Perfect Love
1 John 4:7-21 May 10, 2026 (Mother’s Day)
< Finding God in the Shack>
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, Happy
Mother’s Day. I want to begin this morning by asking a question: Have you ever
read the book or watched the movie 'The Shack'? It is a powerful story that has
brought healing to many, including myself. In the story, the main character is
paralyzed by the tragedy of losing his daughter. He is angry at God, lost in a
'Great Sadness.' But then, he is invited to a cozy, warm house to meet the
Trinity.
The first time I watched the movie, I was
shocked. The character representing God the Father is portrayed as a warm, kind
Black woman. At first, I couldn’t imagine God that way. But as the movie went
on, I felt God’s nature through her. She doesn’t react to his anger or
misbehavior with judgment. Instead, she invites him in. She wears an apron. She
cooks for him. She listens with deep, soulful eyes. She embraces him with the
heart and smile that a mother offers a weary child. By the end, I realized that
this image is not just a creative choice—it is a biblical one.
<God’s Motherly Love>
Where do we find God’s motherly love in the
Bible? We find it everywhere if we have eyes to see. Think of the Israelites in
the desert. God wore the spiritual apron, providing manna and quail for two
million people every day for forty years. I sometimes get tired of cooking for
seven people! God provided for every single need. We see it when God comforted
Elijah under the Broom tree (the Rodem tree). Elijah was exhausted and ready to
give up, and God didn't lecture him. He fed him and let him sleep, just as a mother
comforts a tired, weary child.
The Scriptures are rich with this imagery. In
Isaiah 66:13, God says, 'As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort
you.' In Isaiah 49:15, He asks, 'Can a mother forget the baby at her breast...
I will not forget you.' Deuteronomy 32 pictures God like an eagle carrying her
young. Even Jesus, looking over Jerusalem, wept and said, 'How often I have
longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings.' This is the nature of our God: protective, nurturing, and fiercely loving.
Today is a great day to acknowledge our
mothers, but we must admit that for some, this is a hard day. If you have a
broken relationship with your mother, if you are grieving, if you never had
children, or if you had a painful experience on this day, the greeting cards
don't always speak to you. But today, may God come to you with Motherly love to
refresh, renew, and restore you. You are part of the family of God.
< Perfect Love in an Imperfect World >
This brings us to the letters of John. As we
journey through the New Testament, we find John writing 1, 2, and 3 John. And
what was the one thing he repeated over and over? Love.
A.W. Tozer famously said that God doesn't
just 'have' love—He is love! John emphasizes this in 1 John 4: 'God is
love.' It is His very essence. John says this love is 'perfect.' Now, when you
hear the word 'perfect,' what do you feel? In our world, 'perfect' usually
means 'flawless' or 'without mistake.' But the origin of the word 'perfection'
in the biblical sense (the Greek word 'teleios') doesn't mean a lack of
mistakes. It means 'completeness' or 'reaching the intended goal.' Perfect love
is love that has reached its full purpose.
John tells us that even though we cannot see
God, if we love one another, God’s love is 'perfected' in us. We make the
invisible God visible. This reminds me of my visit to Barbara Porter and her
great-grandson, Kaiden. Kaiden asked me with those big, curious eyes, 'How can I
invite God into my heart and my house? He is invisible!' I told him that God is
like the wind—you can’t see the wind, but you can feel it, and you can see what
it does to the trees.
We see God through our bodies. Teresa of
Avila, that amazing spiritual mother of the 16th century, wrote these famous
words: 'Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which He looks with compassion on this world.' And
Mother Teresa of Calcutta echoed this sentiment in her life. She taught us that
we don't have to do great things to be perfect in love. She said, 'Not all of
us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.'
<Perfect love in our churches>
Look at our churches. Right now, we are in a
season of transition. As you heard in the bishop’s presentation last Sunday,
after the division, there was no longer four million dollars in reserve funds.
This year began with almost nothing. People say small churches cannot survive
anymore. In the United Methodist Church, especially in the New England
Conference, there is now a stronger focus on cooperative ministry. Two, three,
even four churches gather together and work together. It is not always neat or
beautiful. Sometimes it feels broken and messy. Sometimes it even feels like a
sinking ship. However, even while we grieve, feel upset, and fear all these
transitions, I still dare to say: we are perfect because of God’s love, because
God is love. I can see this perfect love in our four churches. When I was
appointed to Mars Hill, things were very stretched. Hodgdon United Methodist
Church had lost its Sunday school director. Our family needed to divide into
Team A and Team B. Yet one church member stood up and said, 'Look at those
people who lost their shepherd. Why don’t we send Victor and Joyce — the Han
family — to Mars Hill as missionaries, as our gift?' They were not protecting their
own privilege; they embraced Mars Hill. The first few months, even the first
year, were definitely a season of transition, but we experienced great love.
Mars Hill, Hodgdon, and Houlton became one big church family. During those two
years, Paula and Mary also helped Stetson Memorial while the church did not
have a pastor. Then, a year ago, when the district superintendent appointed me
to Stetson Memorial Church, it was another painful transition. I could no
longer see the Mars Hill people every Sunday. My children, who stayed with me,
could no longer attend the Houlton church Sunday school because of the
schedule. Houlton Church also lost me. It was a very big sacrifice. However,
the other three churches sent me to Patten Church as a missionary. During the
first few months, there were nights when we could not sleep. We cried. We
grieved. But look at us now. All four churches have gathered together as one
body. We became a wonderful example in this New England Conference. Some
churches may only talk about combined meetings or combined worship services,
but I truly saw the beauty of love — perfect love — in our Dream Team meetings.
After one long four-church leadership meeting with the new pastor, Craig
Taylor, many people stayed for over an hour afterward. They talked with one
another, asked questions, greeted and comforted each other, shared recipes, and
prayed together. Some even volunteered to give testimonies when there was no
pastor available. Every time Victor and I prepared for this transition, and
every time we met the new pastor, we discovered another piece of God’s bigger
picture. We kept saying, 'Wow, God prepared all these things for this very
moment.'
Even Pastor Kwan Lee, who served Patten twenty years ago and Houlton fifty years ago, helped provide the means to publish the Faith Book you receive today. It is a record of our mess and God's perfection. It is a Mother’s Day gift to remind you that you are loved by a God who wears an apron, who carries you like an eagle, and who never forgets the child at her breast. We are broken, yes. We are messy, yes. But when we invite Jesus into our hearts, He fills in all the broken places. Through His perfect love, we are made complete.
God of Love, we thank You for sending Your
Son, Jesus Christ, to fulfill the promise of perfect love. We are deeply
grateful for the mothers and caregivers You have placed in our lives—those who
reflect the heart of Jesus and remind us of His grace. We thank You that
although Christ has no physical body on earth today, You allow the world to
continue seeing Him through us. Though we may not be able to do great things,
help us to be the small hands reaching out to the marginalized and the small
feet walking toward the lonely, doing small things with great love. In the name
of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
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