Embracing Community Through Love and Ministry
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "In the New Testament, there were two great commandments, a simplification of the 613 laws. Love God and love your neighbor. In our gospel lesson, Jesus says, Love one another. These two commandments define what sanctification means in our Methodist tradition. Not separation, not exclusion, loving God, loving our neighbor, and yes, loving ourselves." (44 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "How can the world believe in a God who is invisible? The answer he suggested, is in 1 John 4, 11 through 12. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and God's love is perfected in us. We experience the love of God through God's people. This love is a gift, but we must accept it. And this acceptance involves giving up on the idea that I can live the Christian life on my own, without community, apart from communion with others." (44 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "We are bowling, but we are bowling alone. It is all about the individual. On the way to licensing, commissioning, and ordination, we overcome the obstacle of individualism. Amen? We really do need each other. We cannot do it alone. So this evening, you are being set apart as a person. You are becoming more intentionally a part of the connection. And this is our way of understanding holiness. Holiness, our goal in this life, is about rediscovering our purpose in this life, which is love. God is love. Love is holiness. We love one another." (73 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "I shall endeavor to show that Christianity is essentially a social religion. And that to turn it into a solitary religion is to what? Destroy it. 1 John 5, 27-28. said there is no holiness but social holiness we are connected and the life that flows from the vine into the branches is a life of love we are grafted into each other into the tree of life to use another image from Scripture into the body of Christ to use another I cannot be a Christian without you and cannot be a Christian without me for some reason God designed it this way and so a part of our conversion is a conversion into the community the body the believers the household of God the core conviction is our need for a friendship with Jesus I am divine you are the branches he teaches his disciples we draw our strength our life from him apart from me he says you can do nothing this is connection with Jesus which can happen whenever two or three are gathered in his name this is the real presence of Jesus who loved us and gave himself for our you did for us the fountain filled with blood the vine pouring life into the branches the teacher who said you have heard it said but I say to you love one another we are a holiness movement holiness is not separation holiness is not exclusion Jesus is the vine we are the branches God is the vine we are the sig接 branches" (157 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Only love can save us. I actually preached a sermon with that title on the Sunday I came back from being a delegate to the 2004 General Conference, which was in Pittsburgh. And I believe the text is the same as the Bible. And more recently, I have attached a thought to that. And here it is. Love is hard. Law is easy. Love is hard. I can be a hateful person And keep the law. But love is hard. Jesus said very little about law. He talked a lot more about love. And Love one another, he teaches. This is who we are. We're people who love each other." (70 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
### Quotes for Members
1. "Years ago, I heard a talk by the British evangelist, John Stott. And he posed a provocative question. It's even more relevant now in our postmodern culture. He asked the question, how can the world believe in an invisible God? The answer he suggested, is in 1 John 4, 11 through 12. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and God's love is perfected in us. We experience the love of God through God's people. This love is a gift, but we must accept it. And this acceptance involves giving up on the idea that I can live the Christian life on my own, without community, apart from communion with others." (44 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "I think of the two men who stood with me when I was ordained on this stage 38 years ago right there. Neither served the largest churches of our conference. One was happily married. One never married. At times, they both sensed that they were not in favor with the conference power structure. I know that's a weird thing for a bishop to say, but they do exist, I suppose. But at the same time, that didn't dominate their lives or ministries. In their vocations, they mentored me. They, they loved me. They never said that. They never said, Ken, I love you. But they lived it by how they included me, by opportunities they gave me or difficult situations they pushed me toward, by how they spent time with me. Today, we might say they were holding space for me. Or as Ronald Heifetz of Harvard would say, they were creating a holding environment for me so that I could grow and take the next step. It was a way I knew that I was loved. And it gave me a model on how to love other people. This is what Jesus did for us." (115 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "Love is not sentimentality. That's not what I'm talking about. I remember my wife, Pam, and I were watching a country music video a few years ago on television. Actually, I was