Give Me a Drink

Give Me a Drink

Thirst: Part 2
March 1, 2026

John 4:7-10

 The Samaritan woman asked, “Why do you, a Jewish man, ask for something to drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (Jews and Samaritans didn’t associate with each other.)

 John 4:9

_______________

We all have those times when God seems distant.  We feel like our prayers are empty and our works of piety are in vain.  We realize that we are empty, that we are nothing, and we would not be surprised in the least if God gave up on us. 

But what if the problem is not that God is too distant, but too close... in fact, way too close for comfort?

By every religious and social custom of his day, Jesus clearly should not have been talking with this woman at a public well in Samaria.  She had three strikes against her that would keep any righteous man far away... she was a Samaritan, she was a woman, and she had a shameful history, even if it was not entirely of her own making. 

Some have speculated that she did not come to the well during normal cooler hours because she didn't want to face the gossip the other women in town must have been speaking about her as they drew water for their "proper" families.

It's interesting how she is so blatantly aware of Jesus' impropriety in asking her for water, and yet Jesus seems entirely unconcerned with her status as a Samaritan or a woman with a past.  Jesus is not worried about being made unclean.  He is not concerned about what others might think.  And he's not even coming with some ulterior motive to convert her to his religious beliefs.

Jesus is simply tired and wants a drink of water.  Period.

I wonder how many times Jesus has come to us, to ask us for a drink or even just to sit down and enjoy a casual conversation, and we responded by pulling away because we knew deep down that we were unworthy of his company. 

What if Jesus wanted to come to us in the form of a homeless person, or an irritating co-worker, or a family member who has hurt us deeply, or a child who won't sit still and be quiet for five minutes.  The faces of Jesus are everywhere, for he says that whenever we care for the "least of these," we have provided for him. 

We don't always recognize his presence, but we can sense the uncomfortable holiness of each encounter stirring deep in our souls, or maybe in the pit of our stomachs, and we want to retreat. 

We know that God already knows us better than we know ourselves, but somehow, we still want to pretend we can keep the worst parts of ourselves a secret.  We're afraid of being exposed.  We like to pretend we're OK, but next to Jesus, we know we are not. 

And if we're truly honest, there are just certain places we don't want to be seen walking around with Jesus.

Just like the woman at the well, we are far more uncomfortable around Jesus' holiness than Jesus is around our sin.

• What is one place in your ordinary routine that Jesus might show up unexpectedly if you were open to it? 

• How would you respond?

The Road Less Traveled

The Road Less Traveled

Thirst: Part 1
February 22, 2026

John 4:1-6

Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making more disciples and baptizing more than John (although Jesus’ disciples were baptizing, not Jesus himself). Therefore, he left Judea and went back to Galilee.

Jesus had to go through Samaria. He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon.

   ~ John 4:1-6

_______________

A typical journey from Judea to Galilee took about five to seven days, usually crossing the Jordan River twice.  Going straight through Samaria could cut off two or three days, but most people chose the longer road to avoid contact with Samaritans.

John says that Jesus “had” to go through Samaria, as if there was no other option.  But clearly there was.  Jesus does not appear to be in a hurry to get to Galilee.  There is no reason given why he wouldn’t take the safer, more familiar route.

What we do see, however, is an encounter with a Samaritan woman that changes everything.  What if Jesus “had” to go through Samaria simply to meet her, and by extension all who have been dismissed and avoided. 

There was a long-standing animosity toward Samaria dating all the way back to Assyrian exile and the later construction of a Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim. Though once part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, those now living and worshipping in this region were no longer accepted among God’s chosen people.

Yet Jesus walked intentionally into that place, among those people.  He traveled with a determined and resolute mind to break down barriers of hatred and cultural, ethnic, racial and conventional prejudice.  In doing so, he built a bridge of forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, love and hope. 

So, what does this mean for us?  Why pause here with this tiny geographical footnote at the beginning of a much bigger story?

Our Lenten journey this year will take us on the road less traveled, a slow and intentional stroll through Samaria.  We will linger at the well longer than may feel comfortable.    Sometimes we’ll want to pick up the pace and move on.  Other times we may wish we had gone around it altogether.  But the very fact that Jesus slows down to spend time in Samaria invites us to pause there too, to sit in the heat of the day with someone others would barely acknowledge.

Jesus shows up in unexpected places and meets us right where we are, even if we are far from where we typically expect to encounter God.  Samaria is not just a region on a map.  It is the place we live.  The well is where we carry out our ordinary, daily tasks, and the place Jesus wants to sit down for an extended conversation.

here is so much more we can say about this story, and we will throughout the season, but for now, it’s enough to sit with the fact that Jesus is slowly walking through your neighborhood.  Tired.  Thirsty.  Unhurried.  Not always entirely welcome.  Still, he had to come this way.

