31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. ³² If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. ³³ 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.’ ³⁴ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Somewhere along the line we have allowed the meaning of love to change. Somewhere along the line the idea of love has become something that is supposed to make us feel good, or maybe put in a better way, not offend us.

For example, there was a bill that was voted on in the House of Representatives this past Thursday, HR 1592, which, ironically enough, was the National Day of Prayer. This bill is described as an update of hate crimes legislation written 40 years ago, during the fight for civil rights. The update portion is that sexual identity and preference have now been included to rest along side of race, creed, gender, and nationality as barometers of intent.

However, when viewed in another way, it is trying to legislate love. Many of its critics have said that if this legislation passes what is proclaimed from the pulpit, if it offends certain protected groups, could be deemed as hate speech. This means that those who make these statements that are deemed to be offensive would then be open to charges that could receive additional federal monies to prosecute the case.

Now I have a pretty good idea who this bill was targeted against. I pretty sure that it was created to put a muzzle on the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas (and their like) who has protested throughout the country with signs that states, and this is a quote, "God hates fags". I pretty sure that this self-professed ‘church’ was down in New Paltz when the mayor was officiating those same sex unions a few years back. That’s who this bill is targeting, and rightly so, because what that so-called church is spewing, is hate speech, and contrary to the Gospel of love that is of Jesus Christ.

Now is this bill going to become law? Probably not. Bush has already threatened a veto due to the fact that he feels that this law creates a two-tiered system of justice. But the fact that it was created shows you that there are people out there who are trying to dictate and legislate what love is, and they are able to do this because those who are to be the ones who live lives of love (that’s us, the Church in specific and people of faith in general) that we aren’t doing such a good job of actually living it. This sort of a law would not be needed if the Church and people of faith actually stood up and cared for our fellow sinners, instead of figuring that someone else (aka: the government) will do it for us. This sort of law would not be needed if love was more than just a word we spoke. There are a whole lot of folks who make the statement that the United States is a Christian nation. Can you blame people of unbelief for thinking that this claim doesn’t mean a whole lot when atrocities occur right underneath the Church’s nose (our nose) and we do nothing about it. There have been too many times when we have looked the other way when abuse takes place, when wrongs have been committed, when people have been hurt. The church is, yes, about forgiveness. It was not created to be a way to avoid the sins that are committed. Can you blame people outside of the church for not believing?

"The biggest reason for unbelief in the world today is Christians who declare the love of Jesus on their lips on Sunday morning and then proceed to head out in the world and do the opposite. That is what an unbelieving world simply cannot believe." The world cannot believe that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is anything but a shame when we as a people who declare our belief, don’t actually live it.

Now I recognize that when you’re sitting in a church pew you really don’t want to hear how the Faith has fallen short. After all, you’re here! So from one perspective, I’m preaching to the choir.

However, as I look at, where better a place to talk about this and what better a group to talk about this with. If you’re here then that means that your level of commitment is great enough to fight through all of the reasons (and excuses) that say, "I’m not going to make it to church today." If you’re here today then that means that you are open to following the movement of the Holy Spirit in your life. If you are here today, then that means you are open to the possibility of actually living the life of discipleship, a life that Jesus has told us, in the passage this morning, declares to the world, "that you love one another."

So what does that mean? What does it mean to really love one another? Well, to begin with, love is not simply something that makes everyone in the room feel good. Let’s be honest about it: sometimes love hurts. It hurts when we stand up and declare to those that we care about that what they are doing to themselves is destructive, and not only to themselves but ultimately to others. It hurts to actually communicate with those whom we care about because when we do that we open ourselves to the possibility that what we believe may be wrong and need to be changed. To truly love means that we allow ourselves to become vulnerable. Vulnerability is one of those traits that is tough to find in today’s world. And yet, as disciples, we are called to be vulnerable. Now mind you vulnerability is not weakness.

Look at Jesus. He was not weak. He didn’t role over when people questioned the Divine message that he was declaring. He stood for what was right and stood up in love.

At the same time he was vulnerable. In his vulnerability he wept when those around him were in pain. In his vulnerability he went to the cross so that we might have the opportunity to live eternally. The Communion meal that we will celebrate shortly is not a meal of weakness, but instead of a love that was so strong that it was able to make itself vulnerable.

That is the sort of love that Jesus is calling for us to live out in our daily actions. What did Jesus say in this morning’s passage? "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."

Are we going to be willing to lead in this way? Are we going to display to the world that not only do we say it, we actually try to do it? And I know, I absolutely know, that there are going to be times when we fall woefully short. I’m going to be right out leading the charge in those moments when we mess up, because I know that I have and I know that I will.

At the same time, I am not going to back away because of fear of the missteps that will come. If we lived a life that existed on that principle of fear then we would never do anything, at all, ever.

But that is not the life that is being placed before us. We are being called by the savior of all to "love one another", to love our neighbors, not the sin that is there in each of us (because we are all equally guilty in the eyes of God), but instead the person who God actually created. Is that incredibly difficult. O, yeah, because it’s real easy to not deal with all those people who don’t fit into the circle that we have created for ourselves. However, we have to stretch ourselves in our faith, and begin to actually love the world as we have been called to.

Can you blame people of unbelief for thinking that government is the only way to go? Not so long as people of faith speak of one life and live another. Let us, in the communities of which we are a part, lead in such a way that the world looks at us and asks, "How do they do it? How do they live such fulfilling lives?" Let us live lives in which the love of God flows outward to all our neighbors. That is what we are called to do, and that is what we can do, if we are willing to follow the Spirit of God.

Holy God, living in love with each other is so much easier said than done. And yet, that is the life that we are called to lead. Help us to step up to the realities of really living in love so that the world around us will understand, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are caring for all of God’s creation, and therefore all of God’s children. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.