Love Without Borders

(Scriptures:  Acts 10:44-48; I John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17)

The organization Doctors Without Borders describes itself as “an international medical humanitarian organization working in nearly 70 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.” The organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people in crisis without regard to race, religion, or political affiliation. The success of Doctors Without Borders has inspired other professionals, such as Architects Without Borders and Engineers Without Borders, to use their varied skills and training to provide humanitarian assistance to persons in crisis, without regard to nationality, literally providing humanitarian aid across national and cultural lines; in short, assistance without borders.

This coming Thursday, May 17 is Ascension Day, when we remember that Jesus, in the words of the Apostles Creed, “ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Since this church has not traditionally held Thursday Ascension Day services, we will read the Ascension Day texts next Sunday.

Today’s readings from John’s Gospel are part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples, before his betrayal in the garden. Time was fleeting, and the time for small talk was past, and so in the remaining time, Jesus underscored what was most important. Time was fleeting, time was short, and so Jesus used the time remaining to leave his disciples with words to guide them when he would no longer be with them.

And what Jesus left his disciples was an appeal to their love for Jesus, and a command to love one another in the same way Jesus had loved them. “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” This love isn’t a matter of emotions – which come and go – but of will and commitment. Sort of like the love between spouses or longtime partners, which goes on even through those moments when one spouse or partner may be working the other’s last nerve. Or the love between parent and child, when love continues, even during those times when they may find little to like about one another. In the short time left to him, Jesus sketched out his vision for the quality of community his disciples would create, a community grounded in mutual love. And, indeed, more than 100 years after this conversation, outsiders to the Christian community would comment, “See how these Christians love one another.”

Jesus’ command for us to love one another is a great challenge – especially since, given the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the world, we don’t know who will be called into the Christian community. Jesus doesn’t call us to be a small, closed community, a holy huddle, barricaded against outsiders, but a community that’s always ready to welcome the stranger, always ready to embrace the spirit of God working within each of those whom God sends our way. Remember our reading from last Sunday – Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. Those branches that bear no fruit will be cut off from the vine. And in order to bear fruit, we must welcome and love those whom God sends to us. Otherwise, we will rapidly dry up, shrivel up, and fall from grace.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another.” The Christian church extends beyond our door; indeed, the table of the Lord extends around the globe. We may well ask, “How can we love those whom we have never met.” The familiar words of the prophet Micah provide the answer: What does the Lord require – that we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Doing justice, acting in mercy, creating a society grounded in justice and mercy, are ways God has provided us to act in love toward those whom we’ll never meet. To use a popular phrase, as Christians, we are called to think globally and act locally. We must act in love toward those brothers and sisters right in front of us, and act in ways that are just and merciful to those whom we will never meet, but who just as surely are sister and brother to each of us.

Of course, today is Mother’s Day, founded by Anna Jarvis, who is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, just outside the city. Anna’s mother, Ann Jarvis, was inspired by Julia Ward Howe’s Mothers Day Proclamation – which is at the end of this post – to work for peace and reconciliation, as she tended to wounded Union and Confederate veterans alike, without regard to which side they had taken in the Civil War. Ann Jarvis died in 1905, and her daughter Anna Jarvis campaigned to establish Mothers’ Day to honor her mother – and by extension, the radical vision of Julia Ward Howe’s proclamation. President Woodrow Wilson established Mothers Day as a national holiday – but it rapidly became a windfall for sellers of flowers, candy, and greeting cards, so much so that Anna Jarvis rapidly became embittered that it so quickly became a Hallmark holiday, so much so that indeed by the end of her life, Anna Jarvis campaigned against it. Anna Jarvis especially detested commercial Mothers Day cards. As she wrote: “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.”

So on this Mother’s Day, 2012, I would challenge us to look beyond the Hallmark holiday that Mothers’ Day has become, to see the vision that Julia Ward Howe espoused – a vision in which the mothers of one country would refuse to send their sons off to kill the sons of mothers in other countries, a vision in which mothers around the globe would work for peace and justice. May we in the church join Doctors Without Borders, Architects without Borders, and Engineers without Borders, to offer Love Without Borders. I can think of few better ways to honor the original intent of Mothers’ Day – and the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ to love one another. Amen.

Mother's Day Proclamation (Julia Ward Howe, 1870)
 
Arise then...women of this day!


Arise, all women who have hearts!

Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:

"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,

Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,

For caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country,

Will be too tender of those of another country

To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."



From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with

Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out dishonor,

Nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil

At the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home

For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means

Whereby the great human family can live in peace...

Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,

But of God -

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask

That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,

May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient

And the earliest period consistent with its objects,

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

The amicable settlement of international questions,

The great and general interests of peace.