LOVE PEOPLE THE MOST by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Patti Lusher)

Jesus said:  "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  We have been talking for  several weeks now about some practices of Sabbath rest.  We understand that we somehow, naturally, seem to get our lives out of balance.  Our spirits get out of whack.  But Jesus seemed to know just what to do to keep his spirit centered and balanced. 

The model for spiritual balance comes right in the first story in scripture:  the story of creation, when God rested on the 7^th day and tells us also to have a rhythm of work and rest, or Sabbath.  I hope some of you have been doing some Sabbath practices, of simply taking time in the midst of your day or your week to stop, and be in the present moment and remember that you belong to God.  You don’t have to be busy all the time.  You can take 5 minutes to breathe, paying attention to your breath.   You can go take a walk in nature and be reminded of God’s beauty.

Another value of Sabbath people is that we don’t get so caught up in the race to gain material wealth.  For Jesus, people matter the most.  Jesus loved people the most.  He didn’t even own a house.   As far as we can tell, he probably only owned one tunic.  Love for God’s people was his only reason for living. 

I think Jesus would be appalled at the amount of time and energy we spend on working to pile up our wealth.  I believe he would say that the only reason to earn money is so that we can use it to help other people, and that gave him joy.  It made perfect sense to him.  Why would he need all that stuff?  Seriously!   John Wesley said earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.  What would Jesus do with a lot of stuff?

I gotta tell you, sometimes I wish I could be more like Jesus, because he had that Sabbath balance thing down.  Without all the stuff to weigh him down, he could travel light, see the world, and touch the lives of so many people.  He could be generous and ask God to use him to help others.  He allowed himself to be a gift.  What could be better than that?  I know it’s idealistic, but doesn’t it sound good?

Jesus invites us, then, as a Sabbath practice, to focus our energy on people rather than things – to remember that nurturing relationships with people is the most important thing we can do with our time. 

I want to tell you a story about a time when I got to nurture some young people.  When I was in seminary, my summer job was running an unusual summer camp.  It was a job camping with inner city kids on a lake north of Atlanta.  I am not a camper; my idea of camping is staying in an air-conditioned lodge.

In those days, we called these kids juvenile delinquents and some were foster children.  It was rustic camping on an undeveloped island, you know, digging your own latrine.  We got everything onto the island with a motorboat.   We swam and cooked our own food.  We had conversations around the campfire about self-esteem.  The main activity was to take these kids in the boat and teach them how to waterski.

I’ll never forget one young man, about 13 years old, who could not swim and was very clumsy.  When he got the skis on, they flopped around and he floundered.  But, when we finally got him up on those skis, he was the king of the world!  He wanted to do it so badly, and when he got up out of the water, he had a smile on his face and he was so proud of himself, because he had accomplished something he thought he never could.  His life was transformed. 

During those camps, we gave encouragement to a few kids who were having some struggles in their lives.  They needed some positive influence.  They needed to know that people cared about them.  They needed a relaxing vacation in God’s creation, away from the TV and the video games.  They needed to accomplish something.  They needed to feel respected and cared for.

A study done by Big Brothers Big Sisters a few years ago showed that if kids have one parent and just one other positive adult in their lives, it has a huge impact on whether or not they will avoid drug use, finish high school and not end up in jail.  Kids need relationships that are positive.  They need people in their lives who believe in them; that makes all the difference.

We all need that.  When we are struggling and even when we have something to celebrate, we need to have people around us who want to be there with us.

As Jesus was preparing his disciples, and letting them know he would not be with them much longer, he talked to them about relationships.  He said: “You have to take care of one another.” “Love people the most.”  Let those people see how much you love one another.  He did not say to love possessions.  He did not say get a good job and earn lots of money so you can buy a nice house and car.  He said: “Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

He knew the world would be watching them after he was gone.  Everyone would be watching them.   

Just like your friends who know you are a Christian, they watch you to see if your actions are like Jesus.  They want to see if we really love one another in a way that is genuine.  They are watching to see if we treat our children and our spouses in a way that is loving and Jesus-like.  They want us to show them how to be forgiving, and generous.  They want to see what grace looks like.  They want to see that our values really are different.

In our world we have some messed up value systems.  We give financial rewards to those who build empires, and invest money, to those who own real estate and sell us insurance and mutual funds.  We give rewards to those who make the best computers and smart phones and movies to entertain us and play sports for us to watch. 

We give very little pay to those who teach our children and care for our babies while we work, and to social workers and counselors who care for the most vulnerable.  People whose work is to build relationships, and to teach children and help vulnerable adults to have healthy relationships are undervalued, while we pay top dollar for the latest appliance and video gaming system. 

What is up with that?  I think if you look at the life of Jesus, you will see that he valued people over material stuff every time.  And yet, what do we do when we have a bad day? We treat ourselves with some retail therapy.  People go on vacations to go to outlet malls.

Now that’s not entirely true, I know.  Think about what you would do when you are in a real crisis.  Perhaps you are in the hospital, or you have to take your loved one to the ER. Maybe you lose your job with no warning.  Where do you turn for support?  I hope that you have one or more trusted friends, or family members who you can turn to.  I hope you have some sort of network of relationships that sustain you.  

I hope that you have friends here at The Village that you might call, because that is what it means for us to be a community for one another.  I hope that we are all looking around for people in our midst who might not be connected, or people we have not seen in awhile, and reaching out to those folks with a phone call or a text, to ask how they are doing.  When people are not here, it is easy for them to feel forgotten.  It means so much when someone other than the pastor reaches out. People matter the most.

I want to take you back to that little boy that I helped teach to water ski.  I only had a short time to make an impact on his life.  I just have to trust that there were other people in his life who came along and encouraged him and helped him along the way to adulthood.

Who is in your life that needs encouragement?  Who do you know who is hurting right now?  Perhaps they are lonely; they have lost a job or gone through a break up.  Maybe they have an illness or a child that is hard to deal with.  Do you know someone like that?  Maybe it’s someone you used to spend time with, but you have sort of drifted apart.  Perhaps, if you’re honest, you got sort of tired of being around them because it’s such a downer. 

I wonder, as a Sabbath practice, could you, or would you, allow yourself to be a place of refuge for that person for an hour or two one day?  Of course, you are not going to tell them that.  But invite them to lunch, your treat.  Or better yet, invite them to your home for a meal.  Tell them you have been thinking about them.  Say a prayer for strength before you go.  Pray that God might surround that person with love and light.  Then just go spend some time with them.  Listen to them.  Be the presence of God for them.  It’s a different kind of Sabbath practice, but I assure you, it will be a time and space of holiness. 

Can you think of someone who has been this presence for you in your time of distress? They were just there with you, they gave you a refuge.  And now imagine a person that you could reach out to.  If you’re in a good place right now, is there someone you can offer a place of refuge to?  Let’s pray as we imagine how we might live out this Sabbath practice. Love people the most.