Meditation on 1 John 3:1–3
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown
Pastor Karen Crawford
Nov. 5, 2023
All Saints Sunday
I remember having a meal with my father. We were at a restaurant in Maryland. I had a cheese omelet and a bagel, though it was dinner, not breakfast. I was living in the Baltimore area and going to university, studying to be a teacher.
It was the fall of 1985. I was taking an American Studies class. We were asked to write our family histories, going back three generations or more. We had to place ourselves in the family story, see patterns, and make connections. I was only 19 at the time—just beginning my adult life. We were asked to interview members of our families—and encourage them to share personal stories.
Why is it that I can remember what I ate—but I can’t recall the stories Dad shared with me that night? I do think if I listen really hard I can still hear his voice and see his mannerisms as he spoke. I can hear his laugh. He often had a far-off look—and he would answer some of my questions with a pause, then “I don’t know.”
At the end of the meal, something had changed in my father. The normally shy, reserved man had a determined look on his face when we stood up and hugged goodbye. He was going to research our family history and get me the answers that I sought. He would leave no stone unturned until he knew the names, dates, places, and as many details as possible of the lives of the people who came before us. These people made decisions about who they would marry, how they would raise their kids, what they would do for a living and where they would live, even many of them embracing a new country—America!—and new cities, such as New York, Pleasantville, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and leaving old countries behind: Norway. Hungary. Latvia. Poland.
Our passage in First John is about family. The family of God is like a biological family. God is Father and Jesus is Son. The followers of Christ are “little children.” I lost count of how many times John uses the word “children” and “little children” and “children of God” in John’s letters.
The John who wrote this is called, “John the Evangelist.” He writes in the style of John the Apostle, who wrote the gospel of John. We find similar words, phrases, and ideas. John the Evangelist starts the first letter, “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it..”
The gospel of John starts, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”
The tone of John’s letters is intimate and affectionate, as if the writer is speaking to an audience he knows well and cares for, yet no specific church is identified. Scholars believe the letter was written in Ephesus, on the western shore of modern-day Turkey, between 95 and 110 A.D. He wrote for Christians who probably never met Jesus in the flesh.
He writes for all Christ’s followers, in every time and place. He writes to reveal the love and grace of God and encourage us to live in love and grace, as if we are a new family, a family tree connected by faith and a desire to follow Christ with our lives.
He shares the hope of salvation to stir the church to grow in faith, faithfulness, and boldness, because Christ didn’t come to save a small, exclusive group of people. He says in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” And, “My little children,” he says in 1 John 2:1, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
This reminds me of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John the Evangelist is concerned that the church may be led astray by false teachers, whom he calls antichrists. The most important identifier of God’s children? LOVE. Love that is God’s gift to us, as we hear in today’s passage. Later in the letter, we learn that we are able to love at all because of God, who IS love. And, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Love for the children of God isn’t merely affectionate speech. It is revealed through our giving. “How does God’s love abide in anyone,” he asks in 1 John 3:17 and 18, “who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
A church that lacks love is not following Christ. Love is essential; it is the main ingredient for our life in Christ together. “Whoever does not love abides in death,” he says in chapter 3. And, “…We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
On All Saints Day, we look back to remember, honor, and be inspired by all the saints—all our loved ones—who gave of themselves so that we could become the people we are today. We give thanks for all that we learned from the example of the generations before us—the Great Cloud Witnesses that are still with us, though we can’t see or hear them cheering us on, urging us to continue to run the race of faith in the years to come.
I don’t know about you, but I always feel emotional on All Saints Day. I feel sad for those who aren’t with us. Especially when we are lighting candles for them. But most of all, I feel overcome with gratitude for knowing and loving them.
What a tremendous gift it was to have the father that I had! A father who would eat a meal with me, then spend the next 3 decades intensely researching our family history, going back generations for both sides of our family. His research would lead to my parents traveling the world to see the places where their ancestors had lived and meet family members they had never met. My mom stays in touch with some of them.
Dad continued to update our family histories up until the last year of his life with us, when Parkinson’s interfered. He went home to be with God in August 2019.
And yes, he found the information I needed in time for the American Studies class in fall 1985. That’s when I discovered that I came from a long line of strong women, who made choices that were sometimes different from their parents’ choices. While my grandmothers didn’t have the opportunity or encouragement to go to college, they never stopped growing and learning, adapting and redefining themselves. They liked to read. They were creative. They had opinions about things. Family was always important. They embraced life, though they lived through wars and economic struggles, such as the Great Depression. They overcame difficulties and losses.
They loved deeply. And they held onto their faith.
As I look around the room today, I see a gathering of saints! You are God’s children now! You abide in God and God’s love abides in you!
I encourage you to share your stories with your biological families and your brothers and sisters in the faith today. Don’t wait! Don’t put it off! Don’t be so busy with activities and chores that you neglect to share the stories of all the saints.
Keep on sharing your stories with the next generation because this moment, today, will never happen again. Everything can change in an instant. Keep on sharing your love—for that is the most important thing for the children of God.
The Spirit is still working in us. If you get discouraged with yourself and can’t see your own progress on your journey of faith, hold onto the promise in today’s passage in First John—that “what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”
I wish I could remember all of Dad’s stories of that day and so many days that followed the meal that started his passion for genealogy. I don’t know why I remember the cheese omelet and the bagel. I think he was wearing a red sweater vest that he wore when the weather grew colder. I know he was wearing a hat. He always wore a hat.
If only I could hear his voice, once again, and see all his mannerisms, the expressions on his face, the way he hesitated before answering a question. The way he wasn’t afraid to say, “I don’t know.” And his look of sheer determination that he would not leave a stone unturned until he knew the names, dates, places, and as many details as possible of the lives of the people who came before us. Those who helped to make us who we are today.
I remember my father’s love.
Will you pray with me? Let us pray.
Holy God, Heavenly Parent, thank you for your loving us first and your gift of love to your Church. Help us to be more faithful to reveal your love and grace to the world, for your salvation is for all people. Thank you for the example of all the saints—our loved ones who have gone before us and helped to make us who we are today. Keep us on the right paths, dear Lord. Slow us down if we are moving too fast. Keep us from being so busy that we don’t take time to share and be inspired by the stories of all the saints. Help us to honor them and give thanks to you for the gift of their lives, their love, and their faith. In Christ we pray. Amen.
Sharing God's Love and Grace 