When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
What are some of your family rules - things you expect people in your family to - do, behave, respond, follow?
What does it feel like to be loved?
Jesus talks about love 4 times in this passage. He simplifies it all down into a new commandment: "“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.” We use the word “love” a lot - as in “I love hotdogs” or “I love my job”. How do you define love?
What would it look like if everyone/everywhere/all over the world felt loved and erred on the side of love? What do you think the world would be like?
To really understand love, we need to understand what love is. To understand what love is we need to understand what God says about it. We have a many ways of doing this. One obvious way is reading Scripture and seeing what love looks like through Jesus. Another way is experiencing God’s love and sharing God’s love through people. How have you been doing with either of these? What holds you back?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
What helps you feel grounded - stable, present, and sure-footed in who you are?
What leads you away from feeling grounded or centered?
What actions, emotions or qualities might you see in yourself when you feel grounded or centered, or in someone else, when you recognize that nature in them? Is being “centered” the same as being “grounded”?
Word became flesh. This week’s reading from John 1 expresses for us that God came into this messy world in a real and tangible way. God is present in real and tangible ways in our lives. And we know that messiness, chaos and brokenness are part of living too. Where might you recognize God’s presence in a part of your life that feels off-balanced, chaotic or broken?
We each identify God’s presence in different and personal ways, individual to our own experiences. And yet Jesus shows us the importance of connection and relationship in illuminating God with us. How do these notions - God’s presence experienced personally, and God’s presence experienced in community - complement one another? Do they ever oppose one another?
