“Follow Me”
In today’s lectionary reading, Jesus tells us that he is the light of the world. He then bids us to follow him, for those who follow him will never be in darkness. What does this mean? What does it mean for us to follow the One who calls himself the “light of the world” and “the Way, the Truth, and the Life?” What does it look like to follow him, and how does this play out in the ways in which we interact with one another? In her book From Advent’s Alleluia to Easter’s Morning Light, Ann Weems shares a poem and her insights on what it means to follow Jesus and to live love. I invite you to read the poem and reflect on what it tells us about the way we are called to follow God as we journey toward Easter.
He is the Way, the Truth, the Life
Jesus said he was the Way, the Truth, the Life.
And he said, Follow me.
Follow me and live the Way I showed you.
Follow me and live the Truth I showed you.
Follow me and live the Life I showed you.
The Way, the Truth, the Life he showed us was Love.
Live the Way of Love.
Live the Truth of Love.
Live the Life of Love.
I heard a woman say: All we have to do is:
Love Jesus and love one another.
Oh, yes!! All we have to do…
Living love is a complicated, painstaking, patient path.
An all-the-time, every time, watch-where-you’re-going
way.
Living love means making decisions all day long to
love,
Living love means patience with those who don’t
care about living love,
Living love means watching our words
as well as our actions,
Living love means treating others as we
ourselves want to be treated,
Living love means not hitting back,
Living love means loving our enemies,
Living love means loving those who speak all
manner of evil against us.
And these things are just the beginning of living Love.
Living Love means forgiving, means forgetting,
Living Love means there is no room for
self-righteousness,
Living Love means being the people of God
together,
a community of those who love one another
and who love all the one anothers that God created.
Living Love means understanding those
who hate.
Living Love means going into all the world and telling
God’s story.
He said God is Love.
He said I am the Way.
He said I am Truth.
He said I am Life.
He said Follow me.
If we have the eyes to see
And the ears to hear
Life Abundant is ours.
Ann Weems
From Advent’s Alleluia to Easter’s Morning Light
Megan LeCluyse
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