"Living as a Communion of Persons: Preparing for Judgment Day"

This Advent message confronts us with a startling truth: we owe an infinite, unpayable debt of love to one another. Drawing from Romans 13, we're invited to understand love not as a nice sentiment but as the very fabric of reality itself. Because we're made in the image of the Triune God—where Father, Son, and Spirit eternally give themselves to one another in joyful communion—we too are designed to live in perpetual self-offering love. The Enlightenment taught us to see ourselves as isolated individuals, sealed off and independent. But Scripture reveals something far more mysterious: the boundary between us and our neighbor is porous, interconnected, almost indistinguishable when viewed through the lens of divine love. Every person we encounter—from the stranger at Kroger to the struggling parent in our parish—is a means of grace, an opportunity to practice the very love that will be the criterion of our judgment. This Advent season asks us to reimagine our entire Christian life as training for eternity, where learning to love as God loves is not just the assignment but the pathway to becoming fully human. The good news is we're not studying alone: the Holy Spirit dwells within us as our teacher and comforter, preparing us for the day when Christ returns and asks, 'Did you learn to love?'

Discussion Questions:

When Jesus says to love your neighbor as yourself, how does the sermon's explanation of co-inherence and interpenetration reshape your understanding of this familiar command?

What specific encounters with other people this week could become opportunities for you to practice seeing them as part of one body with you rather than as separate individuals?

How does the reality of judgment day, where we will be assessed on whether we learned to love, affect your sense of urgency about participating in the means of grace?

In what areas of your life do selfishness and self-preservation still feel natural, and how might you invite the Holy Spirit to transform those patterns into self-offering love?

How does recognizing that every person you meet is stamped with the image of the triune God change the way you approach mundane interactions at the grocery store, gas station, or workplace?