Where will you meet him along the road? 

In the words of Carry Newcomer, perhaps it’s “time to take more time and cover less ground.”

An invitation to slow down this Lent and savor the journey…

Seeing Again

Seeing Again

Signs & Wonders: Part 4
February 8, 2026

Mark 8:22-26

Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him to touch and heal him.  Taking the blind man’s hand, Jesus led him out of the village. After spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on the man, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”

The man looked up and said, “I see people. They look like trees, only they are walking around.”

Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again. He looked with his eyes wide open, his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly.  Then Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village!”

~ Mark 8:22-26

_______________

Last week we saw Jesus heal a woman who touched only the hem of his robe and raise a young girl from the dead with a single word.  So why, in today’s story, does he seem to be struggling with the simple act of giving sight to the blind?  After all, this is exactly what he said he came for: to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed (Luke 4:18).

Yet when the blind man begins to see, his vision is still not clear.  He sees people, but they look like trees.  Some wonder whether Jesus failed or whether this man lacked the faith needed to experience full healing.  Others see it as a metaphor for the spiritual life and the ways that our eyes are slowly opened to God’s work in our lives.

The spiritual explanation certainly feels more reasonable, especially as this passage is sandwiched between the disciple’s lack of understanding about the yeast of the Pharisees and Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah followed immediately by a significant misunderstanding about what this truth actually implied. 

But if we’re willing to take a honest look at ourselves, the truth may be even more practical.  We live in a world where seeing clearly is increasingly difficult.  Images and videos are easily faked or manipulated to present us with an alternate version of reality, to effectually make us see certain people as something less than human – to see trees instead of people.  Much of this artificially generated propaganda is designed with the purpose of dehumanizing others, making them easier to dismiss, to control, or to fear.

The problem is that so many of us stop there.  We take in the image of these “tree people” and assume this is just the way things are, especially if the image reinforces how we already see the world.  Taking a second look might be as simple as flipping to a different channel or seeing another camera angle, but we don’t dare consider this option for fear of being alienated from our tribe who sees things the same way we have been taught to see them.  It is unsettling when the reality we see does not align with the reality we are taught to accept.

Perhaps this story is less about Jesus’ power to heal and more about our willingness to stay engaged with Jesus long enough to receive a second touch, and to take a second look and what once seemed so clear.

What is one way this week you can open yourself to a second healing, to look more carefully and ask God for clearer sight?

The Importance of Marginalized Bodies

The Importance of Marginalized Bodies

Signs & Wonders: Part 3
February 9, 2026

Matthew 9:18-26

While Jesus was speaking to them, a ruler came and knelt in front of him, saying, “My daughter has just died. But come and place your hand on her, and she’ll live.”  So, Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him.  Then a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of his clothes.  She thought, If I only touch his robe I’ll be healed.

When Jesus turned and saw her, he said, “Be encouraged, daughter. Your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that time on.

~ Matthew 9:18-22

_______________

Other gospel accounts offer parallel versions of this story and layers of detail about the people involved.  Matthew, however, keeps it simple.  Jesus is asked to come and offer his healing touch in a place of death, and along the way, another woman was healed when she reaches out in faith to touch his robe. 

Sometimes that simplicity itself has something to teach us.

We can talk for hours about the mechanics of what happened, from ritual purity to social boundaries to delays and timing, or even how Jesus noticed a single touch in the middle of a crowd.  Luke tells us the girl actually dies while Jesus is delayed, raising questions about whether he stopped too long or whether it was already too late, as the messengers believed.

But Matthew doesn’t linger there.  And maybe that’s just as well.  Because the more we try to explain a miracle, the less miraculous it becomes.  The more we try to justify Jesus’ actions or the worthiness of those he heals, the more we miss what actually matters.

Jesus is not out healing people that day.  When the ruler and the woman come to him, he has just called a tax collector to be one of his disciples and is now explaining how God is doing something new, something that requires a different way of seeing.

Rather than giving us details about these healings,Matthew simply tells us that two individuals bring their need to Jesus and he responds with compassion.  That’s it.

A dead girl.

A desperate woman beyond help that medicine could offer.

Two people everyone else had given up on.  One dead.  One might as well have been.  There was simply nothing left to be done.

But the girl’s father doesn’t give up.  And neither does the woman.  They bring their need to Jesus even when no one else would listen.  And without hesitation, Jesus responds.

