Learning to Love (Feb. 20, 2022)

"Sermon on the Mount" by Károly Ferenczy, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

READ: The first followers of Jesus remembered his sermons, retelling the stories and writing down his teachings. In his teachings Jesus spoke of what it was like to live as God intends us and how we were to treat one another. He reminded them that God loves us so much and shares that love with us. When we know that God loves us, we’ll be like a light shining brightly in the world. 
Jesus also said there were to be no limits to our love, that we should love others--our families and friends. And we were to love everyone--including our enemies! Jesus told his followers to love their enemies and to pray for them. Everyone was amazed to hear Jesus extend love to everyone, not just to those who love us. This was such an important teaching that both Matthew and Luke remembered it and wrote it down for us in their gospels.  (from Luke 6:17-26​)
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WONDER: I wonder what it would be like to hear Jesus teaching? 
I wonder why people wrote down this teaching of Jesus?
I wonder what it looks like to love your enemy? 
I wonder what a prayer for your enemy sounds like?
I wonder what part of this story you like the best? 

SAY: In this story we learn more about Jesus’s teaching. Jesus asks us to expand our love for others, starting with those near to us and extending to others, even when that love is hard to give.

PRAY: Let’s pray. Dear God, thank you for those who remembered the teachings of Jesus and who wrote them down for us. Help us to share your love with other people. Amen.

EXTEND:
Watch the film The Fox and The Hound (1981 - Disney). Discuss the friendship between Tod and Copper. What comes between their friendship? How does their relationship change? 
Read God’s Dream (2010) by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. Published by Candlewick Press. Here's a video of the book being read. Talk about what you think God dreams for our world.