LOVE, Everyone, Always

“What does it mean to see each person as Jesus does?” The church in Chicago asked this question amid the rising ugliness of last fall and initiated a city-wide campaign to hear Jesus’ mountainside teaching, In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets in short, Love Everyone, Always. This is what disciples of Jesus do, someone has likely been a saint for each one of us who live as a Christian. Who is your saint?

Mr. Spillers was a great saint, I like to think of him as my patron saint of finances. He taught me much about the way a faithful person responds to God’s grace. I remember getting ready to go to seminary and asking him to help me learn about my finances so that I could determine if going away to school would be feasible. He asked me to keep a spending record. He held me accountable for that work and showed me an honest picture of what money came in and where it was spent. He was loving and kind and generous. Mr. Spillers and I could have had differing goals for my finances, we could have voted differently at the polls, we may even have had conflicting understandings about how God’s grace works for salvation; I will never know. What I will remember is his love for me and teaching me about things he knew more about than I did. I will remember the way he respected me, welcomed me, helped me forgive myself and receive God’s forgiveness, the way he served me from his prayers, presence, gifts and witness. Mr. Spillers was a disciple and displayed the image of God.

During the next 5 weeks, we are going to learn about Jesus’ compassion toward our broken world and how we too can look into the eyes of everyone we encounter in this broken world and act with love. Please join us in worship as we strive toward Easter. Join us in the special worship services of the Lenten season for repentance, renewal and community and may you be well.