Sermon: "The Love Connection"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

The reading from Acts this morning represents part of a series of chapters that tell the dramatic story of the early Church’s rapid growth. It’s a story of excitement, of new converts, of authentic outreach, and of faithful evangelism. In short, it’s a story that bears little resemblance to the lives of most churches with which most of us are familiar these days.

Of course, the world was different then. Christianity was brand new. In fact, our reading from Acts referred to the experience of the disciples in Antioch, where they “were first called ‘Christians’”(11:26). Surely the environment of the day promoted curiosity about this new movement. Many people probably flocked to the disciples just to discover what was going on. In fact, we do not know about how many curiosity-seekers continued to worship with this new group. That is, we have no statistics or parochial reports about the early church’s retention rate … about the success or failure in incorporating those new members into the church’s life.

Since then, the church has changed a great deal indeed. For instance, we’ve become organized as a community of faith, with creeds and with the identification of the canon – or, the books of holy scripture. At one point, we even became officially established by order of Constantine, the Holy Roman Emperor. That establishment of Christianity dramatically changed our history because from that time on, our religion was accepted and approved – both on the other side of the Atlantic and, later, on this side as well. Also since those early days, Christians have squabbled and feuded, divided and subdivided, into denominations and all kinds of groups that feel strongly about some particular doctrine or practice or distinction.

What is it, then, that connects us back to the church of the book of Acts? Are we able to claim our heritage with any degree of integrity? If we lived in Antioch today, would our fellow citizens still call us “Christians”? Do we today have the expectation of excitement felt by the early church? Do we seek opportunities to welcome new converts, to practice authentic outreach, and to engage in faithful evangelism? In short, are we inheritors of the faith of the book of Acts?

It seems to me that what connects us to the early church – and to the justification for our self-description as Christians – is the love that we share with the world. Both the reading from the First Letter of John and the one from St. John’s Gospel clearly indicate love’s centrality for those who follow Christ. Even though our two thousand-year history has not always exemplified love in practice, still such love does indicate our fundamental reason for being.

In the First Letter of John, we read, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love”(4:7-8). And, then later, “We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen”(4:19-20).

Then, in today’s Gospel, “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide n my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love”(Jn 15:9-10). And, then later, “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another”(Jn 15:16-17).

All those are familiar words, are they not? Yet, we should not let their familiarity detract from their truthfulness. God loves us. God loves you. God is the source of love, for “God is love.” God – who is love – came into the world in the person of Jesus. And that love was and is directed at each one of us.

When we realize that – when we know it and accept the truth of it – then, as the song says, we have to pass it on. As followers of Jesus Christ, as ones who claim to be his disciples, we put ourselves in step with the One who came into the world as the personification of God’s love. That’s the way we choose as Christians. For us there can be no other way but the way of Jesus … the path of love.

If and when the world knows us as Christians by our love, then we will sense the excitement of the church’s early years of faith. Then we will welcome new converts who clamor to join the life we live. Then we will practice authentic outreach and faithful evangelism in obedience to our Lord, who personifies love. It’s all about love, my friends.

In summary, then, the One whose way we follow is quite clear to us, in terms of the lives we are called to live as we follow him. “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

Copyright © 2003 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee