In Thessalonians 4:9-12 Paul turns to the people, and says something like, “What does it mean to be a community that loves one another? I actually don’t need to tell you that!  Because you guys display that love so powerfully, here and beyond.  You do it unassumingly, without fuss, going about your business efficiently and care-fully, without being a burden to others, being resourceful and resilient, and doing all that is needed to make the world know that you are a community that loves Christ.’

‘Love of God’ is not some woolly, weak, feel-good religion.  Love of God is expressed in the way we are community, and when we are that community, then the world will know who we are. When we are out of sorts within, it is reflected in the way we engage with the wider community.  When we are living and working well together, then it is expressed lovingly and creatively beyond.

On this day, when we consider the working life of the church, it is rather staggering to think that we can do all the things we do, in a no-fuss, no-nonsense way, that honours the fact that we know the nature of love… we know what loving God looks like with rubber gloves on!  People so often see a need, and get in a fix it… I’ll come out of my office to see people scrubbing the metal racks of the oven without being asked, or without anyone else knowing.  Or they’ll take on a major event, and make it fuss free and easy for everyone else, while behind the scenes they work to make it happen.   There are a myriad of stories.  And each one serves to make us who we are.

They are the stories of this community that we hear and honour on this day… and they are the stories that will take us into tomorrow.  Into a future, that will continue to teach us to grow in love.