Today we begin a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John with some verses from chapter 3 that are centered on God’s love and how our love can be manifested in acts.  Although the English word, “love,” can refer to a wide variety of emotions and acts, Greek has several different words that can be translated “love” – philos, eros, and agape, each with different applications and contexts.  In 1 John, it is agape that is at the heart of Christianity, and in the passage for today, agape is love in action: laying ourselves down for others.  Some of us are exploring that further through the book, Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times, by Bishop Michael Curry.  Every day there are opportunities for us to choose to love others, putting the well-being of another above our own.  In our Methodist tradition, John Wesley would call this “sanctification,” the process of practicing agape through the church.  Our own church experience gives us the opportunity to learn agape through practice.    (NOTE: Reflecting the importance of the Word, the video begins with the scripture, but once it starts you can scroll back to the beginning of the service if you want.  The entire service is videoed.)