregational brothers and sisters.

That we dare to love ourselves.

With Christ as the Son, and God as the Father, we realize that we are not in this alone, we were not meant to be isolated from one another, but that we are a family.

We are meant to share the same cup. Meant to share the same meal. Meant to eat at the same table no matter what we may be going through.

In doing so we welcome the Spirit of truth; we welcome the Spirit of love, and we become ONE. Amen and amen.