02/07/2024 0 Comments
Thought for the week - 9 May 2021
Thought for the week - 9 May 2021
# Thought for the week

Thought for the week - 9 May 2021
Readings:
Acts 10: 44-end;
Psalm 98;
1 John 5: 1-6;
John 15: 9-17
Collect:
Risen Christ,
by the lakeside you renewed your call to your disciples:
help your Church to obey your command
and draw the nations to the fire of your love,
to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Reflection - Living in the World
The last few years around the globe has been dominated by various news headline events like Brexit, political tension in America stemming from the last presidential election, Black Lives Matter protests and the counter Black Lives Matter protests, the crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Uyghurs Muslims in China; this are just few events out of so many that has recently occurred.
In more recent time, we get regular reports of online abuse and discrimination suffered by sportsmen and sportswomen which last week led to a four day boycott of social media by football clubs, players, athletes and a number of sporting bodies to highlight the problems of discrimination and abuse in our society.
What these events have shown us is that we live in a world that is becoming increasingly divided and fractured along the lines of race, religion and political affiliations, that we live in a world that is increasingly enlightened than any time in the past, yet is also increasingly intolerant, uncompassionate and inconsiderate. I’m mindful that these are very harsh words and it is not my intention to paint a grim picture of the world, but we need to be realistic about the scale of this events and its impacts on people around the world. We don’t need to look too far to the injustice happening in our world; from the ever increasing gap between the rich and the poor, to the stigmatisation of people in low paid jobs and to derision of people living on benefit.
As Christians, the question then is how do we respond to all these things going on the world? How are we to live in the world even though we are not of the world? How can we make a positive difference in the world and how do we respond to the division and injustice that we see all around us?
I believe we will find the answer in the gospel for this week in John 15:9-17 where Jesus encouraged his disciples to “love each other as I have loved you”. The love that Jesus is talking about here is - love in action or agape love because it is more about “doing” than “feeling”. It doesn’t require that we approve of the actions of the person whom we love, or even that we enjoy their company. But It does require that we act toward that person—to demonstrate our love in some practical fashion. An agape person will do what is possible to feed the hungry and to give drink to the thirsty.
An agape person will do everything possible to welcome the strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the person in prison (Matthew 25:31-46). The agape person has little or nothing to gain by helping these hungry, thirsty, strange, naked, imprisoned people. The thrust of his/her agape love is giving, not getting.
These are what our response should be to all things around us that is causing division and disunity in our society. We are called the “Ambassadors of Christ” in the bible, which means that we represent Jesus Christ wherever we are and we are to do exactly what Jesus would do if he is standing in our place witnessing all that is going in the world today. I’m sure that Jesus was well aware that we are different in many
ways and he wasn’t expecting his disciples to agree on many things, but he was saying to them and to us today as well, that love is what we need to rise above our differences and other things in this world that separates us.
The world will never be perfect, but we can certainly make the world a better place if we (as Christians) live in love with everyone in obedience to the commandment of Jesus.
Adedayo Adebiyi
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