Love One Another
- Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans
- a few seconds ago
- 3 min read
John 13:34–35
Near the end of the Last Supper, after Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, he tells them, “Love one another as I have loved you.” The Greek word here, allelon, means “one-anothering.” This word appears over a hundred times in the New Testament. Jesus tells us to:
Wash one another’s feet.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
Do not judge one another.
Be at peace with one another.
Build up one another.
Be devoted to one another.
All this is to be done in the same manner that Jesus has done for us.
“One-anothering” is the quintessence of our stewardship theme Faith in Action, and it is our mission here at Brick Church. It gives biblical meaning to our two primary initiatives as a congregation:
To be a spiritual home for all people, and
To be a beacon of hope.
These are not simply something that we dispense as if we’re handing out goodies at Halloween. No, this fuses our community with other communities. It creates a bond bythe power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus gives us an impossible task: “Love one another as I have loved you.” We know we can’t do it, but because of the gift of Kamauru Johnson and Ruben Nuño, we can make a more faithful attempt.
I met Kamauru last year, and when he unfolded his vision for Summer Steps, I was in awe because, perhaps without even realizing it, he articulated exactly Jesus’ call. Summer Steps has been an incredible program whose mission is to help equip children to attend some of the greatest schools in the world that are found here in New York City. But largely, this has been a mission to these children and their families. But his vision—the goal is to create community through this program, to forge relationships between Brick and these families, to help make them a part of us, and so we have expanded the table of love and fellowship. No longer will this be a program to a group of children; rather, we will forge deeper community across cultures—in other words, “one-anothering.”
Ruben Nuño has been a colleague and friend ever since I came to New York City, and his incredible creativity and passion for communities of deepest need have inspired me and inspired our church members. He has inspired us to put our faith in action because that small congregation, Church of the Living Hope, has been a beacon of hope for decades and decades in the manner that we aspire to. If we want to do as Jesus has done for other people, then we want to listen and learn from Ruben and Church of the Living Hope. This is the essence of the gospel.
It is not simply about doing good. It is about growing our spirits to more reflect the Spirit of Christ. And so, when we turn our mission work into relationship work—the work of growing our friendships—we not only help put food in someone’s stomach, we help put Jesus in our souls.
The very nature of God is multifaceted. God cannot be understood or known from just one perspective. In the Christian faith, we say that God is Trinitarian: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And when we say that God is love, we mean that this loving relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has existed from all eternity. You and I and our culture have one amazing and profound picture of this loving God, but it is only a piece—it is only a part.
And when we forge connections with Church of the Living Hope, with the community of Summer Steps, we see and encounter more of God. We become immeasurably enriched by the character, the wisdom, the intelligence, and the uniqueness of the children and the parents of Summer Steps and the congregation of Church of the Living Hope. By putting our faith into action, we discover more and more what it is to love one another as Jesus has loved us. Amen.