Delivered by Amy Higgins on September 17, 2023

Scripture: Romans 13:8-12

One day my dad was sitting at an intersection waiting to pull into a restaurant and a man standing on the corner asked him for money. Money could be tight for my family at times but still, dad replied, “You can go inside with me and I’ll buy you breakfast.” Agape. They went in the restaurant, a regular spot for my dad where he knew the owner well. The owner, sensing the situation, did not charge my dad for the other man’s food. Agape. A man named Billy, spoke at the double funeral of his parents. And as he spoke of the storm that caused the car wreck that took their lives, he spoke of the tree in his parents’ yard that had also been felled by the storm. He then announced to the gathered mourners, “I don’t know who cut it up and hauled it off but, thank you.” Agape. A container of soup or a casserole in a time of sickness or struggle. Agape. Unexpected texts or cards in the mail saying you are prayed for. Agape. A spontaneous gift of a visit and a loaf of fresh bread just because. Agape.

There are many types of love, with names, not surprisingly, of Greek origin. There’s eros which is physical love that involves romance. Philia is affectionate love mostly associated with friendship. Familial love is called storge. And there is agape, the unconditional, sacrificial love that expects nothing in return. It is possible to feel all these types of love or any combination of them for another person. But their strength and enduring power lie in agape. And Christians know agape well in God’s love and the love of Christ’s sacrifice for us. It is the love we are called to give.   

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40) Six hundred and thirteen(613) Mitzvot, or Jewish laws, encapsulated by the first Ten Commandments, boiled down to these two rules which, as one of my favorite theologians, Mister Rogers, believed is really just one simple rule to live by – love.

Jesus does not rewrite the law. He merely simplifies it. All the laws come down to loving God and loving one another. If we truly love, we do not harm. Just as Jesus quoted Deuteronomy and Leviticus, Paul quotes Jesus in our Romans passage. “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, ‘You shall not murder’, ‘You shall not steal’, ‘You shall not covet’, and every other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor.” Love does not harm. But doing no harm is not always easy.

“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law.” In the Psalm we pray for guidance because we want to do God’s will. But, wanting to do God’s will and knowing what that is, is another matter. Our intentions may be in the right place but, we can be led astray by other, false gods. The god of greed, or elf-preservation, the god of self-righteousness and judgment, condemnation. “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things.” Turn us away from the false reward of self-satisfaction. The reward is not at the end of the deed. Even when we are truly doing God’s will, the reward is not in any recognition we may receive. The reward is in the loving. It is in the love between us.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor. And loving others, fulfilling the law, is less about our internal impurities than it is about our outer impurities – the way we treat one another. Christ gives us a new way to be in the world; a new way to live together, to relate to one another. In John Chapter 13, Jesus tells the disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love one another. Not judgment and condemnation disguised as love. And neither are we to love others to absolve ourselves from condemnation. We do not need to. Christ removed the condemnation. Loving one another is not something we have to do; it is what we get to do. 

We get to live together in this new way, to be reconciled to Christ and one another. But how can we be people of peace and reconciliation? How can we be places of peace and reconciliation for others? Paul has a few words at the beginning of the passage to help us with that. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” The continuing debt to love one another. It reminds me of the back and forth between friends picking up the check at lunch until one of us finally says “separate checks, we’re even”. But the debt of love can never be paid in full. We should never believe it can be paid in full nor should we ever expect to see a payment from someone else. But, it is this never ending debt which reconciles us to one another. It is the debt of love that provides care and support, accountability instead of judgment, helps us resolve disagreements, and gives us a home and family. As was shared in the closing remarks of Fairview’s Homecoming message in 2013 by Mrs. Viola Owen, “Today as I look upon this place called Fairview, I feel a special sense of God’s presence. Through the good and the sad times we have always united together as a church family.”

There is something truly special about this home and family called Fairview. I felt it as soon as I arrived. And anyone who has ever spent any time here has surely felt it too. Yes, there are strong ancestral connections here, but we are all family by one blood. There is a deep legacy of faith and discipleship here but, most of all there is a beautiful legacy of love. “People Loving People” is not just a motto, it is who you truly are. And if Ten Commandments can be simplified to only two, I believe the three words that describe Fairview, “People Loving People”, can simply be put in a single word: Agape.