It makes me wonder who we might assume is beyond help.  What voices have we stopped listening too.  Or are there perhaps times we ourselves feel so far beyond help that we don’t even bother asking anymore.

Jesus sees. 

Jesus hears. 

Jesus responds. 

And perhaps he’s calling us to do the same.

• Who have we decided is beyond help or outside our concern?

• Where have you stopped asking because you feel it’s too late?

The Centrality of Bread

The Centrality of Bread

Signs & Wonders: Part 2
January 18, 2026

Luke 9:10-17

** This week is a little different. While I used the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 originally planned for this series, I focus more on the crowds and the way Jesus responded to them with compassion as he and his disciples traveled from town to town. Alongside this story, I also offer my personal reflections on my experience with the Buddhist monks this weekend on their walk for peace. I invite you to set aside any preconceptions about Buddhism and Christianity and simply hear these stories side by side. Then honestly ask yourself, are you willing to walk in this mutual way of peace?

I have still included below the brief written reflections on the original sermon I had planned on this text, “The Centrality of Bread”. You can read the full manuscript of what I actually preached on the Way of Peace over at my Substack Page by clicking here or listen at the link below.

---

When the day was almost over, the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so that they can go to the nearby villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place.”

He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

But they said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.”  (They said this because about five thousand men were present.)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Seat them in groups of about fifty.” They did so, and everyone was seated.  He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.  Everyone ate until they were full, and the disciples filled twelve baskets with the leftovers.

~ Luke 9:12-17

_______________

Everyone was filled. And there were twelve baskets of leftover food to spare.

Yes, Jesus performed a miracle. But Jesus did not do it alone. God’s abundance flowed through the faithful hands of the disciples and through the people gathered together, passing not only bread and fish, but also grace and love from one to another. As theologian Tripp Fuller says, “God refuses to be God without us.” Miracles happen when we willingly participate in what the Spirit is already doing.

Imagine walking for miles, hungry and tired, not knowing when or if your next meal will come. In the distance, you see storehouses overflowing with grain. You can almost smell the bread, but you know it is not for you. It is reserved for the powerful and the wealthy.

This was a common reality in the first century. Jesus’ prayer for daily bread was not only spiritual. People were hungry.

By the end of the day, the disciples were hungry too. They barely had enough to feed themselves, let alone a crowd of thousands. Sending the people away made sense. But instead, Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.”

What bread do we have to give?

For a long time, I kept my writing to myself, thinking it didn’t matter. When I finally shared it, even in small ways, I began to hear from people who felt seen and encouraged by the words I offered. And I was blessed in return by the stories and experiences they shared with me. It taught me that what we resist offering often has more meaning than we imagine.

Miracles don’t happen because we have “enough” to do something big. They happen because God can do big things with the small gifts we place in God’s hands.

What miracle might God be inviting you to share in this week, and who is God inviting you to share it with?

The Role of Caregivers

The Role of Caregivers

Signs & Wonders: Part 1
January 11, 2026

Mark 2:1-12

Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed. They couldn’t carry him through the crowd, so they tore off part of the roof above where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”                                                               

~ Mark 2:3-5

_______________

Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with the miracle stories in scripture.  We don’t see such supernatural outcomes as readily today, which can lead to two extremes.  On one hand, we can be dismissive of those who have experienced miracles in their lives.  On the other, the absence of a miracle can lead to guilt or shame about the strength of our faith.  Neither response is helpful.  Whether we believe in literal miracles or not, these stories invite us into active participation in bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. 

This week’s miracle story involves a paralyzed man being lowered through the roof of the home where Jesus was staying.  We can imagine the outrage if such a scene occurred today: property damaged, rules broken, people cutting in line.

There are always barriers for people trying to get the care they need.  Some face more than others.  But instead of working to create more accessible systems, we often criticize those who try to work around the system just to meet their basic needs.  Sometimes caregivers must take creative or unconventional steps, especially when fighting for those who cannot advocate for themselves. 

Jesus does not turn them away.  He sees their faith and resolve.  He also sees their love and care for their friend and extends compassion by healing the paralyzed man. 

Interestingly, the legal experts in the story are not concerned with the caregiver’s methods either.  They are concerned that Jesus essentially “upgrades” the paralyzed man’s status, seemingly without authority.  In the ancient worldview, long-term illness was often tied to sin.  But by declaring the man forgiven, Jesus removes blame for his condition and affirms that no one is ever excluded from God’s mercy.  The healing becomes a sign that forgiveness and dignity are already granted.

