Love one another

Love One Another – Summer 2017

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,

if you love one another.” - John 13:34-35

 

It's something that Jesus commanded his disciples to do. While we at Berlin Mennonite certainly don't want to limit our love  to within our walls (after all, our tagline says, "branching out in love") we do want to take this time to remind ourselves that loving beyond ourselves first means accepting God's love towards us and practicing hospitality with each other. The church should be a training ground for our behavior in the world; we practice here what we are called to embody elsewhere (at work, at home, at sporting events and other public places.) Over the course of the summer we will be following Jesus’ words from John13:34-35 to “Love One Another”.  We will focus on six specific ways in which we are called to love one another and we will take two weeks to focus on each aspect.  Notes in your mailbox and reminders during the worship services will offer suggestions about how you can carry out these acts of love to each other.

 

The six aspects of loving one another we will focus on will be:

 

June 4 – 11 – Encourage One Another  (1 Thess. 5:11)

June 18-25 – Be Hospitable to One Another (1 Peter 4:9)

July 2 – 9 – Pray for One Another (James 5:16)

July 16 – 23 – Be Kind to One Another (Eph. 4:32)

July 30 – August 6 – Give Sacrificially to One Another (1 John 3:16-18)

August 13 – 20 – Serve One Another (1 Peter 4:10)

 

The first two weeks (June 4-11) we will focus on Encouraging One Another.  There are several ways you can intentionally do this over the next two weeks.

This Sunday, May 28 through Sunday June 11 – We invite you to encourage one another with scripture.  In the foyer you will find a large board with paper by it.  We invite you to write a meaningful scripture on a piece of paper and tape it to the board as a way of encouraging each other through the use of God’s word.  We hope to fill the board up in the next few weeks.
Sunday June 4 – We will be hosting a grocery shower for Eric and Karina Yoder and their family who experienced a fire earlier this year.  As they prepare to move back in to their home you will be given the opportunity to encourage them by purchasing items from a list in order to replenish their pantry items which were all damaged by the extensive smoke from the fire.
Sunday, June 11 – VBS begins on this Sunday and you will have the opportunity to choose a name from the list of volunteers to encourage with prayer and notes throughout the week. 
Feel free to be creative and listen to the spirit for other ways you can encourage one another throughout these two weeks.  If Sunday school classes wish they can discuss ways in which they gave or received encouragement throughout each week. 

 

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,

just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11