{"id":5501,"date":"2018-05-06T12:27:33","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T17:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/?p=5501"},"modified":"2020-04-14T08:38:27","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T13:38:27","slug":"as-i-have-loved-you-may-62018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/2018\/05\/as-i-have-loved-you-may-62018\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;As I have Loved You&#8221;  May 6,2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"io-ox-screens\" class=\"abs\">\n<div id=\"io-ox-windowmanager\" class=\"abs\">\n<div id=\"io-ox-windowmanager-pane\" class=\"atb\">\n<div id=\"window-0\" class=\"window-container io-ox-mail-window chromeless-window\" data-window-nr=\"0\" data-app-name=\"io.ox\/mail\">\n<div class=\"window-container-center\">\n<div class=\"window-body classic-toolbar-visible\">\n<div class=\"abs window-content vsplit preview-none\">\n<div class=\"rightside mail-detail-pane selection-one preview-visible\" data-page-id=\"undefined\/detailView\">\n<div class=\"thread-view-control abs back-navigation-visible\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n<nav class=\"back-navigation generic-toolbar\">\n<div class=\"button\"><a class=\"back\" href=\"https:\/\/connect.xfinity.com\/appsuite\/#\"><i class=\"fa fa-chevron-left\"><\/i>\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<\/nav>\n<div class=\"thread-view-list scrollable abs\">\n<div class=\"thread-view list-view\">\n<article class=\"list-item mail-item mail-detail f6-target focusable expanded\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-cid=\"default0\/INBOX.653948\" data-loaded=\"true\">\n<header class=\"detail-view-header\">\n<div class=\"detail-view-row row-4 clearfix\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled actions pull-right\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201c&#8230;as I have loved you.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>John 15:9-17 <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Chilmark Community Church<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">May 6, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Rev. Vicky Hanjian<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Sometimes it is just good to sit with a Bible passage for awhile and watch what begins to percolate just by virtue of re-reading the words.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I think<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>the adult study group does this occasionally when they use a method of meditation on the scriptures called <i>\u201clectio divina\u201d &#8211;<\/i> the practice of reading the same text multiple times, perhaps in different voices and allowing time for silence and reflection and insight between readings.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s what I ended up doing as I prepared to write today\u2019s thoughts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">As I read today\u2019s verses, I found that with repeated readings my attention<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>kept coming back to the same phrase again and again:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>&#8230;\u201das I have loved you.\u201d <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>They are the second half of Jesus\u2019 commandment: \u201cLove one another &#8211; &#8211; as I have loved you.\u201d <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>And I began to ask the question \u201cHow did Jesus love his disciples?\u201d <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>What were the ways in which he loved them that he wanted them to emulate in their love for one another?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>And what guidance do Jesus\u2019 ways of loving his disciples give to us as we try to love one another as he loves us? <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>As I read the familiar stories over again, I was impressed by how down to earth and practical the ways are in which Jesus demonstrated what he meant by wanting us to love each other as he loves us.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Nothing fancy or unobtainable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">One of the first things I came across was an impressive<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>bit of the wisdom he imparted to them along the dusty roads of Galilee:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span><i>Don\u2019t make a big show of your religious piety in front of other people to impress them. <\/i> Given who he was and who he would become, this was a very loving bit of guidance for his friends.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He seemed to want them to know that being pious in front of other people isn\u2019t always the best way of being loving toward them.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>This was a simple but profound example of his way of loving his friends.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It seems like he was saying it is far more important to simply be with others in a kind and compassionate way rather than trying to \u201csave their souls,\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>that sometimes religious piety can really get in the way of being<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>loving toward other human beings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Jesus taught his disciples to pray &#8211; again, not in a terribly pious way &#8211; just a simple instruction: \u201cWhen you pray, pray this way:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name&#8230;..<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>And in the process of teaching them to pray, he taught them about forgiveness&#8230;..that it is our responsibility to be forgiving &#8211; &#8211; to wrestle with what it means to forgive when we have been transgressed upon and to realize that we too need to be forgiven &#8211; repeatedly and often.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I hadn\u2019t thought about it before, but this was an incredibly loving thing to do &#8211; to teach his friends about the centrality of forgiveness in loving as he did.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It is a way in which we have experienced his loving us down through the centuries.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It is a way in which we are to love each other as he loves us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Jesus taught his followers about priorities &#8211; not to worry about whether they had the right clothes to wear or whether they would have enough to eat and drink. On Thursday, I was walking with my rabbi buddy, Lori Shaller.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Our conversation went to the vacation Armen and I are anticipating &#8211; &#8211; thinking about what to pack and what to leave behind and the inconvenience of having to make do with less in order to avoid paying for checked luggage and so forth.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Suddenly we realized that we were only trying to solve a very 1st world problem in our conversation in a world where so many human beings cannot even dream of a vacation much less worry about what to take and what to leave behind.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Even today, this simple teaching may help us to set our own priorities as we find our way through modern concerns about the distribution of wealth and about our food and energy consumption in a world where people pack everything they own in a blanket to flee to a place of safety &#8211; not knowing where their next meal will come from.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Jesus taught his friends that worrying about anything was wasted energy.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>A corollary teaching might be that if you are worried or anxious about anything in life, take a small bit of action in the direction of the source of the anxiety and watch what happens when you begin to take charge.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Being able to convey this truth to one another in any kind of crisis or anticipated crisis is a gift of love.