Right then I made the decision to know those two teachers better. I did. And I learned to care very much for both of them. One of them died of cancer shortly after I retired from teaching. Just before he died, he said, "Felix, you're the best friend I ever had. Will you conduct my funeral?" Of course I would. I did.

The other man is a Roman Catholic, but he visited Old St. John's several times. In honor of my entering the ministry full time, he made me the stained glass candle holder you see on the pulpit this morning.

Dear saints, we miss so much by not bothering to make more friends! I asked you to do this some time ago. Please do so again — Think of some friend you know now, whom you did not know 5 years ago. Aren't you glad you did whatever you did to make the acquaintance of that person?

Now think how many more people you will enjoy knowing when you go to the trouble of deliberately learning to know them!

Now for project No. 2: Think of someone for whom you care very much, whom you at one time did not like. Did not the change come as you got to know the person better?

Next project: Think of someone you don't really care much for. The reason is irrelevant. Ignore the reason, and the past, but determine to get better acquainted.

Ah! You will soon have another friend, a friend you didn't have before!

This principle is crucial in living the Christian life. Christians cannot have enemies of our making. We will have enemies, but only because they choose to be enemies. Jesus had enemies, but they were those who rejected or opposed his demanding principles. He served and cared for all people, many of whom did not fit into society in any appreciable sense. He considered all people friends. It was they who decided to be enemies!

That means you and I, as Christians, do not snub, ignore, neglect anyone. In the Christian lifestyle there is no place for prejudice!

Lucille and I went to a Jewish-Christian dialogue in Muskegon. Rabbi Polish, rabbi at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills said, "What people of faith share is more important than that which separates." Amen!

Rabbi David Hartman, from Jerusalem, reminded us that when God sent Moses to lead Israel to freedom, Moses said, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I am has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:13, 14)

"God is, and it is God's isness which moves human beings to be in relationship with God." Relationship gives meaning to life — relationship with God and relationships with other people. "The human condition" was the rabbi's way of putting it.

Martin Marty added that the essence of being is in relationships. He also noted that violence is either a response to poor relationships, with its resultant anger, or it is a cry to be noticed, to have a relationship.

If we see the violent person as sick, either because of mistreatment or because of an empty life (a need for relationships), we will have a much different attitude than when we just react emotionally to the violent person.

When we put ourselves in the place of the violent one — when we "walk a mile in his moccasins" — our prejudice, resentment, repulsion will give way to love and compassion. Then we will reflect the image of God, we will mirror Jesus, the Light of the world.

That must be our passion. That must be our priority — to live and love as Jesus lived and loved.

I am not saying we should approve or accept violence.

We read in our Epistle for today, "We know we have passed from death to life, because we love each other." (I John 3:14) That is exactly what Jesus prayed for and admonished. "Love each other as I have loved you." (John 13:34)

It is easy for me to love you, because I know you. We nearly always love those we know. You remember the phrase, "To know him is to love him." As a principle, that is literally true. To know, really know someone is to love him. At least if we are Christian.

We love our children, even when they are not lovable! We love our spouses, even when they are not lovable!

Speaking of spouse love, "to know" as used in the Bible is often a very intimate term, signifying sexual intercourse. "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived" (Genesis 4:1), "And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived . . ." (Genesis 4:17)

Two American helicopters were shot down by our own forces in Iraq. The president went on the air to express sympathy for the families of those killed. I am glad he did so, because it was a disaster, a terrible tragedy.

However, as I listened to him I thought how much the families of our "enemies" hurt when we shoot their loved ones down. If those helicopters had been Iraqi planes, and the military personnel who were killed had been Iraqi, their families would have hurt just as much as the families of our own. The difference is that we know our own; the "enemies" are "strangers."

Horace Mann spoke at the opening ceremony of a boys reformatory. He said, "If one boy is saved by the work of this institution, it is worth every penny it cost."

Someone chided him after the ceremony. "Isn't that just a bit of an exaggeration?"

"Not if that boy is my son!" was his answer. Anyone who has had a child in need of "reforming" can identify with that.

We care for what and whom we know. That is a basic principle. We care for what and whom we know, whether it is a "what," a thing, or a "whom," a person. Without regard to merit or worth; it is the knowing, the relationship which motivates the caring.

If you know mathematics well, you are pretty sure to enjoy mathematics. If you know history well, you will likely enjoy history.

You are very fond of your dog or cat. You don't care nearly as much for our dog or cat. Value has nothing to do with it. The difference is that you have a relationship with your dog, your cat.

It is even true of inanimate objects — a stone or a pocket knife or a dish . . . or anything that has been around for a long time. Sentiment! Relationship! Even if it is a "one way" relationship, it is still a sort of relationship, and it begets fondness.

When I taught school, students often registered antipathy toward some subject, or classical music, or some teacher or student . . . "I hate algebra." "I hate long-hair music." "I hate Ms. Jones." "I hate Betty."

That's when I developed my "3-week" theory. Spend 3 weeks learning to know the person or the subject you "hate" and your attitude will change.

