Open to the Love of God - a Celebration of Community

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Savior of the world Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Thank you so much for being here today, as we continue our Canton Day Off celebration! On behalf of Pastor Margaret, myself, and the congregations of Canton-Scotland Presbyterian Church and Henrytown and Union Prairie Lutheran Churches, it is good and well that we are gathered together for worship as we commemorate Canton’s 140th Anniversary. The festivities throughout the weekend have included a barbeque contest, band performances, a parade, a 5K run, tours by the local historic society, and so much more. Through these events, we see the physical community coming together to celebrate who we are in light of our communal identity – where we remember 140 years of our history, and look to what the next 140 years will be like and what kind of community we desire to leave for our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, and for generations beyond that. Here in Canton, we know that it takes all types – mechanics, cooks, post office workers, nurses, educators, pastors, farmers, and so on – to make up our town. Otherwise, Canton wouldn’t be “Canton”. Our community is made up of a diversity of perspectives, beliefs, and thoughts that make our relationships rich. This town celebration is a witness to that. For 140 years, the community has done the work of being human – doing our best to care for one another, helping each other where and when we can, and loving each other – even if there are moments when we get it wrong.

God calls us together to remember the work of love in our Gospel text for today. We hear that God is glorified when we bear fruit and become disciples. Namely, God is glorified when we bear the fruits of love, of salvation, of mercy, and of grace. God is glorified when we become disciples – that is, learners – of the way of Jesus, of the ways that follow in his ministry of service and relationship to and for others. When we follow the commandment of Jesus to love and serve one another, we notice that in our Gospel story Jesus moves from calling us “servants” to “friends”, and I think that that language shift is significant in how we think about serving and belonging to one another. As a small town, I know that we feel many pressures – economically, relationally, and otherwise. We hear the stories and causes of population decline in our town and oftentimes we wonder – what will our future look like? What will our community leave behind for those who come after us? We face pressures and difficulties in our personal lives that make it easy to forget our reality as the people of God - that we are created to bear good fruit, to love the world, to love one another as God has displayed God’s love for us. As we celebrate this weekend, may we also remember our lives in relationship to one another: that as the community of Canton, we do well when we belong to each other, help each other, and lift up others.

I think that many of us have had experiences in our lives when we see that authentic love – love that shows a genuine concern for another human being, love that expresses empathy, love that promises to stick with us in the midst of our darkest nights – we see that authentic love is not always easy. Love sometimes calls us to confront difficult truths about ourselves and our world and our community, but always in a way that sees the pathway forward to salvation, to the fullness of human flourishing. When Jesus in our texts talks about abiding in love, he means that we keep with one another, even when the going gets tough, even when times are difficult, even if a relationship appears fractured amongst division or misunderstanding. When we keep with one another, we enter into a holy space, where we desire to see one another reflect fully the person God created us each to be. Love in this way is not easy, but loving one another – as families, as neighbors, as community in the midst of this complex world will always, always prove its worth.

There is a beautiful promise in this text – that when it feels like we cannot bear the responsibilities that come with loving one another authentically or well, God promises to work within us – because God has called us and chosen us, not the other way around. God promises to help us bear with one another. With God working among us, Jesus promises us that the world will not remain as it is now – that the greater realities of love, mercy, and hope will win the day. As we remember Canton’s past, might we also be intentional about crafting a vision of the future that is wide – wide and open to the love of God, the reality that God calls us friends, and the belief that Christ welcomes us to serve all people. Thanks be to God. Amen.