Agape Love and Community
It was the summer of ’69. Cheryl and I and our two-year-old son, Jim, moved from King of Prussia, PA to Del Mar. We were searching for a church and fell in love with LJPC, in part, because of the welcoming we received. After two visits, Cheryl gave up her East Cost custom of wearing a hat and elbow-length white gloves. A greeter ‘worked’ the front steps making everyone feel they were his long-time-no-see best friend. Louis Evans, Jr. was minister and it was customary at the end of each service for the congregation to stand, hold hands—even across the center isle—and sing this benediction: Love I give to you, my friend / agape love in all you do / Peace I leave with you my friend / I give to you so you can give to others, too. There was even a little swaying in time with the melody. It was a moment of community, a sowing of the seeds of agape love. God promises that these seeds will grow when they fall into good ground, a metaphor of how we, as Christians must sow the seeds while not judging the ground into which they fall. We are to be the leavening that causes the loaf to rise, the blessings that feed the multitude and, most importantly, messengers of The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As a poem by David Whyte proclaims:
This is not the age of information
This is not
the age of information.
Forget the news,
and the radio,
and he blurred screen.
This is the time of loaves
and fishes.
People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.
Matthew 13:3-9; Matthew 14:13-21