In systems that are constantly overwhelmed and unable to meet every need, we still struggle with questions of who is deserving of care, who should be prioritized, who can afford it, and who is put on hold or cut off entirely.  Such questions should not be necessary, and they never come with easy answers.  But Jesus reminds us that when it comes to caring for basic human needs, there is no stigma, no shame, and no sin that can separate a person from the mercy and love of God.  He shows us that healthcare is not a political issue, but a human one, and one that God cares deeply about.

 Whose mat is God asking you to carry right now? 

 And in what ways do you need others to carry you?

Not My Own

Not My Own

A Covenant Renewal for a Post-Christian World
January 4, 2026

Luke 9:23-27

Jesus said to everyone, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me.  All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will save them.

~ Luke 9:23-24

_______________

 Grace is free, but it will cost you everything.

This is the paradox of Christian discipleship.  Jesus calls us as we are.  We don’t earn God’s favor.  We don’t deserve to be called disciples.  Like the original twelve, we are simply not qualified for the task at hand.  And yet Jesus still says, “Come, follow me.”  This is grace.

But grace is never cheap.  Bonhoeffer reminds us, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die” (Cost of Discipleship).  The same Jesus who freely invites us into abundant life tells us to take up our cross, and to lose our life to find it.  In Luke 14, he even asks, “Who would begin anything without first counting the cost.”

In many ways, that’s exactly what a Covenant Renewal service helps us do.  Wesley adapted the covenant prayer from his parent’s Puritan tradition and encouraged the people called Methodists to pray it at the start of each new year as a way of remembering and renewing their baptismal covenant (umcdiscipleship.org).  It is a prayer of surrender like Jesus describes in Luke 9:23. In baptism, we renounce evil, repent of our sin, die to ourselves, and as Paul says, rise to walk in newness of life.  The Covenant Prayer simply names this truth again: our lives are not our own, we belong to Christ. 

At the same time, the original form of the prayer reflects Wesley’s own era and theological upbringing.  As UMC pastor Rev. Jeremy Smith notes, some lines lean toward a kind of determinism, as if God actively causes our suffering (i.e. “Put me to suffering”).  It becomes difficult to reconcile the God who heals with a God who first inflicts the disease.  Even worse, the idea that God caused the drunk driver or the school shooter to kill an innocent person out of some mysterious Divine plan would make God the author not only of suffering and evil, but of sin itself.  This cannot be.   

Yes, we surrender to God’s will for our lives, but that does not mean everything that happens is God’s will.  Sin and suffering are real.  God works to bring good out of even the worst situations, but I do not believe God causes our pain and suffering.  So, today we’ll pray Rev. Smith’s revised version of the covenant prayer.  He preserves the heart of self-surrender and submission, while rejecting the idea that suffering originates in God.  (You’ll find both the original and revised Covenant Prayer below).

One final word of caution: the covenant we renew today is not just another New Year’s resolution.  Resolutions depend on self-improvement and sheer determination.  Our covenant with God depends entirely on grace.  The Spirit actively produces good fruit in us.  We choose to take up our cross daily, but we depend entirely on God’s strength to live out this promise.

•  Where might God be asking you to surrender control this year so something new can take root?

• As you pray the covenant prayer, what feeing is stirring in you: resistance, hope, longing, fear, freedom… something else?

---

Covenant Prayer (Original) *
John Wesley

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

* https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/blog/the-wesley-covenant-prayer-and-the-baptismal-covenant

Covenant Prayer (Paraphrase) *
Rev. Jeremy Smith

I am not my own self-made, self-reliant human being.
In truth, O God, I am Yours.
Make me into what You will.
Make me a neighbor with those whom You will.
Guide me on the easy path for You.
Guide me on the rocky road for You.
Whether I am to step up for You or step aside for You;
Whether I am to be lifted high for You or brought low for You;
Whether I become full or empty, with all things or with nothing;
I give all that I have and all that I am for You.
So be it.
And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. Amen.

* https://hackingchristianity.net/2016/12/wesleys-covenant-prayer-in-a-post-christian-context.html

A Dragon for Christmas

A Dragon for Christmas

Christmas Letters: Part 5
December 28, 2025

Revelation 12:1-5

Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.  She was pregnant, and she cried out because she was in labor, in pain from giving birth.  Then another sign appeared in heaven: it was a great fiery red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads.  His tail swept down a third of heaven’s stars and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child.  She gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and his throne.  Then the woman fled into the desert, where God has prepared a place for her. There she will be taken care of for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

~ Revelation 12:1-6

_______________

Revelation is probably the last place we’d look for a Christmas story, but the truth is that Christmas, Easter, and the entire story of Creation is all wrapped up in this mysterious vision.  John wasn’t predicting future events.  He was encouraging a persecuted church and proclaiming the gospel in language that Rome would not understand.  That’s why he uses images, symbols and metaphors that would have been recognized by his Jewish audience.

