Last week, as we thought a little about what the purpose of our lives is, we focused on the first half Jesus' answer, "Love God." But Jesus didn't stop there, he went straight on to add that we must also, "Love your neighbour as yourself." In today's gospel reading we heard Jesus endorse a lawyer's answer to the question, "How can I inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10v27) That's another way of saying, how can I enjoy life in all its fulness, now and forever? We must love God and love our neighbour, was the answer. But as has been observed, "It is much easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbour." (Eric Hoffer) So the lawyer asked Jesus to explain whom he should love, and Jesus told the famous story which we heard today in reply, the parable of the "Good Samaritan". That wonderful tale tells us three things:

• We were made to love others.
• We should show love to anyone who comes across our path day by day.
• That love must be shown in practical service.

1. We were made to love others.

The bible declares to us that "God is love." It also tells us that we are made in his image. In part that means that we are made to love - him & others. We are too often hung up on what we can achieve in life, but as someone has observed, "we are human beings, not human doings". We will only find our true fulfilment in life when we focus on God and on others rather than on ourselves. As the famous Prayer of St Francis reminds us, "It is in giving that we receive." If we want to be truly great we need to live so as to love. Jesus, our great example, lived a life of love for others. St Paul writes, "For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: "Love your neighbour as you love yourself." " (Galatians 5:14) We need to ask ourselves each day, "How can I express love for God and for other people?" and to believe that if we do that we are fulfilling life's purpose, for that is what Jesus taught and lived.

And because he has made us for this purpose, God gives us the resources we need to love. We each have that capacity built into us, hard wired into our lives. Furthermore God offers us his own presence, through the Holy Spirit, who is also love, to fill our lives with love that can overflow to others. We have only to ask God to enable us to love, and to co-operate with him, and he will grow love within us, for "the fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians 5v22).

2. There are plenty of people to love.

Two fellows are talking religion. One says to the other, "Sometimes I'd like to ask God why he allows poverty, famine and injustice when he could do something about it."
"What's stopping you from asking?" asks the second.
The first replies, "I'm afraid God might ask me the same question."

We live in times when we are aware, through the media, of so many needs in the world, that we often feel overwhelmed. We heard from the prophet Micah (6v8) "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Acting justly and showing mercy are expressions of love. We must play our part in doing so at the global level by

• Encouraging our politicians to seek the common good
• Campaigning for justice (as ACAT helps us do for those being tortured)
• Helping the needy (as our support of TEAR Fund makes possible)
• Responding to needs set before us (a Romanian family who wrote to us)

We must prayerfully undertake as a Church those challenges to which God calls us and we must do so as individuals. That includes giving our money to help such causes. But let's understand that we are not each to take on all the burdens of the world! As part of the body of Christ we are to do that part of his work to which he calls us, and to trust him to call others to do the rest.
More immediately we are challenged to help those whom God brings to us day by day, both as a Church and as individuals. For example:

• We support "L'Echoppe", which feeds refugees & others locally
• We plan to help Cecile with preparing her new house, by decorating and other practical tasks, for renting out to give her & Camille needed income
• We offer the hospitality of monthly Church meals & should open our homes to one another
• We can undertake the service tasks which enable our Church to function
• We should try to understand the needs of those we meet, and see how we can help them in practical ways

Jesus said, "You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward." (Matthew 10:42) Part of our Church's purpose should be to help us find opportunity to show love to others in service, in and beyond the Church's life, and to support us in doing that at all levels of our lives. There are endless ways in which we can serve, so we should, as Theodore Roosevelt said, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Let's ask God to show us practical ways in which we can serve others and so love our neighbours as ourselves.

3. Love must be expressed in service.

As I was preparing for today I came across this little story:
"In our church kitchen, whoever drinks the last cup of coffee often fails to replenish the pot for the next person. Trying to motivate the staff to be more responsible, the secretary taped a neatly-typed plea to the pot: "If Jesus drank the last cup of coffee, what would he have done? Go thou and do likewise."
The next morning she found this scrawled response: "Jesus would have turned the water into wine instead of coffee."" (Mae H. Fortson. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare.")
Perhaps, if we exercise aright the faith God gives us he will do such miracles through us, but we are primarily called to show love in doing the acts of service we can all do for others. Jesus said, "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant." (Matthew 23:11) He backed that up by constantly serving his disciples and the crowds who came to him in practical ways, feeding them, healing them, listening to them, even washing their feet. Someone has said, "Service is love dressed in work clothes." The Good Samaritan showed love for the roadside victim by helping him practically, and we must "go & do likewise". Our Church needs to help each of us discover our gifts, abilities, passions and experiences which we can use to help others, and to channel them in the right directions in and beyond the Church. We must pray for & support each other in service - we must develop the hearts of servants, like Jesus.