March 25: Love One Another
♫ Music:
Day 32 - Saturday, March 25
Title: LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Scripture: John 13:31–38
When he had gone, Jesus spoke, “Now comes the glory of the Son of Man, and the glory of God in him! If God is glorified through him then God will glorify the Son of Man—and that without delay. Oh, my children, I am with you such a short time! You will look for me and I have to tell you as I told the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow.’ Now I am giving you a new command—love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you must love one another. This is how all men will know that you are my disciples, because you have such love for one another.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” “I am going,” replied Jesus, “where you cannot follow now, though you will follow me later.”
“Lord, why can’t I follow you now? said Peter. “I would lay down my life for you!”
“Would you lay down your life for me?” replied Jesus. “Believe me, you will disown me three times before the cock crows!”
Poetry & Poet:
“If Prayer Would Do It”
by Stephen Levine
If prayer would do it
I’d pray.
If reading esteemed thinkers would do it
I’d be halfway through the Patriarchs.
If discourse would do it
I’d be sitting with His Holiness
every moment he was free.
If contemplation would do it
I’d have translated the Periodic Table
to hermit poems, converting
matter to spirit.
If even fighting would do it
I’d already be a black belt.
If anything other than love could do it
I’d have done it already
and left the hardest for last.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
Just as I have loved you.
These words make new the ancient command to love. Jesus spoke them on the heels of washing feet and on the verge of ascending to the cross. Love like me.
Serve one another. Lay aside your outer trappings and kneel so you can reach repellant places others shun. Risk soiling yourself with the muck encrusted on a precious soul on their journey to the Passover feast. Take up the towel remembering your slavery and liberation.
And love anticipating death. Expect to encounter evil within your brother. Absorb and neutralize it, remembering we wage war not against flesh and blood but against the darkness. Go again to the one who abandoned or disowned you in deepest need. Forgive and pray for those who betrayed and brutalized you.* Bless and do not curse. In love, take up your cross.
“If anything other than love could do it / I’d have done it already / and left the hardest for last.”
I can’t love like that. I avoid any appearance of inferiority. Abandonment and betrayal are deaths so unbearable I retreat at the merest hint of their approach. And to acknowledge I, too, walk with grimy feet, regularly require cruciform love, and must rely on God’s grace extended through other human vessels—my flesh revolts.
I cannot even love Jesus the way he loves me. He is the true Friend who deserves the laying down of my life. Yet while I jump with Peter to declare my willingness, I choose my safety over his costly Way when the moment arrives. Loving like Jesus requires a miracle. So, he gives us one.
Just as I have loved you.
I am loved. Practicing love requires knowing myself beloved—with a knowing born of embodied experience and intimate familiarity. Only when I know myself boundlessly desired can I brave rejection. Only when I know myself cradled can I embrace the one who has harmed me. Only when I know compassion in my filth can I wash another’s feet. And only when I know myself accepted can I humbly admit my constant need for grace from my brother.
For indeed, the call to practice Christlike love begins with the ordinary, often-disappointing disciples who share his table (including those we would not have chosen). They will know us by our love. By the way we serve, bear with, forgive, honor, and repent. The way we practice patience and kindness, generosity and humility, grace and justice. The way we protect, trust, hope, and persevere in a dysfunctional family of still-sinful people. This is the gritty training ground for loving the wider world.
And yet, before beginning this work of love, I must enter the sabbath rest of receiving my belovedness. I must be immersed in the Father’s pleasure. I must receive solid, trustworthy names given me by Jesus, names the Spirit testifies to when I fail to live into them. I must lean my head against my Lord’s chest, listening to his heartbeat for me, for the world.
This is what he’s asking you to do. Receive Love. And then, respond in love.
Prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen
–– Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Hannah Williamson
Alumna of Biola University 2018
Torrey Honors College
Assistant Montessori Teacher and Freelance Writer
*Love does not mean remaining proximate to abuse; it seeks accountability. If you or those you love are victims of abuse, seek help: 800-799-7233
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Translation of the Bible for the 2023 Lent Project:
J.B. Phillips New Testament Translation of the Bible
J.B. Phillips (1906-1982) was well-known within the Church of England for his commitment to making the message of truth relevant to today's world. Phillips' translation of the New Testament brings home the full force of the original message. The New Testament in Modern English was originally written for the benefit of Phillips' youth group; it was later published more widely in response to popular demand. The language is up-to-date and forceful, involving the reader in the dramatic events and powerful teaching of the New Testament. It brings home the message of Good News as it was first heard two thousand years ago.
https://www.biblegateway.com/
About the Artwork:
Communion
Robert Feuge
11 x 14 in.
