Jesuit scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin held that God is at the heart of all cosmological and biological life, the depth and center of everything that exists. He once wrote, “Our nature is already endowed with grace, and thus our task is to be attentive to that which is within and that which is without—mind and heart—so that we may contribute to building up the world in love… Our lives have meaning and purpose. . . . We either help build this world up in love or tear it apart… Every action can be sacred action if [it] is rooted in love. . .”

I feel both convicted and heartened by this statement. “We either help build this world up in love or tear it apart…” I take this to mean that at almost every moment, we have an opportunity. How we interact with those around us, how we give or withhold, what we read and post on social media, what we hold in our hearts, and what we surrender, all matter. 

I pray today that you and I would be the kind of people who contribute to building this world up in love. May we see the possibility of our actions as sacred, holy, and meaningful. And may we begin by noticing God’s presence at the heart and center of all that is.

Let us pray: On this Valentine’s Day, open our eyes, Holy God, to see your presence in the people and world around us. My our words, actions, and very lives ever be rooted in love. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

“God so loved the world that he gave…” begins the most familiar statement in Scripture. Giving is how love expresses itself. Giving is to love what eating is to hunger. The test of love is that it gives even when there is no expectation of a return. Ann Lamott wrote of an eight-year-old boy who had a younger sister dying of leukemia. He was told that without a blood transfusion she would die. His parents asked if they could test his blood to see if it was compatible with his sister. He said sure. They tested, and it was a match. 

Then they asked if he would give his sister a pint of his own blood, that it could be her only chance of living. He said he would have to think about it overnight. The next day he told his parents he was willing to donate the blood. They took him to the hospital; he was put on a gurney beside his six-year-old sister. Both were hooked up to IVs. A nurse took a pint of blood from the boy, which was given to his sister. The boy lay in silence as the blood that would save his sister dripped from the IV until the doctor came over to see how he was doing. Then the boy opened his eyes and asked, “How soon until I start to die?” Love is never so fully love as when it gives — even when there is no expectation of a return. 

Let us pray: Loving How Great Thou Art! Your love to us in Jesus Christ is beyond our wildest imagination. Thank you for the rainbow covenant of your unconditional love and for walking with us each step of life’s way. Now hear our myopia, our hesitation, our pride that we may learn to love with no expectation of return… like the little boy who thought he was going to die when he gave a pint of blood to his sister. May the gentle breath of your spirit renew every part of our being that we may become more like Jesus, in whose spirit we pray. Amen.

Savannah native, author, and editor Arthur Gordon once wrote about finding a bundle of letters in an old attic. These weren’t just any letters. They were letters written by a grandmother to members of her family and friends shortly after the Civil War. 

Those were hard times in our country. There was still considerable animosity even within families. Many in the South were left in poverty and ruin. Yet Gordon discovered that every one of these found letters ended with the phrase: “Have I told you lately what a wonderful person you really are!”

Just imagine how much those simple words would have meant to each member of her family and to each one of her friends. Just imagine how her letters would have lifted their spirits. Just imagine how they would have felt, and how they in turn would have responded.

Encouragement can be a beautiful thing, and it goes a long way: when it comes to faith, when it comes to work, when it comes to parenting, and when it comes to everyday living.

The Apostle Paul once wrote to the church in Rome, “I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you – or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:11)

This just reminds me that when we find ways to encourage others, not only are they strengthened, but something happens in us as well. In giving to others, so often we find our own hearts and lives enriched.

Let us pray: We thank you, loving God, for the encouragement that we have received from others over the years. We thank you for their love and support, and for the ways in which that love and support sustain us. Help us to be the kind of people who build others up. Help us to find and celebrate the good, and to pass it along. May the world know we are Christians by our love. Amen. 

There is this intriguing passage in the Gospel of John after Jesus is raised from the dead – where he breathes on his disciples and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. As the Father sent me, so I send you.”

It’s interesting. The word “breath” in the Hebrew language is the same word as wind, and it is the same word as spirit. God’s Spirit is God’s breath. The book of Genesis, tells us that it was when God breathed his breath into the dust of the earth that the first human was formed. In the book of Psalms, it claims that when God sends forth his Spirit, living beings are created and the face of the ground is renewed. It is God’s Spirit, God’s breath that gives life.

Now the earliest Christians picked up on this and they believed that this same Spirit of God could dwell or reside in a person. So, when we say yes to Christ – we are saying yes to the same power that created the universe. We are saying yes to the same power that gives life to all living beings. We are saying yes to the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. 

It is this same Spirit that Jesus breathes into you and me.

Today I pray that you would claim the gift of the Holy Spirit. As you do, may you be strengthened, encouraged, and filled with God’s peace. And, may you know that you are being sent by this same Power, to strengthen, encourage and feed others.

Our prayer this morning comes from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship. Let us pray:

Come, O Holy Spirit. Come as Holy Fire and burn in us,
come as Holy Wind and cleanse us within,
come as Holy Light and lead us in the darkness,
come as Holy Truth and dispel our ignorance,
come as Holy Power and enable our weakness,
come as Holy Life and dwell in us.
Convict us, convert us, consecrate us, 
until we are set free from the service of ourselves, 
to be your servants to the world. Amen. 

Right before I went on my sabbatical, I visited a member of our congregation who was in the hospital. We had a nice visit and we talked about my upcoming pilgrimage. Before I left I asked the parishioner if I could pray for him, and I did. But then, as we looked up, he took both my hands, and looked me right in the eye, and with kindness and sincerity he said, “Joe, may this pilgrimage be a blessing to you and to your family. May this time draw your family deeper together. May you be strengthened and renewed. And may God be with you.”

To feel the gift of that… In that moment I felt strengthened and renewed already. His words were an offering. They were a blessing in the truest sense.

The Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue says, “A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen. A blessing awakens future wholeness. It is an invitation to growth – to become more than you have been, to transform loss into presence, and to allow what is false to fall away. At the gates of time, blessing waits to usher toward us the grace we need.”

Think about this. How many of us have received spoken words of blessing from others? How many of us had inspiring, encouraging, or affirming words spoken to us, even years ago, about our worth, our value, our future? Reflect for a moment about how those words impacted you. I know many people carry those words around with them their entire lives. 

I just wonder, I wonder if there might be people in your life who need to hear a blessing from you…

Gracious God, you have formed us from the dust of the earth, breathed into us the very breath of life, and then when you looked at your creation you pronounced it very good. Thank you for your unconditional love and grace. And, thank you for calling us to follow Jesus as he shares that love and grace with others. Amen.