Take a little of Christ with you in all you do – don’t act one way at church on Sunday and another way the rest of the week.

In today’s passage, the Apostle Paul is praying for a young church that their love for one another and that their faith might continue to grow by the power of God. The Church of South Washington Street as a new “church” is in need of the same prayer.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12, 13)

As a child in S.C., I remember Hurricane Gracie . The sky was very dark, the wind howled, trees could be heard breaking, and the rain was torrential. Those things combined to make me very frightened. I was alone at the house, or so I think, but a neighbor knew this and came across the street to check on me. Her words to me were ” Be not afraid, it’s in God’s hands”. Now why she thought that would be calming to an eight-year-old, I don’t know but after uttering those words she went home. So, when Tindley says, “Though the night is dark it won’t be very long. Thanks be to God, the morning light appears, And the storm is passing over, Hallelujah”, I feel like I have lived through it.

Pastors James Daniely (Roberts Memorial UMC) and Thomas James (WSUMC) join together in the pulpit to look at the invitation of the song “We Shall Overcome.” What are we being asked to overcome? By looking at the history of our churches, and the invitation of God’s Word in 1 John 5, we see the call to overcome our unbelief. For true faith not only invites a greater witness of God’s love in relationship with our neighbor, it demands it. Anything less than offering true love to God and neighbor makes a liar out of God, and challenges our claim to faithfulness.

Rev. Dr. James G. Daniely is the guest preacher this Sunday, as WSUMC joins in worship with Roberts Memorial UMC. Pulling from the book of Ruth, Rev. Daniely asks us to consider what faithfulness looks like today with Ruth’s statement to Naomi at the forefront of our relationships. “Your people shall be my people” offers a proclamation of God’s expansive love and calls us to greater relationship with one another.

*Due to audio problems, the first few minutes of the sermon are difficult to hear. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Kimberly Young moderates a conversation between Rev. James Daniely of Roberts Memorial UMC and Rev. Thomas James of Washington Street UMC as both churches wrap up a study on Ephesians. How does the teaching of the apostle on being “imitators” of God instruct us to live in this present moment?