Love, Pure And Simple.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." -First John 4:18

In this past Sunday's sermon, Pastor Sam reminded us of the elements of our mission and vision statements. I'm reminded of Second Peter 1:12. "So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have." Friends, it's a very good thing to be reminded.

And, it's a very good thing to be reminded at the beginning of the year. Why? Because, frankly, some of us may have forgotten why we are attending this church in the Northeast Bronx. Or, worse, some of us may be attending for the wrong reasons.

As we begin this week's blogs, let's ask some hard questions and answer them honestly. Here's one for today.

-If you are attending this church in the Bronx but you live in, say, Brooklyn, how do you express the love of Jesus to the local community that surrounds our church? How can you be influential if your only contribution to the community is taking up a parking space for a few hours on a Sunday?

By the way, this question also applies to those of us who live in the Bronx. We must have a voice, a presence, an influence, that is outside of the four walls of the church.

The love of Christ, His unending love, extends not just to those we know. As Pastor Sam shared on Sunday, we are called to love the unlovely; to give gifts to those who despise us; to bless those who curse us. It's easy to do when the love that is in you is the love of Christ. The Scripture says, "Whoever loves God must also love his brother" (First John 4:21): there are no qualifiers, no list of exceptions.

John, we love you.
Simon, we love you.
Judas, we love you.
Herod, we love you.
Why? Because Jesus loved us first. That is why we love you without regard to whether you return the love.

Love. Pure and simple.