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps it helped to assuage the anguish and fear the disciples felt as they mourned their dearest friend\u2019s death on the cross.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In their fear and anxiety about the future, Jesus gave them word to do.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In the process of taking action, they became courageous &#8211; &#8211; able to do more than they ever thought they could.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>What a powerful way of loving his friends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Beyond practical wisdom for every day, Jesus also loved his disciples by taking care of himself.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They witnessed him withdrawing from the hurly-burly of life that surrounded him to rest and to pray.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>They witnessed him returning to the work strengthened and rested from time spent alone with God. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">What a gift of love he gave them in that alone &#8211; modeling for them the way to nurture their relationship with God as a way of sustaining themselves through whatever life would throw at them. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>When we care for our own spiritual nurture, we give a loving gift to all with whom we have relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">If that were not enough, Jesus prayed for his beloved friends in the most magnificent prayer that we find in the later chapters of John\u2019s gospel.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Just before he died Jesus prayed for his friends this way: <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Father,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Protect the ones you have given me in your name &#8211; that they may be one as you and I are one &#8211; -so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Jesus loved his friends by being present with them when they were grieving.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He understood the disappointment and pain and anger of<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Mary and Martha when their brother died and Jesus wasn\u2019t right there.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He cried with them and he loved them through their anguish &#8211; and then he celebrated with them in their joy when Lazarus rejoined them in life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Jesus loved his disciples by loving their families too &#8211; attending to Peter\u2019s mother-in-law when she was sick.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He tended to his dear friend, John, by placing John together with Mary at the foot of the cross so that they could comfort and care for each other at his death, so they could become family for each other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Jesus\u2019 love was the kind that called the disciples to be bigger and better than they thought they could be.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It was the kind of love that directed them down off the mountain top to do the work of healing and forgiveness when they would have preferred to stay on the mountain surrounded by light and the presence of God.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Think of the joy and satisfaction they would have missed if they had simply stayed in the high spiritual ethers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus loved them enough to send them to work in the world -bringing compassion and healing and wisdom to others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">And then there were the times when he did his best to let them see who he really was &#8211; &#8211; his most authentic God given self.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He gave them<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>teachings designed to awaken their highest consciousness about God, about him and about themselves, pleading with them to find strength in his love for them so they would be able to offer that strength to others &#8211; -abide in me &#8211; &#8211; let my words and my wisdom abide in you &#8211; &#8211; when it comes to things of the spirit &#8211; ask me and I will be with you to give you what you need.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus loved them most passionately when he tried to share with them<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>his deepest connectedness with God. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">There were the practical things that Jesus did to show his disciples how much he loved them too.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He shared his power.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He entrusted his disciples with the power to heal, to transmit the teachings and the wisdom by which he lived his own life.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He served them &#8211; he washed their feet.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He fed them with the most basic symbols of life &#8211; bread and wine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">And then &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; he commanded them to take all the love he gave them, all the ways in which he showed them love &#8211; &#8211; he commanded them to \u201clove each other as I have loved you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">So &#8211; I take all this to mean that if we are to love one another as Jesus has loved us, we are simply to follow the ways in which he shows us love.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">We pray together and alone for one another.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s what he did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">We offer lovingkindness and forgiveness to one another.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s what he did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">We bring our energies of healing and compassion to each other when there is death or illness.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>As a community we call each other to be our highest and best selves as we live out our various callings in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">We study and worship together to bring out in each other and in ourselves the wisdom and Christ consciousness of Jesus<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We share power and responsibility for the work of the church as we move forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">And we feed and nourish one another and the community through table fellowship and the sharing of bread and cup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Part of these final gatherings with the disciples was to prepare them for life together without Jesus\u2019 physical presence among them &#8211; and after he commanded them to love one another as he has loved them, he laid a big truth on them: \u201cNo one has greater love than this, to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In the context of the gospel story, we know that he was preparing to die &#8211; &#8211; and that his death would be to their benefit in some way. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>But the verse confronts us with a conundrum because for centuries, people who have decided to follow the Jesus way of living have struggled with how<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>literally this wisdom is to be taken. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">When I look at all the other ways love is demonstrated by Jesus, they seem to have one strong thread in common.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In every instance, Jesus sets his own needs and even his own reputation aside to meet the demands of the situation.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>If we were to use modern parlance, we could say that he set his own ego aside in service to the \u201cother\u201d &#8211; &#8211; whoever that \u201dother\u201d might be &#8211; a much maligned tax collector, a woman with a bleeding disorder, a man with severe mental distress, a group of lepers, a woman with a dicey sexual history. