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When He had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and will glorify Him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, "Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:31-35 NRSV)
Good Monday to you dear Friend! I pray this was a great weekend for you and that the start of the work week be a blessed one, with all the days in it blessed better, bigger, and stronger than the first! A sad prayer update, Mrs. Benita Del Pozo passed away yesterday morning in San Antonio.
In one of my churches I had a monthly Coffee with the Pastor immediately after the last worship service of that Sunday. All my staff, the ones who had been "mugged" (given a free coffee mug of the church) were present to enjoy coffee, tea, and the introduction of the staff and ministries of our church. I shared my faith testimony, the vision I had for the church, introduced each of my staff, and they shared briefly the duties and hopes of their particular position. I then shared with them the vows of membership, along with those I had borrowed from a large church in the denomination. These were to grow daily in their knowledge of God by being active in a Sunday school or a small study group which we offered. They were to be present every Sunday they were in town unless they were sick. They were to give one hour of their time to help the church's outreach work. And the last, they were to give in proportion to their income, with the tithe being the goal. We gave them a small break telling them if they decided to join, they could join the staff and me in our chapel, where we would have the reception into membership service. If they stayed, after the service we took their picture and the next Sunday these pictures would be shown on our screen and we would applaud them and folks were free to welcome them after church. Our church grew and grew. Many who attended the session told me that they would never had joined had they had to walk down the aisle to the front during the singing of the last song or hymn. I discontinued the use of the Invitation to Discipleship in the manner most Methodists use; if you wanted to join the church, you had to come to a Coffee with the Pastor, or you could talk to me in private and we would do it that way. Well, in spite of our growth, some members were unhappy. And as most unhappy members do, they complained and complained. We finally decided to have a church council meeting to "discuss" this. The only funny thing in this heated meeting was one woman, not known for ever smiling or being nice to anyone said very loudly, "If we don't know who our new members are, how will I know who to be nice to?" There was a pin drop silence and then the snickers and laughter of those who knew this lady well.
Jesus said, Love one another, just as I have loved you. Interesting, He didn't say, "love the ones you know are new members or those whom you have known for years." In fact, Jesus called this a commandment, as in You WILL do this; love one another. Jesus didn't put exceptions on it either. As far as the ancient text can be interpreted, it meant every one. No stopping to hear if their accent is the same as ours, or if they dress like we do, or shop where we do, or live where we do. Everyone must be loved.
Yesterday, we visited a new church with our grandson Liam. It is a very affluent church near the Galleria shopping mall in Houston. They had just received a new pastor and we happened to be worshiping at her first sermon. We were welcomed and loved like we had been there every Sunday since they opened. Liam, a dedicated donut hole expert, was asked by a lady if he wanted a donut or donut hole, and he asked what kind they had. The woman thinking he would love chocolate, mentioned chocolate first. Then glazed. "Okay, I'll take a couple of glazed donuts." She walked him over to the table and he came back with two. The church gave all women in worship a carnation. And after church every woman was given a gift of shower gel. We had, as first time visitors, parked on the wrong side of the church and so we had to walk back through the narthex of the sanctuary where the table had been prepared and there were donut holes there again. Liam asked if he could have some more, of course. He then said, "The first ones were from HEB and those are not the best. These last ones were from Shipley's and they're the best!" Okay.
In the uncertainty of things, the certainty of love is best. Jesus knew what He was talking about. We are called to love all people, all the time; and this holds best in worship settings. Nellie and remembered our years in a church where the tradition of recognizing mothers was horrible. It made for very unpleasant Mother's Day services. We recognized the oldest mom, and we had a woman who live to be a 102, so no contest there. The tough one was to recognize the mother with the most children PRESENT in worship! Oh man, don't get me started. The youngest mother would get a corsage and on and on, until I said, no mas. The church will give flowers to all women. And we will focus on God. We will love one another.
So, dear friend, start today if you haven't already started. Be that person that people flock to because of your kind words, hugs, handshakes, smiles or whatever it is that God has gifted you with that shows love. The Lord will be blessed, the people you share with, will be blessed, as will you!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times I have set conditions on my love. Help me to be the one mentioned above, a loving and caring person seeking to bless You and Yours. This I pray in Christ Jesus' strong name. And Lord, bless those grieving, like the family of Mrs. Benita Del Pozo who died yesterday morning. Bring comfort to her family. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be a love servant of the Most High God!
Blessings of love to you!
Eradio Valverde