watching it. She was sitting there doing something else. And a woman was singing the phrase, my baby loves me just the way that I am. My baby loves me just the way that I am. My baby loves me just the way that I am. Well, by this time, this had gotten my wife's attention. And she looked at the television and she rolled her eyes. And she said, that woman has gigantic blue eyes and maybe an ounce of body fat. What's not to love? reality, love is not easy. It's not. John 15 flows out of John 13. really dark chapter in the Gospels. Betrayal, abandonment, and loss. we confess that we do this work now amidst a ministry narrative, a national narrative, a personal narrative, a denominational narrative of betrayal, abandonment, loss? We have lived through a long, hard time as a denomination. Lawsuits, complaints, being the subject of misleading videos, videos that get many thousands of views. we could trace the longer, heavier, very different, more profound, long, hard time back to 1844, or 1939, or 1972, or 2019. we could go back centuries. could go back centuries. We have lived through this, the people called Methodist. I have lived through this. I bear in my body the marks of all of this. And many of you do as well. But I have no doubt that it has been worth it if we can be a community that spreads scriptural holiness, which is to say that increases the love of God. and neighbor." (180 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "The answer to the question who is important is the question of identity. But there's another question, and that is when. The time you happen to be licensed, commissioned, or ordained. That's understanding the moment, the season in which we live. It is a season of betrayal, abandonment, loss. You could even use the word pruning. As I read John 15 over the last few weeks, I discovered that God only prunes what is already bearing fruit. God does that to bear more fruit. The fruit of the Spirit, Paul writes in Galatians, is love. And so it is true for a person, for a local church, for a denomination. Only love can save us. So let me encourage you in this way with a simple idea. One person who loves other people can make all the difference." (96 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "When I was appointed to this church by Bishop Kammerer, I asked the Staff Parish Relations Committee members, there were about 11 of them, if they would each make a list of five people that I should meet and listen to over the first three months. I said, not the officers, not the lawyers, That was all theiquester and the super-largest donors. Now let me quickly say I am all for leadership and I am all for financial giving, Amen. wanted them to list five people who were at the heart" (48 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "In the New Testament, there were two great commandments, a simplification of the 613 laws. Love God and love your neighbor. In our gospel lesson, Jesus says, Love one another. These two commandments define what sanctification means in our Methodist tradition. Not separation, not exclusion, loving God, loving our neighbor, and yes, loving ourselves." (44 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "How can the world believe in a God who is invisible? The answer he suggested, is in 1 John 4, 11 through 12. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and God's love is perfected in us. We experience the love of God through God's people. This love is a gift, but we must accept it. And this acceptance involves giving up on the idea that I can live the Christian life on my own, without community, apart from communion with others." (44 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "We are bowling, but we are bowling alone. It is all about the individual. On the way to licensing, commissioning, and ordination, we overcome the obstacle of individualism. Amen? We really do need each other. We cannot do it alone. So this evening, you are being set apart as a person. You are becoming more intentionally a part of the connection. And this is our way of understanding holiness. Holiness, our goal in this life, is about rediscovering our purpose in this life, which is love. God is love. Love is holiness. We love one another." (73 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "I shall endeavor to show that Christianity is essentially a social religion. And that to turn it into a solitary religion is to what? Destroy it. 1 John 5, 27-28. said there is no holiness but social holiness we are connected and the life that flows from the vine into the branches is a life of love we are grafted into each other into the tree of life to use another image from Scripture into the body of Christ to use another I cannot be a Christian without you and cannot be a Christian without me for some reason God designed it this way and so a part of our conversion is a conversion into the community the body the believers the household of God the core conviction is our need for a friendship with Jesus I am divine you are the branches he teaches his disciples we draw our strength our life from him apart from me he says you can do nothing this is connection with Jesus which can happen whenever two or three are gathered in his name this is the real presence of Jesus who loved us and gave himself for our you did for us the fountain filled with blood the vine pouring life into the branches the teacher who said you have heard it said but I say to you love one another we are a holiness movement holiness is not separation holiness is not exclusion Jesus is the vine we are the branches God is the vine we are the sig接 branches" (157 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Only love can save us. I actually preached a sermon with that title on the Sunday I came back from being a delegate to the 2004 General Conference, which was in Pittsburgh. And I believe the text is the same as the Bible. And more recently, I have attached a thought to that. And here it is. Love is hard. Law is easy. Love is hard. I can be a hateful person And keep the law. But love is hard. Jesus said very little about law. He talked a lot more about love. And Love one another, he teaches. This is who we are. We're people who love each other." (70 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