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Even while he was living, he laid down his life in the service of others. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>And he did this without fear of becoming an \u201ceasy touch\u201d for people who might want to take advantage of him.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He simply let go of his expectations of others and loved them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Very few of us will ever be confronted with having to put ourselves between a moving bus and a potential victim and literally lay down our lives for another person.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>That is not what Jesus meant.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He meant that we are each called to learn how to give our attention and our energies and our love<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>so fully in the service of life that it might be considered that we are laying down our lives for our friends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">This is how we are to love one another as he loved us &#8211; by getting ourselves out of the way and letting the loving power of Christ move through us abundantly and generously &#8211; with gratitude and joy.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Because, that is the whole point of the entire endeavor &#8211; that we might live in joy &#8211; complete, abundant, life sustaining, joy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">So -let\u2019s hear the words one more time as we prepare to celebrate that final bit of loving that Jesus imparted to his friends as he prepared them to<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>eat and drink together:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>9\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>10\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father\u2019s commandments and abide in his love. <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>11\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>12\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>\u201cThis is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>13\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>No one has greater love than this, to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends. <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>14\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>You are my friends if you do what I command you. <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>15\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>I do not call you servants<\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>[<\/sup><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=john+15%253a9-17&amp;version=nrsv&amp;interface=print#fen-NRSV-26704a\"><span class=\"s4\"><i><sup>a<\/sup><\/i><\/span><\/a><i><sup>]<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i> any longer, because the servant<\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>[<\/sup><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=john+15%253a9-17&amp;version=nrsv&amp;interface=print#fen-NRSV-26704b\"><span class=\"s4\"><i><sup>b<\/sup><\/i><\/span><\/a><i><sup>]<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i> does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>16\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. <\/i><\/span><span class=\"s3\"><i><sup>17\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><i>I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p6\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>John 15:9-17 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Pastoral Prayer and Benediction <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>May 6, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Adapted from<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>a prayer by John Phillip Newell in <\/span><span class=\"s2\">SOUNDS OF THE ETERNAL A Celtic Psalter <\/span><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>New Beginnings<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>San Antonio, Texas<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>2012<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>p. 52-53<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That from our depth new life emerges<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">thanks be to you , O God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That through our body<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and the bodies of men and women everywhere<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">heaven\u2019s creativity is born on earth,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">children of eternity are conceived in time<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and ever lasting bonds of tenderness<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">are forged amidst the hardness of life\u2019s struggles,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">thanks be to you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That in our soul<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and the soul of every human being<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">sacred hopes are hidden,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">longings for what has never been are heard<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and visions for earth\u2019s peace and<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"> prosperity are glimpsed,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">thanks be to you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For those who are near to us who are in turmoil this day<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and for every family in its brokenness,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">for the woundedness of our own life<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and for every living creature that is suffering,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">O God of all life , we pray.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the gift of this new day, in the gift of the present moment, in the gift of time and eternity intertwined, let us be grateful, let us be attentive, let us be open to what has never happened before. And may we dwell in your Presence in peace. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In Jesus name<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>we pray.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Benediction<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>p. 77<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the many details of this day <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">let us be fully alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the handling of food<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and the sharing of drink. in the preparing of work<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and the uttering of words, in the meeting of friends<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">and the intermingling of relationship<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Let us be alive to each instant, O God,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">let us be fully alive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">May you go in peace and love and in the companionship of the Living Christ.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>AMEN<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u201c&#8230;as I have loved you.\u201d \u00a0 John 15:9-17 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Chilmark Community Church May 6, 2018 Rev. Vicky Hanjian Sometimes it is just good to sit with a Bible passage for awhile and watch what begins to percolate just by virtue of re-reading the words.\u00a0 I think\u00a0 the adult study group [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-and-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5502,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5501\/revisions\/5502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}