This morning we find ourselves focusing on a hymn that is a little bit more recent, one that you most likely remember singing as a child or with your children.  During the 1960s, 70s, and even on into the present day, “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love” has been the anthem for Jesus’s People across the world.  But few know the song’s author was an unknown Catholic Priest from Chicago, Peter Scholtes.

Father Scholtes’ South Side parish (St. Brendan’s, which closed its doors in 1988) was located in a mostly black area of the city, leading him into involvement with civil rights and other social issues of that time.  His musical abilities and social conscience led him to — when realizing there wasn’t a music reflecting what he felt was necessary — to create an entire about himself,  using St. Brendan’s choir to sing.  That 1968 album carried the same title as his most well-known song.

Little did he know that his title song would also become the anthem for the 1960s Jesus movement, and one of the great anthems for the Church Militant ever since.  Scholtes later would leave the priesthood to marry and write two well-known books on leadership.  But it is doubtful that any single thing he did bore as much an impact as “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love” — a song he wrote in one day.

We are all familiar with the 10 commandments, but Jesus reminds us in the bible that he has given us a greater commandment.  In the 13^th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says,

“A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another as I have loved you.” Seems rather simple; sounds pretty easy to do but yet it is a near impossible task that Jesus has set before those who would follow him.  What exactly is love?  How do you define it?  How do you know you’ve given it or received it?  “Love one another as I have loved you”.  Well, it’s easy for Jesus to say, great commandment to impart, sounds like something that should framed and hung by a door.  But what does it mean for us?  What does it mean to love as Christ loves?

It is the same way with God.  We are…each one of us… every day of our lives surrounded by love.  We are all givers and receivers of love every moment of our lives, the problem is that most of the time we tend not to see it.  To experience love, to receive and to give love, is to have the Spirit of Christ’s love inside of you.  In those times and places where you say, I will forgive you no matter what.  I will love you no matter what. I will care for you no matter what.

I will be with you no matter what.  Those are our ‘Big’ acts of love. And then there are the random acts of love by God; a sunset, the coming of spring, the gift of each other, Jesus.  Acts of that that remind us no matter who we are we are all loved; that we are each one of us a precious child of God and hold a place in the Divine heart.

But Jesus holds out to us a new kind of love.  Jesus invites us to go beyond the circle of those who love us, to open doors that we have closed against others; to remove the blinders that we wonder through life sometimes with.  Jesus’ invitation to love one another as I have loved you means that we must have our eyes open to a love that we might otherwise over look; that the poor in the world belong to our family; that those who live in despair might be saved by our care for them; that small insignificant me can make a difference in a world seemingly bent on destruction and division.

As Christians sometimes we are anything but the embodiment of love. We sometimes forget Jesus’ commandment to love one another.  We are quick to judge and quick to dismiss.  We use our words to hurt one another instead of using them to praise God.  Two weeks ago, a young woman called the church wanting to know if I would preside over her wedding as the pastor of Zion.  She was apprehensive because she called several churches in the area and they all refused to marry her because she and her fiancé were already expecting their first child.

I am always proud to be called a Christian when we can invite those who have been rejected to a place at the table.  She may never call back, she may never darken the door of a church, but she knows in no uncertain terms, that the love of Christ dwells here in this place.
Let me repeat that, THE LOVE OF CHRIST DWELLS HERE IN THIS PLACE.  No matter our differences, no matter where you have come from, no matter what you have done or haven’t done, no matter who you think you are…..God’s love is for you, as his most precious child.