1 John 3:1-3
The Message version of that lesson from First John begins… “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are!”
This First John was laying out the immeasurable LOVE we have been given… it is the equipment we need to play the game we call life. Now I think for many of us, LOVE plays in the background of our everyday lives, but this week in particular… THIS WEEK, I think we need to be very intentional and move the equipment of LOVE that we’ve been given into the foreground of our lives so that it can carry us through the week ahead.
Another John, in another time, was also a strong advocate of the power of LOVE being in the foreground of our lives... not just playing somewhere in the background. He talked about it this way:
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy
It IS easy! He’s right! And he’s right because of what that First John helped us to understand. It’s easy… because the love we have is a complete and totally free gift from God! We don’t make it or mold it… we don’t have to go find it, or refine it. The powerful transformative gift of love is ALREADY at work in you and in me! It has made you now already, Children of God! The other John sings it this way…
Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
Love, love, love
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Now the First John will let you know that not everyone in the world will be able to see it. They won’t be able to see you as the Child of God that you are... and they won’t be able to see themselves as the Children of God they are either. It’s not that they aren’t. It’s just that they haven’t yet learned to play the game. Even though it’s easy!
Maybe the people who dismiss the power of love do it because they just can’t believe it could possibly be that easy? Regardless of why, folks like that spend much of their lives feeling anxious and restless… frightened and nervous about what will happen next. Because there is a lot of that going around these days, their anxiety and nervousness seems to be rubbing off on the rest of us.
So even those of you who regularly carry love in the foreground of your lives... even those of you who on regular days, really lean into the power of love… Even those of us who preach continually about the power of God’s transforming love… EVEN jokers like THAT! We all need a little help... a boost for the week ahead... a reminder for this week that there is...
Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
We all need to re-hear this God’s-Honest-Truth from these two disciples of LOVE named John this week! Each of us needs a reminder that we started off this life as dust and were transformed by Divine love… into the creation we are. And because of that, each of us has the grandest of titles attached to our names… Child of God!
We all need this reminder this week because as the First John once said, “the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who God is or what God is up to.” We all need this reminder this week because as the Second John once said, “They, whoever they are, don’t stand a chance, because they can’t beat love. Because all those old bits from religion and that, about love being all-powerful, it’s true, you know. And that’s the bit they can’t do. They can’t handle it.”
We all need this reminder because there are still those who can’t handle a life lived out of LOVE and because of that, they seek to draw us into their chaos, their hopelessness… down into anger, hatred and despair. So we NEED this week in particular to be REMINDED of what we KNOW to be true!
What we DO KNOW is that, on this side of the week ahead, WE ARE Children of God! Formed from the dust of stars, with the creative power of Divine love, and named Children of God! AND on the other side of this lifetime, on the other side of this infinitely long Covid year, and on the other side of this week… no matter how long or short any of those might be, we will STILL BE and will ALWAYS WILL BE, Children of God! So take a deep breath and sing this mantra from the Second John with me throughout this coming week, this coming year and throughout our lifetime to come. And REMEMBER through it all, it really is, all we need.
All you need is love (All together, now!)
All you need is love (Everybody!)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Yee-hai! (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Yesterday (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)
Oh yeah! (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)
She loves you, yeah yeah yeah (Love is all you need)
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