In his book, The Turning Point, Glenn Plaskin tells about an event that occurred during his senior year in college, in the midst of the Great Depression. His family did not have the money for the first quarter= s tuition, though tuition for a quarter at Northeast Missouri State where he attended was only twenty dollars C and that included books! His father did not have twenty dollars. But he said, A Don= t worry, son. We= ll go to the bank, and I= ll sign your note with you. We= ll get the money.@ They went tot he bank the next morning. The banker had tears in his eyes as he shook his head. The directors had instructed him that without collateral there were to be no loans and there were to be no exceptions. They went to private individuals who were known to lend money, but everywhere it was the same: no collateral, no loan. There seemed to be no way Glenn could go to college that year. But the day before he was supposed to leave, a big truck backed up to their house, and two men laid down some boards from the truck bed to the front porch. Glenn wasn= t there that afternoon, but afterward he heard what happened.

There was one thing his mother loved more than anything in the world, besides her family and Jesus, and that was her Gulbranson piano. It was the only decent piece of furniture they had. But the men rolled it out of the house, onto the boards, and into the truck. The driver reached into the pocket of his overalls, pulled out some bills, and handed Glenn= s mother a twenty, a ten, and a five. Then the men go into the truck and drove off with the pride of his mother= s life. His father threw his arms around her, and she cried and cried. That night his mother couldn= t even talk about it, so his father told him, A Son, you can go back to college tomorrow. Your mother sold her piano.@ Then he handed Glenn the money.

A We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us C and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God= s love abide in anyone who has the world= s goods and see a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech but in truth and action.@

Most of us think of love as an emotion, something that one either feels or doesn= t feel. But the writer of this letter speaks of love as a decision, a commitment that one makes, something that one decides to do.

And this author is flat out, point-blank, bluntly honest about what such love looks like.

I expect that most Christians do not realize how odd a view of love we are supposed to embody.

Christian love is not natural.

It is not something we are born with.

It is something that comes to us through Christ.

And Jesus showed us that real love is proven.

God= s love for us was not just talk C not just God saying, from a distance, that God really, really wants humankind to return to a right relationship with God.

No, God= s love takes action C not selfish action C not self-serving, self-promoting, or self-preserving C but selfless, sacrificial action.

In God= s love for us, God took on our very flesh in the person of Jesus, showed us how to live together by caring for one another, how to please God by caring for one another.

In the process God gave up all of God= s prerogatives, all the things God could command, demand, require of us, in order to woo our love from us. Even if it meant that we, humanity, might reject, mock, dismiss, abuse, kill God= s love in the process.

That is always the nature of true love: it is a costly business and it cannot be manipulated, commanded, or demanded.

True love always offers itself to the other, for the sake of the other, for the betterment of the other, and can hope for love in return, but realizes it is never guaranteed.

That is the love the author of this letter is talking about.

That is the love that takes hold of the life that is really life in the process of loving.

The difficulty with all this for us is that God= s ways really are different from what our society often portrays are the ways to fulfillment.

The wisdom of the world tells us to take care of ourselves first, so that we have the strength and the resources and the energy to take care of others.

But the wisdom of God tells us to take care of others first and that is the way to renewal for ourselves. We take hold of real life as we are generous and rich in good works.

To take hold of real life we need to trust that acting for the benefit of others is also good for us.

Discovering joy in generosity and in sharing is finding treasure of lasting value.

For the past two weeks I ministered to Mary Woodside as she lay dying in Baptist Hospital. I say I ministered to Mary, but in truth, a major portion of my ministry was to her family that took turns standing by her bedside over a period of ten days. Almost every day I made the trip to Baptist, usually about 1 p.m. to spend some time with Mary and whatever family member was with her in the ICU. As the days wore on, Mary became less and less responsive and so clearly most of what I was doing was supporting the family members who were here.

I made that trip this past Wednesday at 1 p.m. as had become my pattern. Then at 5:30 p.m. I received a telephone call from her son, just in town for the third time, informing me they were going to remove life support that night. I was on my way to Bible Study, I had already been there once that day, I had been going since 8 a.m. but I worked out with him that I would join them at the hospital about 9 p.m. that night. I did so and stayed with them as they removed the breathing apparatus and Mary adjusted to breathing on her own, until about 11 p.m.

The next morning, after emceeing a fund-raising breakfast for the Counseling Ministry, I returned to the hospital about 9:30 a.m. Mary had just died. So, again, I sat with members of the family as we waited for other members of the family to return to the hospital. That stretched until 12:30 p.m. I spent over 6 hours with Mary and her family over the course of about 18 hours. I did not have to do that. Not all other clergy would necessarily do that. These are not people who live in this area and I may not ever see any of them again.

And it was costly action on my part. But it was the right action. It was the loving action. It was loving because it cost me. It was loving because it was generous. It was loving for those people and it was loving for Mary. And it was action through which I took hold of real life. Not only was it a great benefit for Mary= s family, but it was also a great benefit for me.

We must give in order to take hold!

And to give, we must decide what is really important.

At the Bienniel meeting this weekend, I heard over and over again people talking about how important these meetings are to the Conference, to their individual churches, to themselves. I heard people expressing frustration over the meeting only being 24 hours long, one night instead of two.

I heard people lamenting the loss of a more relaxed schedule to be able to have time to connect with people from other places in a meaningful way.

I heard people lamenting the loss of connection, the loss of Mission Councils and the more regular, regional meetings they offered.

I heard many of these sentiments expressed from clergy who were notorious for leaving the Bienniel meetings early to be in the pulpit of their church on Sunday morning.

I heard these sentiments, and yet more than half of the delegates were gone before the 4 p.m. closing worship.

I heard these sentiments, and yet, when we had Mission Councils, they were poorly attended.

The author of 1 John reminds us, A Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.@

If we want a strong Florida Conference, then we need to reach out, take hold of real life, and give generously of ourselves to help build a strong Florida Conference.

If we want a strong Christ Congregational Church, then we need to reach out, take hold of real life, and give generously of ourselves to help build a strong Church.

It won= t happen if we wait for someone else to do it.

It won= t happen if we wait for God to do it.

It won= t happen if it isn= t important enough to us.

Take hold of real life.

Take hold by loving C by being generous and giving of ourselves, even to the point of laying down my life for others.