by Bishop Bill Gohl
For many of us, the sacrifices of love are part of our ordinary way of life: spouses set aside their selfishness for the good of their beloved; parents constantly pour out their very lives to provide for the needs of their children; all of us tend the needs of friendship and family; and our congregations are full of sacrificial examples of gentle and quiet acts of love for the neighbor. We must never tire of doing good; never falter in our Christian commitment to loving God and neighbor, despite the cost or the fear of the unknown in these uncertain times in which we live.
This Lent, I urge you to find new ways of giving of your time, talent, and treasure. The needs in our congregations are great; the ministries we share in the larger life our synod and church are starved for much needed resources; and the needs in our local communities increase each day. We must put our love into action even further, reaching out to those who are quickly and carelessly overlooked. The gifts given to you by God are the gifts our world needs today more than ever. Before us every day are presented many concrete situations which demand genuine acts of love.
The small sacrifices we make for Lent have the potential to bear large consequences for the common good. When I was a kid, we had dime cards – and I still remember the year our congregation's dime cards were enough to sponsor a refugee family from Ethiopia's flight to a new life in the United States. I never looked at a dime card (or a quarter card – and even now a dollar card) the same way. Many small sacrifices make a difference...they certainly made a difference for Senkon and his family in 1986!
In baptism we are called to proclaim and to share the love of Christ with the words and actions of our lives. At times, the calling to love invites us to challenge and correct, to teach and inspire, to encourage and care for others; while being chastened, humbled and corrected ourselves. Ours is the responsibility to bring God's justice to society, even when such justice is misunderstood or even rejected.
As we walk our Lenten journey, be renewed in baptismal grace and return to the baptismal covenant; continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism: to live among God's faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord's supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth. Our world is in desperate need of hearts that see beyond self to the needs of the common good.
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. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 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. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. - 1 John 4:7-21