"Remember who you are, Dick," my Dad would say. "You are a Jensen. You have a family name to live up to." I did not get that speech too often when I was young. I got it often enough, however. It usually came at very strategic times like when I went out on my first date, or got the family car, or left home for the first time. "Remember who you are." My Dad believed, and I think he was right, that he and Mom had instilled certain values in me. Most families have such values. When I went out on my own I was expected to live up to those values. "You have a family name to live up to," he said.

In theological circles we have a fancy name for that. We say that the imperative to action grows out of the indicative. The imperative for me was to remember. The indicative was the fact that I was a Jensen. I was to remember who I was. I was to be who I was. "Be who you are." That is another way of putting it. My father’s imperative called me to be who I was.

The kind of language that my father used on me is precisely the kind of language that we have in the reading from John’s Gospel. This reading is really an extension and clarifiaction of John 15:5-8 where Jesus said: "I am the vine." We, as followers of Jesus, are admonished to abide in Jesus, to abide in the vine, so that as branches on the vine we might bear much fruit. The text for this message talks about the same reality, only it talks about it in terms of God’s love for us rather than using the figurative language of the vine and the branches.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love" (John 15:9). Those were the opening words of this reading. Then we are told that if we keep Christ’s commandments, we will abide in his love. Here is Christ’s imperative for us. We are to keep his commandments. That is an imperative. It is an imperative that grows out of an indicative. The indicative is that we are loved by God. That is who we are. So Jesus calls us to "be who we are." Let me put Jesus’ word to us in language similar to the way my Dad spoke to me. "Remember who you are, Dick," Jesus is saying. "Remember who you are. You are loved by God. You have God’s family name to live up to."

It is very important that we grasp this love reality clearly. It would be so easy to turn the meaning of these verses upside down. "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love ..." (John 15:10a). We would turn these words right on their heads if we interpreted them to mean that God will love us if we keep God’s commandments. That would be like my Dad saying to me that I could be part of the Jensen family if I did what Jensens are supposed to do. But that is not what my Dad said. He said, "You are a Jensen, so act like one." That is what Jesus is saying to us also. "You are loved by God, so act like a loved person by keeping the commandments."

Jesus uses other figures of speech in these verses to say the same thing. "I have called you friends," Jesus says. That is the indicative. That is who we are. We are friends of God. So be who you are. Be friends of God by being friends, by befriending those who need a friend.

Jesus also calls us chosen ones. "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit ..." (John 15:16). We are a chosen people. That is the indicative. That is who we are. So be who you are. Chosen people are fruit-bearing people.

Jesus puts the matter plainly in verse 12. "... love one another as I have loved you." We are loved people. That is the indicative. That is who we are. So be who you are. Loved people, love people. Love is contagious so it seems. The Father loves Jesus. Jesus loves us. We love each other. Loved people, love people.

Loving one another. That is finally what this scripture passage is all about. Let me give that a little more substance by saying that we are called upon to love both our nearest neighbor and our farthest neighbor. In the first place, we are called to love our nearest neighbor. My point here is simply that we do not have to go out looking for a neighbor to love. God gives us neighbors in the ebb and flow of our daily life. We may live under the same roof with other members of our family. We live with our spouse or our children or our parents or with a friend. These are our nearest neighbors. The call to love one another begins at home. It is not some other time and some other place that calls forth our love. That can be a convenient "religious" escape for us. No, charity begins at home.

There are other neighbors whom God places in the course of our daily lives. Many of us have jobs or we go to school. Everyday at work and at school we encounter our neighbors. We do not have to go out and search diligently for a neighbor to love. The call to love our neighbor does not begin in some far away place. The call to love one another is a call to serve those whom we meet each and every day. These people need our love and concern. They need our listening ear. They need our helping hand. They need the gifts that we bring to human life. They need us to do our job well for their sake. Think of the many neighbors our lives touch through our daily work! Charity begins at home. Love for one another begins with all those whom we encounter in the routines of daily life. Loved people, love people.

In an ideal world, if everyone loved their nearest neighbor, all the world’s people would be cared for. Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world. Love for our nearest neighbor is where the call to love one another begins. It cannot end there, however. Our farthest neighbors, people who do not occupy the same daily time and space that we occupy, also need our loving concern. Let me give a rather shocking example of this. At least it is an example that shocks me. I read again recently that 40% of the poverty-stricken people in America are children. 40%! One out of every four children growing up in the United States today grows up in poverty. 25%! I heard Senator Patrick Moynihan of New York say recently that the United States is the first nation in the history of the world where the children are the segment of the society that is the worst off. Think of that! I do not know if Senator Moyhihan is correct in his assertion. If he is, I must confess that I am staggered by the facts on the poverty of children in our great country.

Poor children in America are an example of our farthest neighbors. I would guess that most of you do not encounter any of these poor chilren in your normal daily routine. I know I don’t. Our individual acts of love, therefore, will not begin to touch this problem. We really need to get at the structures and systems of life in our nation that create the problems. To do that we will have to get organized. To do that we will have to join forces with all people of good will who wish to tackle this issue. To do that we may have to get political. We will want to vote for those people who offer the wisest solutions for this problem. We want to be sure that our presently elected representatives are aware of the problem and are working on it. We might decide to write to one of our legislators. We might spend some volunteer time working for an agency that is directly attacking this problem. We might get our congregation to join with other congregations to help work on the matter in our community. Many channels are open to the love for one another that needs to be expressed for the poverty afflicted children of America. Many channels are available for us to express love for these children, our farthest neighbors.

Let me give another brief example of our farthest neighbor. People born into this world in the twenty-first century will inherit the air and the rivers and the streams that we either ravage or protect. Pollution is not just a matter that concerns us today. It is a matter of life and breath for people yet unborn. What kind of natural world, what kind of environment shall we leave for our farthest neighbors, for our children yet unborn?

Again, our individual acts of charity cannot begin to touch this problem. The problem of industrial pollution, for example, is a problem that goes beyond anything that we as individuals acting alone can solve. Here, too, we will have to work together with other people of good will. We will need wise elected officials. We will need better laws at state, national, and international levels. Loving our unborn twenty-first century neighbors is part of our call from God to love one another. Being effective agents of love for those farthest neighbors will require a good deal of imagination and effort on our part.

I have mentioned just two examples of our farthest neighbors. I have mentioned children in poverty and our unborn neighbors of the twenty-first century. Obviously, the list of needs of those people living at a distance from us could go on indefinitely. Very often just hearing the whole list of causes overwhelms and paralyzes us. What on earth can we do to make a difference for the vast problems of this world? Surely we cannot take on every cause pressed upon us by our farthest neighbors. No, we cannot take on every cause. But we can take on one or two such causes. Each one of us can do that. "Love one another," Jesus said. Each one of us can share God’s contagious love with a few of our farthest neighbors. God commands it. Loved people, love people.

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love" (John 15:9). That is the first verse of this reading from John. Loved people. That is the indicative. That is who we are. The imperative to love people grows out of that indicative. Be who you are. You are loved people, therefore, love people. "This I command you, to love one another" (John 15:17). Love your neighbors near and far. Loved people, love people.