### Quotes for Members
1. "Years ago, I heard a talk by the British evangelist, John Stott. And he posed a provocative question. It's even more relevant now in our postmodern culture. He asked the question, how can the world believe in an invisible God? The answer he suggested, is in 1 John 4, 11 through 12. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and God's love is perfected in us. We experience the love of God through God's people. This love is a gift, but we must accept it. And this acceptance involves giving up on the idea that I can live the Christian life on my own, without community, apart from communion with others." (44 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "I think of the two men who stood with me when I was ordained on this stage 38 years ago right there. Neither served the largest churches of our conference. One was happily married. One never married. At times, they both sensed that they were not in favor with the conference power structure. I know that's a weird thing for a bishop to say, but they do exist, I suppose. But at the same time, that didn't dominate their lives or ministries. In their vocations, they mentored me. They, they loved me. They never said that. They never said, Ken, I love you. But they lived it by how they included me, by opportunities they gave me or difficult situations they pushed me toward, by how they spent time with me. Today, we might say they were holding space for me. Or as Ronald Heifetz of Harvard would say, they were creating a holding environment for me so that I could grow and take the next step. It was a way I knew that I was loved. And it gave me a model on how to love other people. This is what Jesus did for us." (115 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "Love is not sentimentality. That's not what I'm talking about. I remember my wife, Pam, and I were watching a country music video a few years ago on television. Actually, I was watching it. She was sitting there doing something else. And a woman was singing the phrase, my baby loves me just the way that I am. My baby loves me just the way that I am. My baby loves me just the way that I am. Well, by this time, this had gotten my wife's attention. And she looked at the television and she rolled her eyes. And she said, that woman has gigantic blue eyes and maybe an ounce of body fat. What's not to love? reality, love is not easy. It's not. John 15 flows out of John 13. really dark chapter in the Gospels. Betrayal, abandonment, and loss. we confess that we do this work now amidst a ministry narrative, a national narrative, a personal narrative, a denominational narrative of betrayal, abandonment, loss? We have lived through a long, hard time as a denomination. Lawsuits, complaints, being the subject of misleading videos, videos that get many thousands of views. we could trace the longer, heavier, very different, more profound, long, hard time back to 1844, or 1939, or 1972, or 2019. we could go back centuries. could go back centuries. We have lived through this, the people called Methodist. I have lived through this. I bear in my body the marks of all of this. And many of you do as well. But I have no doubt that it has been worth it if we can be a community that spreads scriptural holiness, which is to say that increases the love of God. and neighbor." (180 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "The answer to the question who is important is the question of identity. But there's another question, and that is when. The time you happen to be licensed, commissioned, or ordained. That's understanding the moment, the season in which we live. It is a season of betrayal, abandonment, loss. You could even use the word pruning. As I read John 15 over the last few weeks, I discovered that God only prunes what is already bearing fruit. God does that to bear more fruit. The fruit of the Spirit, Paul writes in Galatians, is love. And so it is true for a person, for a local church, for a denomination. Only love can save us. So let me encourage you in this way with a simple idea. One person who loves other people can make all the difference." (96 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "When I was appointed to this church by Bishop Kammerer, I asked the Staff Parish Relations Committee members, there were about 11 of them, if they would each make a list of five people that I should meet and listen to over the first three months. I said, not the officers, not the lawyers, That was all theiquester and the super-largest donors. Now let me quickly say I am all for leadership and I am all for financial giving, Amen. wanted them to list five people who were at the heart" (48 seconds)(Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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