Color photograph
From the CIVA exhibition entitled Again and Again
Photographer Robert Feuge recalls the making of his photograph, saying, “It is fifteen below outside and the north wind is pushing against the windowpane. The chores are done and it is good to be inside where it is warm. I am welcomed to the table and passed an offering of the things grown and raised by the kind souls gathered here. There is a quiet gratefulness reflected on all the faces from the lantern's light as we share this communion. All are welcome at this table. There is an empty chair that sits beside me that lets me know that there is always room for one more.” Communion reminds us of the power of sharing a meal, of fellowship, and the love that we can extend to one another, especially in remembrance of what Christ has done for us.
https://event.auctria.com/e83caf67-cbcb-4a69-8e83-f72a4b736af2/
About the Artist:
Robert Feuge is an artisan, woodworker, and salvage artist who studied at Southwest Texas State in San Marcos, Texas. The theme of repurposing discarded objects runs throughout his art. “I think redemption is a big part of everything I do,” he shares. Feuge’s studio is his playground, a chaotic collection of trinkets and works in progress. Fugue reflects on his process as an artist: “I think my goal as an artist is to see the extraordinary in the ordinary and see the value in those things marginalized or discarded. . . . My goal is to see everything as an opportunity in teaching me something new.”
https://tribeza.com/fredericksburg-makers-forging-future-preserving-past/
About the Music: “Love Each Other” from the album The Acoustic Gospels
Lyrics:
All the room was hushed and still
And when the bowl was filled
He stooped to wash their feet
And when it was complete, he said
This is what I'm asking you to do
This is why I'm kneeling here beside you
This is what I want my church to be
This is what I want the world to see
Who it is you follow
Love each other
One another
Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
Walk together
And whatever comes
Love each other
In the way that I have loved you
Let the room be hushed and still
Let us go to where he kneels
And join him as he serves
And learn his ways of love
About the Composer:
Graham Kendrick (b. 1950) is an English Christian singer, songwriter, and worship leader. He was a member of Ichthus Christian Fellowship. Together with Roger Forster, Gerald Coates, and Lynn Green, he was a founder of March for Jesus. Kendrick began his songwriting career in the late 1960s. His most successful accomplishment is his authorship of the lyrics and music for the song "Shine, Jesus, Shine," which is among the most widely heard songs in contemporary Christian worship worldwide. He received a Dove Award in 1995 for his international work. In 2000, London School of Theology and Brunel University awarded Kendrick an honorary doctorate in "recognition of his contribution to the worship life of the Church.” Although now best known as a worship leader and writer of worship songs, Kendrick began his career as a member of the Christian beat group Whispers of Truth. He is a member of Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith from Delirious?.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Kendrick
About the Performers:
The Graham Kendrick Trio is composed of Graham Kendrick, Mark Prentice (double bass), and Terl Bryant (percussion).
Mark Prentice is a Grammy-winning record producer, an in-demand studio musician, music director, and hit songwriter. His versatile and exhaustive music industry resume includes recording and performance credits with renowned country artists, as well as various internationally known pop, R & B, and rock ’n’ roll artists, including Elvis Costello, John Fogarty, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Crystal Gayle, Michael McDonald, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Hornsby, the Young Rascals, Charley Pride, Billy Preston, Lady Antebellum, Bruce Cockburn, and Bo Diddley, among others.
https://soundbetter.com/profiles/15415-mark-prentice
Terl Bryant is an English musician. His early career saw him working with US singer-songwriter and filmmaker Steve Taylor, and later he was in the band of Peter Murphy, the lead singer for Bauhaus. In 1999 Bryant joined former Led Zeppelin bassist and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones as part of his trio with Chapman stick player Nick Beggs. Bryant is also known to perform and teach within Christian circles under the banner of “Voice of Drums.” In the mid-1990s Bryant formed “Psalm Drummers,” a network gathering of drummers linked to the Christian faith. Bryant wrote and produced three albums released by Integrity Music and has held the drum and percussionist seat for UK singer-songwriter Graham Kendrick since 2008.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terl_Bryant
About the Poetry and Poet:
Stephen Levine (1937–2016) was an American poet, author, and teacher best known for his work on death and dying. One of the most significant aspects of Levine's work was his pioneering approach to working with the experience of grief. For over thirty-four years, Stephen and his wife, Ondrea, counseled concentration camp survivors and their children, Vietnam War veterans, as well as victims of sexual abuse. Although Levine acknowledged that personal experience of grief is perhaps at its most intense when a loved one dies, he also drew our attention to grief's more subtle incarnations. "Our ordinary, everyday grief" accumulates as a response to the "burdens of disappointments and disillusionment, the loss of trust and confidence that follows the increasingly less satisfactory arch of our lives."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Levine_(author)
About Devotion Author:
Hannah Williamson
Alumna of Biola University 2018
Torrey Honors College
Assistant Montessori Teacher and Freelance Writer
Hannah Williamson is a follower of Jesus, aspiring pediatric occupational therapist, assistant Montessori teacher, and freelance writer who is learning to walk uncertain paths and practice the daily discipline of defiant hope. She is forever indebted to the formative communities of Torrey Honors College, Redeemer Church in La Mirada, Koinonia Nashville, and to all the friends who have journeyed with her in love.