Rev. Tom Hathaway - October 11, 2026
Sharing a Life
There's a big difference between having a roommate and having a partner. Roommates might share a home, expenses, and even values. But partners share their lives, combining their strengths and resources to accomplish things they couldn't do alone. What if the same distinction applies to our relationship with God? In 1 John, we're invited into something more than simply believing in God or embracing Jesus' values. We're invited into fellowship with God. Through the remarkable story of Corrie ten Boom, we explore what that relationship might offer us when our own capacity for love, compassion, and forgiveness runs out.
Scripture References: 1 John 1:1-10
From Series: "1 John: The Tests of Love"
We say God is love, and we say we should love each other. First John agrees, and then asks the harder question: how do you know it's real? Written to a community that had fractured, with people walking away certain they had it figured out, this short letter refuses to let love stay an abstraction. It tests it. Does your love show up in what you actually do, or only in what you say? Can you tell true from false? Can you know, really know, that you belong to God? Over four weeks we'll work through 1 John not as a greeting card about love, but as the letter that asks whether ours holds up.
