John 15:9-17.

Today we are gathered to remember all those who gave their lives in war, for those who served and for those who are still serving in conflicts across the world.  For those that gave up their freedom so that we could live.  We remember them with gratitude for what they achieved and what their service enabled.  We also remember those who were conscripted to fight, the civilians caught in the crossfire and all those who served in reserved occupations.  This morning truly is a time to stop, to pause and to reflect. 

Sadly, it is all too clear from the wars raging this morning around this, our broken world, that an end to ‘nation rising up against nation’ is still some way off.  The prophet Micah, who lived at a time of immense conflict envisioned a time where nations would turn their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks – when nations would no longer need to train for war.  His vision of peace was not naïve but prophetic – a call to change, to turn instruments of destruction into tools of renewal.  Yet it seems so unimaginable today that the countries of our world, who seem solely focussed on gaining power, security and resources, could ever lay down their weapons and live in peace.  Listening to the news brings word of new tensions, political divisions, social injustice and inequality.  Woodrow Wilson’s promise that the First World War would be ‘a war to end all wars’ was sadly so very ironic.  The world seems stuck, repeating the mistakes of the past in a never-ending spiral.

It is so easy to lose hope and to feel that things will never change.  However, as Paul reminds us in Romans, ‘if God is for us, who can be against us’, this is the hope that we share as a Christian community.  Through the suffering of Jesus, his death and resurrection we have a real and certain hope in the future.  A hope in God which is not dependent on humans, politicians, governments, or organisations.  Suddenly everything feels less bleak and we can see the flickering light of hope in a time where all seems to be in darkness.

John’s gospel reminds us of Jesus’s greatest commandment.  ‘To love one another as I have loved you.’

And today, on Remembrance Sunday, it made me wonder what the world might look like today if all citizens, politicians and leaders truly embraced this teaching.  If we truly respected and loved one another as equals would the world have gone to war in the first place…. 

However, what struck me afresh as I reflected on today’s reading were the words ‘abide in my love’.  Jesus compares his love for us with the love that the Father has for him.  Amid the noise of conflict and this time of remembrance, these words stop us in our tracks.  ‘Abide in my love’, what does it really mean to abide?  The word ‘abide’ means to remain, to stay, to be present and above all to be held.  Abide also suggests a need to patiently wait, to ask for the endurance to ride out the storms of life that try to separate us from God’s love.  Jesus uses the word abide to impress upon his disciples that he is not letting them go, his physical departure will not end his relationship with them.  He reassures them that he will abide with them, like a vine reaching out its branches, his love will surround and encircle them forever.  Jesus was with every person that cried out to him on the battlefield, in the trenches at sea and in the air, abiding with them in their moments of greatest fear and alongside them in their time of greatest need.

John’s gospel calls on us to bear that light, to follow Jesus’s example,

‘I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.’

Love is the fruit of an enduring relationship between the Father and the Son.  Jesus gave up his life for us so that we could come to know love, in the same way as he experienced his own Father’s love.

Thomas Aquinas wrote:  ‘The highest, the only proof of love is to love our adversary; as did the Truth himself, who while he suffered on the cross showed his love for his persecutors.  “Father forgive them, for them for they know not what they do”.’

Jesus teaches us that ‘no- one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’

Our reading today is part of Jesus’s farewell discourse to his disciples.  Jesus is preparing his disciples for the next chapter, the one in which they will be taking his teaching out into the world without him.  The disciples will encounter those that believe God’s word unquestioningly, those who challenge and those who openly condemn and hate them.  He calls on his disciples, just as he calls on us to forgive those that hate us.  Jesus lays down his life for his friends, to show that only by demonstrating love we can truly overpower our enemies.

 This passage calls us to a life of action, to actively demonstrate our love for others.    We are asked to show our love through our deeds, through our interactions and the choices that we make.  The strength of the love that we demonstrate is a vital resource in the face of the hatred and violence in the world.  We have been chosen, chosen by God but to abide in his love we must keep his most important commandment to love one another. 

St Paul reminds us that:

‘Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.’

Let us go out and share that love with one another, knowing love is always far stronger than hatred. 

I came across this beautiful blessing from Jan Richardson.  She is an artist, writer and minister in the United Methodist Church in Florida.  Her words seem to reflect both the need to abide in God’s love in times of challenge but also the importance of carrying that message of love and hope to others.