For example, the woman in Revelation 12 is clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and crowned with 12 stars.  Let’s break that down.

• The sun’s brightness points to God..

• Israel’s worship calendar is based on the lunar cycle, so this woman is at the center of Israel’s worship.

• The 12 stars call back to the 12 tribes of Israel, just like in Joseph’s dream in Genesis. 

John is describing God in feminine terms because the focus is on God giving birth – to creation, to Israel, to Jesus, and to the church.  (For more feminine images of God in scripture, check out Hosea 11:3-4, 13:8, Deuteronomy 32:11-12, 18, Isaiah 66:13, Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34, to name a few).    

The dragon represents Satan, seeking to undermine God’s redemptive work in the world.  That’s why he waits to devour the Christ child.  Think about this in the context of Jesus’ life.  Herod seeks to kill the child before he can become a threat.  Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness to derail his ministry before it begins.  And in the end, Jesus is defeated by death on the cross.  The dragon has won.

But John tells us that the child was taken up to God in heaven.  Sound familiar?  Resurrection and ascension.  Death was not the end.  And so, the dragon continues to seek out God’s children wherever they may be found, attacking the church to this day. 

In Revelation, John declares to the church that God has taken up residence in Satan’s domain, here in our fallen world, and that no matter how bad things get, God will always have the final victory. 

We may not have wanted a dragon for Christmas, but do not fear.  Christ has already won.

Where do you see signs of victory breaking through the darkness in your life or in our world today?

Fully Divine: Peace Through Christ

Fully Divine: Peace Through Christ

Christmas Letters: Part 4
December 21, 2025

Colossians 1:15-20, Psalm 96

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the one who is first over all creation, because all things were created by him: both in the heavens and on the earth, the things that are visible and the things that are invisible…

… He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the one who is firstborn from among the dead so that he might occupy the first place in everything.

~ Colossians 1:15-16a, 18

_______________

 Excerpts adapted from The Christmas Letters, by Magrey R. DeVega.

Throughout the Old Testament, God was revealed to the Israelites in visible ways.  God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve.  God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and led the people of Israel through the wilderness in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night.  But in this hymn, Paul takes God’s self-revelation to a whole new level.  Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  Everything we need to know about God can be seen most directly in this singular human life. 

The letters we have looked at this Advent were written before the gospel accounts, and Mark, the earliest gospel, does not include a nativity story.  When the author of Matthew adapts his own telling, and later the writers of Luke and John, they connect Jesus’ birth to the signs of divinity recognized by the ancient world.  Whereas the mother of Alexander the Great was presumably impregnated by Zeus, so Mary conceived by Divine action alone.  Just as a bright star shown to mark the birth of Augustus Caesar, we get a star and a shy full of shining angels at Jesus’ birth.  And everyone who encounters the Christ child is transformed by his presence, from hopelessness into hope, from fear into courage, and from darkness into light. 

The Christmas story is not just about the physical birth of a baby in Bethlehem.  It is about the first over all creation entering into creation to establish God’s reign over every other ruler on earth.  No matter what changes and challenges came their way, this Christmas message assures them of God’s faithfulness. 

How is this message transforming you?

Fully Human: Joy in Humility

Fully Human: Joy in Humility

Christmas Letters: Part 3
December 14, 2025

Phillipians 2:1-11

Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus: Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.  But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings.  When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

~Philippians 2:6-8

_______________

Excerpts adapted from The Christmas Letters, by Magrey R. DeVega.

In a world that defines greatness as a steady climb upward, with more power, fame, and possessions, this early hymn of the church declares the opposite.  Christ’s greatness is shown through servanthood and humility, the qualities our culture tells us are signs of weakness. 

The God of all creation chose to take on human flesh, to breathe the same air and walk the same ground as us.  If Jesus reveals the very nature of God, the incarnation tells us that God is inherently self-giving.  He existed from the very beginning.  He emptied himself.  He humbled himself.  Therefore, God highly honored him and gave him the name above all names. 

But Paul does not sing this hymn simply as a description of God’s self-giving love.  He introduces is it by saying that we should have the same love that is in Christ.  Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves.  Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others.  Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:4-5).

Paul does not specify any specific issues that may have divided the church at Philippi, like he does in other letters, but he does plead with them to be united by the love of Christ no matter their differences.  For Paul, his joy is made complete when a diversity of people come together with common love and common purpose, rather than letting any other filter tear them apart. 

How might you cultivate a spirit of humility, curiosity, and empathy, especially toward those who are the most difficult to love?