Loving Jesus with Our Lives – Today is Confirmation Sunday, when youth who have been participating in the Confirmation Class are confirmed as members of the church.  (We had a single service today because of Confirmation.)  As we have been doing for a few weeks, we are following the Fourth Gospel, and our scripture passage for today is the story from John 21 wherein three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him.  The sermon today is given by the Rev. Maggie Jarrell, our Pastor of Children and Families.  This encounter of Peter with Jesus wipes away the three denials of Peter in that earlier scene.  This underscores the foundation of love as Jesus.  Maggie says this scene reminds her of her life’s reliance on checklists.  But following Jesus can’t be reduced to a checklist.  God offers love in abundance, and we don’t have to earn God’s grace.  The words of Jesus in this scene with Peter open the door for us to love our neighbors with our lives, being open to being moved by the Holy Spirit.  Maggie offers some suggestions for how to feed the lambs, but she cautions us not to reduce them to a checklist. 

(NOTE:  Emphasizing the importance of the Word, the video begins with the scripture reading, but if you want, you can scroll back to the beginning of the service in the video – the entire service is available.)