LOVE ONE ANOTHER By Kim Shockley

I know, I know - Love One Another sounds so “churchy” – why did we use this as a chapter title?  Well because, it is the central message of the Gospels!  We worked hard with this chapter to make sure that it got to the heart of Jesus’ message of love - that it is much harder than being “nice” to one another.  Being “nice” has that fake feel to it, that veneer that covers over my real thoughts and feelings in order not to upset the applecart or rock the boat.  Jesus’ call to love one another has a deeper, richer meaning that moves us to helping other people find the best within themselves and hold them accountable to living as Jesus’ taught.

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us of the fruit of God’s Spirit.  Christian A Schwarz’s book, The 3 Colors of Love, published by ChurchSmart Resources in 2004 lays out a new thought about this passage.  Schwarz suggests that in the original language there would have been no punctuation, so we typically read this passage – “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  What would happen if we read it like this – “The fruit of the Spirit is love:  (exemplified by) joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  How can we love joyfully, peacefully, with patience and kindness, generously, faithfully, gently and with good self-control?

At the end of the day, this chapter is about how well we can love the people with whom we are in ministry so that they can find the joy of God’s call in their own lives and help them to find ways to live out this call in fruitful ways.  The chapter provides suggestions for how this can be lived out in your congregation.

As long as you continue to be “nice” with people, you will continue to have difficult relationships and behaviors within the church that keep you (individually and corporately) from focusing on God’s desires for God’s church in your community.

Questions for consideration:

What is one step you could take today that would help you to love someone else gently?

Who is one person for whom you have a sense of God’s call upon their life – how can you share this insight with them?

How could you paint a picture of Jesus’ kind of love for your congregation?  What would be the obstacles to putting this into action?