How well do you love?

Hey friends…
 
It’s such an ambiguous thing, is it not? And yet, most would agree it’s the most important thing in life. We all long to be loved. We all know we need to love. The people, animals, interests, and experiences we love are the most cherished aspects of our lives. Oh, and we love God, too, right? But do we ever stop to measure our love? Do we ever check in on how well we are loving? Do we even know how to measure it?  Let’s talk more in Deeper Thoughts below.
 
But first…
 
·      THIS Sunday, March 30, 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., we will have a super-important all-congregation open dialogue to take a final look at our building expansion project in advance of very critical decisions we will be making.
o   We have exciting new 3-D graphics to show you, a comprehensive budget plan, strategies to address new challenges that have arisen, and some guiding biblical principles to explore.
o   We will livestream the meeting from our homepage (use the same livestream button you use for Sunday service). Please attend in person if you can, but also don’t miss if you are away.
 
·      NEXT Sunday, April 6, we will present a confidential communication card to share the specific personal generosity the Holy Spirit is leading us to contribute.
o   What one-time financial gift could be given between now and August to provide cash-in-hand for construction?
o   What ongoing monthly designated giving could be given over 2-3 years to fund debt service and/or reduction?
 
·      Sunday, April 27, 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., our FINAL decision meeting where our Covenant Partners will consider and vote on the future of the project.
 
Other Exciting Happenings:
 
·      Teens:  Youth Group this Sunday, 11:30 – 1:00 (*ish)… we’ll end the same time the congregational meeting does. Contact Jess Sauder if you’d like to get youth group emails or if you need a ride home: [email protected].
 
·      Ladies: THIS Saturday, March 29, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Learn how to make jewelry with Joan Lyerly! Click here for more info and to RSVP.
 
·      Help Mt. Hope look better! Join us Saturday, April 12 for a morning workday to spruce up the campus for Easter. Details and RSVPs to come.
 
·      Speaking of Easter: TWO Easter worship services at Mt. Hope: 9:00 and 10:30 a.m., Sunday, April 20. Kids Connect will be at 10:30 only with an Easter Egg Hunt to follow at 11:45 a.m.
 
·      Don’t miss this coming week’s “Daily Six” video series… Click here to jump in on our study of the Gospel of Mark. And if you’d like to receive daily email reminders, click here for a link to The Daily Six each morning!
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and those who don’t love anything or anyone. BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts…
 
If you were told something was absolutely the most important thing ever, you’d stop and pay attention, wouldn’t you?
 
I remember my first day of flight training. It was really my second “first day”—I had done a bunch of training in my teenage years, only to set it aside when I answered God’s call on my life for ministry. Thirteen years later, when I finally had a bit of disposable income, I decided to pick it back up and start my training all over again.
 
“There are three things we are NOT ever going to do, prioritized in this order,” my new flight instructor sharply commanded just after we finished our pleasantries and hellos. He was deadly serious.
 
“First, we are never going to hit another airplane.” Check. That sounds bad. (We especially understand this after seeing the terrible tragedy at Reagan National Airport this January.)
 
“Second, we are never going to run out of gas.” Got it. Sounds wise.
 
“Third, we are never going to violate airspace,” by which he meant that we would carefully obey all the FAA’s rules and regulations regarding permission to operate in various areas called “airspace.” I don’t like legal trouble, so count me in!
 
These instructions were seared into my mind--repeated every flight by my instructor—until they became an immutable instinct throughout the hundreds of flight hours and more than two decades of flying that followed. As you can imagine, there are TONS of other things important to the complexity of flying an airplane. But NONE were even close to the importance of staying alive, particularly supported by his first two instructions.
 
Every time I flew, I was constantly vigilant, constantly on the lookout, constantly rehearsing those instructions. There was never a moment that I didn’t think, pay attention, and measure my conformity to those goals. More than once, that incessant vigilance kept me alive and kept me out of trouble with the FAA.
 
Jesus also had two incredibly vital instructions. I wonder if we think, pay attention, and measure our conformity to those goals as much as I did my flight rules.
 
Or do we simply not think Jesus’ commands are deadly serious?
 
“One of the teachers of the law…asked him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’” (Mark 12:28)
 
Had I asked my flight instructor this same question at any point before, during, or after training, he would have been instantly precise and commanding. Don’t hit another airplane. Don’t run out of gas. Don’t bust airspace.
 
Jesus was precise too: “‘The most important one,’ Jesus answered, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” (Mark 12:29-30)
 
Rule number one when airborne: Don’t hit another airplane. Rule number one when following Jesus: Love God with your entire heart, soul, mind, and strength. Failure to do this is as spiritual deadly as midair collisions are physically.
 
You see, Jesus is warning us to be vigilant not just that we love God, but that we love God with everything in and about us.
 
Love comes in many forms and many intensities. We can love iced sweet tea. We can love puppy dogs. We can love our spouse or kids. We can love our jobs. We can love a sunset. Some of us can even love cats. All of these are indeed love, but they occupy vastly different degrees of our hearts, minds, and energy. They each have different measurements.
 
(Uh… at least they should… if I love my wife Sherri with the same intensity that I love Steez peach green tea—or vice versa—we have a serious problem.)
 
So, how well do you love God? With what intensity? With what focus? With what urgency?
 
And how do we measure this?
 
Before we assume we know how to love well—before we think, “I love people just fine, thank you”—let’s dig into Jesus’ words throughout the Gospels. Let’s take this as deadly serious as my flight instructor made me take my flying.
 
Let’s meet this Sunday and explore how Jesus measured love—we can find a few hints right there in Mark 12. One of them is to recognize his most important command has a sequel: “The second is this, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)
 
This is why I love each of you. And I am vigilant to what that means. Let’s discover this--and loving God as the greatest—together on Sunday!
 
Can’t wait…
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend