“Faith & Falling in Love”
Preached Sunday, May 10, 2026 at Boardman United Methodist Church
At the risk of sounding sappy this morning, I am going to start my sermon with these queries:
What is it like to fall in love? Throughout your life, how have you fallen in love? What events, what encounters, what experiences have led you to falling in love?
As preparation for this week’s sermon, I asked my husband how he realized he had fallen in love with me. I asked myself the same question of me falling in love with him: and I realized that falling in love comes from a series of encounters. From meeting someone, laughing with them, getting to know them, confiding in them, crying with them, trusting them...It was all these experiences that led me to falling in love.
What is it like to fall in love? Throughout your life, how have you fallen in love? What events, what encounters, what experiences have led you to falling in love?
As preparation for this week’s sermon, I asked my husband how he realized he had fallen in love with me. I asked myself the same question of me falling in love with him: and I realized that falling in love comes from a series of encounters. From meeting someone, laughing with them, getting to know them, confiding in them, crying with them, trusting them...It was all these experiences that led me to falling in love.
And, of course, not all love is romantic love. As children we often come to love our parents because of the love shown to us, the care we receive, the safety we feel -- and then as adult children of adult parents, we can come to love them all over again in old and new ways. I know when I became a mother, I got to experience falling in love with my child. From just the thought of this tiny human in my womb, giving to her of my body, holding and caring for the most precious thing as a newborn - and then the joy of loving them as their personality develops. And the deep deep humbling love that comes from knowing you are this person’s safe place. As an aside, I know Mother’s Day is a day of joy for many - and also a very complicated day for many more. My prayer for each person here today is that they may experience love as a safe place - whether that is the love between a mother and a child, a spouse, a friend, and/or the ultimate love of God as a safe place.
Friendships are formed in love - through many of the same encounters that form romantic love - through sharing, laughing, crying, and trusting. Community is formed in love. When I became a pastor, I was told my main job when I was sent to a congregation was to love the people - love the people and everything else would follow. Plus, as the Bible says, love covers a multitude of errors. Of course, from my first day here to almost three years, the love can change from an abstract love to a more concrete thing - falling in love not just you in the general sense but you in the specific - between hands held, tears cried, laughs, confidences, prayers, meals shared - these encounters with each other, person to person, these help shape our love for each other.
We can trace these moments, these shared experiences, these encounters with another human being when we truly see them for who they are and it in turn is reciprocated - and we can almost re-trace falling in love. I say almost, because we all know that love also has a mystical component to it, something that we can’t quite put our finger on, something that is just beyond our grasp. For me, I would label that part as the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Which also brings me to another love, that for many of us, we don’t talk about enough, love of God. Love for God. But how do you talk about falling in love with God without sounding a little bit like a crazy person? And the truth is, you probably can’t. Because loving God is a little crazy - and mystical and beautiful. And just like our love for other people is built on genuine encounters with the other, so too is our love of God built on encounters with the Divine, with the Holy Spirit.
Craig Koester, a professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary, says this about our Gospel reading today on love and the Holy Spirit:
“Coming to faith is analogous to falling in love. One cannot fall in love in the abstract. Love comes through an encounter with another person. The same is true of faith. If faith is a relationship with the living Christ and the living God who sent him, then faith can only come through an encounter with them. And the Spirit is the one who makes this presence known.”
Let’s take a closer look at this.
In this week’s Gospel reading from John, Jesus is introducing the disciples to the idea of the Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth...you know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” Remember, this is a continuation of last week’s Gospel text that was part of what we call Jesus’s Farewell Discourse to his disciples. It is before his arrest and crucifixion and he is instructing his disciples one last time on this end of things.
This is a part of a longer passage in John 14 - today started at the 15th verse in the passage that’s really one speech. We have been off lectionary the last three weeks for our Fruit of the Spirit hymn sing so we are kinda jumping back in halfway through this passage. It’s like, as a reader, when a sequel comes out and you haven’t read the first book in a couple years so you need to go read a re-cap. So here’s the re-cap of what came before today’s Gospel reading:
So in the verses before this, Jesus is telling his disciples to not be afraid and to trust in him. He says, paraphrased, “If you know me (and you do know me!) then you know God who is the Father. You know who I am through my teachings, my words, my actions. You know that I preach love, forgiveness, mercy, repentance. And you know I model these things too - so you know what I’m about and you know what God is about -- so now, if you know me, you will do likewise so that others may come to know me through you.”
In summary: If you know Jesus, then you know God. If you love Jesus, then you love the Father, and if you love Jesus (and the Father), you will do as Jesus does. Perhaps these verses are what “WWJD” are based on - what would Jesus do? The answer is always love.
So now, in today’s reading, Jesus expands on that idea of knowing Jesus, knowing God, and doing as Jesus does. The question that this week’s Scripture seeks to answer is: How will people know Jesus through which people know the Father, when Jesus is no longer here on Earth, God as living flesh walking among us? How are we to love God, to fall in love with God, when we have no God to physically encounter?
And here is where Jesus says, don’t worry - because the Father is sending another Advocate, as Jesus was an Advocate for encountering and falling in love with God. In just two weeks we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost - that same Spirit who is among us today. And whoever knows the Spirit, knows Jesus, and whoever knows Jesus, knows God. For this is the mystery of Trinity, that they are One, that our God is Triune. So just a caveat - even though the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples at Pentecost - the Holy Spirit was not created at Pentecost. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer - the three Persons of the Trinity have always been in existence with one another, from before there was a beginning, from before there was time, God, Jesus, and the Spirit have all been present. Just as, in time, Jesus was given to us as a gift to know God, so too, in the course of history, the Spirit has been gifted to us so that we may continue to know and fall in love with God.
So who or what is the Spirit? How do we encounter the Spirit in our lives?
The Holy Spirit, like God and Jesus, is both knowable and unknowable. The Spirit though, has always seemed illusive, hard to grasp for many Christians. The Spirit is described as the wind, that which we can feel but cannot see. The Spirit is like our breath, that which is never far from us, fills us with life, sustains us. The Spirit is the flame which ignites within us a desire to know God. The Spirit is that force that we can’t quite put our finger on that interacts in our lives, in our relationships, when we fall in love. Any way we see or feel or sense God moving - in our lives, in our relationships, in the world -- THAT is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And so we may think - have I ever encountered God? And yes, you have. Think about those moments when you have felt peace. When you have felt God comforting you as you cried. When you have felt a surge of joy or thanksgiving that bubbled over into laughter or praise. When you found strength or patience you didn’t know you had. When you’ve had a realization that only could have come from beyond you. Think of all those moments where something beyond you has taken place in your life - that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Those are our encounters with the Holy Spirit and because the Holy Spirit is in perfect union with the Creator and the Son - those are encounters with God and with Jesus, too. And it is through those experiences, through those encounters, when we realize that it is the Spirit we are encountering, that we fall in love with God.
And Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
And remember that Jesus summarized all the law and prophet in two commandments:
One, to love God.
Two, to love neighbor as self.
And we see here how these commandments are circular. When we fall in love with God, we keep God’s commandments - God’s commandments are to love God and to love neighbor. And when we know the Spirit, and thus know Jesus, and thus know God, we are called to do as Jesus did, to spread mercy and forgiveness and love to others through caring for them, siding with the outcast, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and prisoner...basically, loving our neighbors. And it is through these acts of love that the Holy Spirit is at work, and thus we encounter God over and over again, and fall more deeply in love with God…
Yes, these commandments are circular! And at the center of that circle, what remains above all else: is love - and God wants us to encounter the Spirit, to know the Spirit, to know Jesus, to know the Father and fall more in love with God every day and then to live out that love through love of others.
So, at the risk of sounding sappy, I’d like to end my sermon by asking you to ask yourself this question:
How am I continuously falling in love with God?
Friendships are formed in love - through many of the same encounters that form romantic love - through sharing, laughing, crying, and trusting. Community is formed in love. When I became a pastor, I was told my main job when I was sent to a congregation was to love the people - love the people and everything else would follow. Plus, as the Bible says, love covers a multitude of errors. Of course, from my first day here to almost three years, the love can change from an abstract love to a more concrete thing - falling in love not just you in the general sense but you in the specific - between hands held, tears cried, laughs, confidences, prayers, meals shared - these encounters with each other, person to person, these help shape our love for each other.
We can trace these moments, these shared experiences, these encounters with another human being when we truly see them for who they are and it in turn is reciprocated - and we can almost re-trace falling in love. I say almost, because we all know that love also has a mystical component to it, something that we can’t quite put our finger on, something that is just beyond our grasp. For me, I would label that part as the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Which also brings me to another love, that for many of us, we don’t talk about enough, love of God. Love for God. But how do you talk about falling in love with God without sounding a little bit like a crazy person? And the truth is, you probably can’t. Because loving God is a little crazy - and mystical and beautiful. And just like our love for other people is built on genuine encounters with the other, so too is our love of God built on encounters with the Divine, with the Holy Spirit.
Craig Koester, a professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary, says this about our Gospel reading today on love and the Holy Spirit:
“Coming to faith is analogous to falling in love. One cannot fall in love in the abstract. Love comes through an encounter with another person. The same is true of faith. If faith is a relationship with the living Christ and the living God who sent him, then faith can only come through an encounter with them. And the Spirit is the one who makes this presence known.”
Let’s take a closer look at this.
In this week’s Gospel reading from John, Jesus is introducing the disciples to the idea of the Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth...you know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” Remember, this is a continuation of last week’s Gospel text that was part of what we call Jesus’s Farewell Discourse to his disciples. It is before his arrest and crucifixion and he is instructing his disciples one last time on this end of things.
This is a part of a longer passage in John 14 - today started at the 15th verse in the passage that’s really one speech. We have been off lectionary the last three weeks for our Fruit of the Spirit hymn sing so we are kinda jumping back in halfway through this passage. It’s like, as a reader, when a sequel comes out and you haven’t read the first book in a couple years so you need to go read a re-cap. So here’s the re-cap of what came before today’s Gospel reading:
So in the verses before this, Jesus is telling his disciples to not be afraid and to trust in him. He says, paraphrased, “If you know me (and you do know me!) then you know God who is the Father. You know who I am through my teachings, my words, my actions. You know that I preach love, forgiveness, mercy, repentance. And you know I model these things too - so you know what I’m about and you know what God is about -- so now, if you know me, you will do likewise so that others may come to know me through you.”
In summary: If you know Jesus, then you know God. If you love Jesus, then you love the Father, and if you love Jesus (and the Father), you will do as Jesus does. Perhaps these verses are what “WWJD” are based on - what would Jesus do? The answer is always love.
So now, in today’s reading, Jesus expands on that idea of knowing Jesus, knowing God, and doing as Jesus does. The question that this week’s Scripture seeks to answer is: How will people know Jesus through which people know the Father, when Jesus is no longer here on Earth, God as living flesh walking among us? How are we to love God, to fall in love with God, when we have no God to physically encounter?
And here is where Jesus says, don’t worry - because the Father is sending another Advocate, as Jesus was an Advocate for encountering and falling in love with God. In just two weeks we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost - that same Spirit who is among us today. And whoever knows the Spirit, knows Jesus, and whoever knows Jesus, knows God. For this is the mystery of Trinity, that they are One, that our God is Triune. So just a caveat - even though the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples at Pentecost - the Holy Spirit was not created at Pentecost. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit or Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer - the three Persons of the Trinity have always been in existence with one another, from before there was a beginning, from before there was time, God, Jesus, and the Spirit have all been present. Just as, in time, Jesus was given to us as a gift to know God, so too, in the course of history, the Spirit has been gifted to us so that we may continue to know and fall in love with God.
So who or what is the Spirit? How do we encounter the Spirit in our lives?
The Holy Spirit, like God and Jesus, is both knowable and unknowable. The Spirit though, has always seemed illusive, hard to grasp for many Christians. The Spirit is described as the wind, that which we can feel but cannot see. The Spirit is like our breath, that which is never far from us, fills us with life, sustains us. The Spirit is the flame which ignites within us a desire to know God. The Spirit is that force that we can’t quite put our finger on that interacts in our lives, in our relationships, when we fall in love. Any way we see or feel or sense God moving - in our lives, in our relationships, in the world -- THAT is the work of the Holy Spirit.
And so we may think - have I ever encountered God? And yes, you have. Think about those moments when you have felt peace. When you have felt God comforting you as you cried. When you have felt a surge of joy or thanksgiving that bubbled over into laughter or praise. When you found strength or patience you didn’t know you had. When you’ve had a realization that only could have come from beyond you. Think of all those moments where something beyond you has taken place in your life - that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Those are our encounters with the Holy Spirit and because the Holy Spirit is in perfect union with the Creator and the Son - those are encounters with God and with Jesus, too. And it is through those experiences, through those encounters, when we realize that it is the Spirit we are encountering, that we fall in love with God.
And Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
And remember that Jesus summarized all the law and prophet in two commandments:
One, to love God.
Two, to love neighbor as self.
And we see here how these commandments are circular. When we fall in love with God, we keep God’s commandments - God’s commandments are to love God and to love neighbor. And when we know the Spirit, and thus know Jesus, and thus know God, we are called to do as Jesus did, to spread mercy and forgiveness and love to others through caring for them, siding with the outcast, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and prisoner...basically, loving our neighbors. And it is through these acts of love that the Holy Spirit is at work, and thus we encounter God over and over again, and fall more deeply in love with God…
Yes, these commandments are circular! And at the center of that circle, what remains above all else: is love - and God wants us to encounter the Spirit, to know the Spirit, to know Jesus, to know the Father and fall more in love with God every day and then to live out that love through love of others.
So, at the risk of sounding sappy, I’d like to end my sermon by asking you to ask yourself this question:
How am I continuously falling in love with God?
May we all find ourselves with love at the center. Amen.
