What do you believe?

When I was in my first church, I had the rare opportunity to study with one of the foremost experts on the gospel of John - Dr. Gail O'Day. She opened my eyes to the world of the fourth gospel in ways I never could have expected.

You see, while the first three gospels sound like kids who shared a book report in school (you know I'm not wrong), John comes from an entirely different direction. What John centers on is the person and embodiment of Christ. And the question the author asks is what do you believe?

However, we in the modern world often misunderstand what belief is. We think it is an entirely mental exercise or even perhaps a spoken one. But for Jesus in the gospel of John, belief is an action verb. As Mr. Rogers used to say, like struggle.

You do not just say yes in your mind or pray a prayer with your lips. You live your belief with every cell of your being. The proof is in the fruit. And the fruit is always active, tangible, tenacious and overwhelming love.

Love that will lay down its life for another. Love that will go further than any of us would ever expect. Love that is even more powerful than death.

So the question for the rest of this month as we dive deeply into the gospel of John is: do you believe?

If you do, then it's time to get to work showing the world you are Jesus's disciples. Just remember what Christ said in his last sermon about the only way the world will recognize us as you do.

Blessings,

Rev. Janie