"For the next 3 weeks, see that you do your algebra thoroughly every day. Go the second mile. Do twice the number of problems you are assigned. Do whatever it takes to master your lesson. Then come back in 3 weeks and tell me you still hate algebra."

"During the next 3 weeks make a deliberate effort to learn as much as you can about Ms. Jones (or Betty). Develop a relationship. Go out of your way to do that person a favor. Then at the end of the 3 weeks, come back and tell me you still hate that person."

"Select one piece of classical music. Listen to it carefully every day for 3 weeks. Then come back and tell me you still hate classical music."

I usually offered to buy dinner for anyone who came back still "hating . . ." No one ever did! It is probably true that few of them actually tried it, but those who did always came back amazed that they could learn to like algebra, or Ms. Jones or classical music!

The secret is in developing a relationship, learning to know.

Now, if that principle is valid — and it is — we Christians are obligated by our profession of faith and our commitment to Jesus Christ to turn strangers into friends, enemies into companions, hate into love.

A non-christian scholar made a study of world religions and concluded, "I am astounded! There is an immense difference . . . When I really grappled with what salvation means, and compared what other religions offer, I decided I want to become a Christian . . . Christ is the answer!"

The principles taught and lived by Jesus are the way to find peace of mind, happiness, meaning and significance to life. Not an easy life, not a life free of trials and troubles, but a way which makes life worth living.

Healing, health, wholeness, oneness are the principles of The Way taught and lived by Jesus. Remember they are principles, not promises. That is to say, not everyone who follows Jesus will necessarily be healthy. We do, after all, live in a world of evil and illness. As a Christian, I am not always happy and healthy, but I am more happy and healthy than I would be if I were not a Christian.

By way of reminder, The Way is "Love your enemies," "Return good for evil," "Pray for those who mistreat you," "Live for today; do not worry about tomorrow," "Do not resist an evil person," "Do twice what you are required to do," "Do not store up treasures," "Do not judge others" . . . and in summary, make living by these principles your highest priority. "Seek first the Kingdom of God."

If you know anyone who lives those principles, you will never hear that person say, "I hate that man."

No one actually says that, of course. We use a euphemism, like, "I don't like him." But according to Jesus, to fail to love is to hate! Isn't it? As darkness does not exist in the light, hate does not exist in love.

Peter and John spoke to the Sanhedrin, the 70 or 71-member "supreme court" of the Jews. The Sanhedrin included priests, Sadducees, Pharisees, scribes and elders. Quite an august assembly to be addressed so boldly by a couple of uneducated, untrained, unprofessional fishermen.

Altho verses 13 and 14 (Acts 4) are not in the lection for today, let's take note of them: "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say."

Notice the key words: They saw their boldness, they realized that they were unschooled laymen, they were astonished by what they said, and therefore they took note that they had been with Jesus. Their boldness and their testimony, not erudition or degrees or scholarship or diplomas, gave credence to the apostles' witness.

What a paradigm for Christian witness! Speak boldly, but it must be from an experience of The Way, of love, and it must follow a living demonstration of that experience.

Let the principles of the Kingdom of God preoccupy your life-style and you will make a difference. You will be a light to the world, you will be salt of the earth.

No one can hide a light, or ignore salt. It always makes a difference. Unconditional love inevitably produces light and salt. That does not mean we approve of everyone's behavior. Jesus did not approve of the behavior of many people, but he loved them.

No other teacher has taught those principles like Jesus did. There have been some famous, inspiring teachers — Confucius, the Buddha, Mohammed, Marx . . . but no one else taught the principles Jesus taught.

Isn't it interesting how a word which is new to you seems to crop up again and again? I don't remember ever hearing the word triumphalism until a couple of years ago; now I have heard three different people use it in three different situations in recent weeks! Martin Marty used it in a talk. In a board meeting last week, a Roman Catholic talked about triumphalism.

As I understand it, triumphalism means "our way is the only way." You either join our group or you are in error. My Catholic friend says when he was young he was taught that only Roman Catholics would ever be saved. When I was young, I was taught that only those who chose our true church would be saved. I still believe that church holds more Biblical Truth than any other . . . But I am no longer a triumphalist.

This past week I heard a radio preacher claim that only Christians will be saved. Acts 4:12 is the basis for his conviction. When a caller asked him about the millions who never had a chance to know about Jesus, his answer was simplistic: "Well, that's what the Bible says." Indeed it does! But is that what the Bible teaches?

Ironically, when anyone decries and denies triumphalism, he is usually classed, at least by fundamentalists, at the other extreme — "You are saying it doesn't make any difference what you believe."

That is nonsense. It makes a great deal of difference what you believe. It means the difference between apathy and integrity. I could not be saved apart from Jesus. But Jesus told us not to judge. He also said "Other sheep I have, not of this sheepfold.

The Old Testament concept of God was of the ultimate triumphalist, a harsh, autocratic deity who blessed his own and ordered the slaughter of those who were not.

Jesus came to teach us what God is really like. Jesus is pictured in the Psalm and the Gospel lessons today as a shepherd, a loving, tender shepherd. He said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9) I take that to mean God the Father is tender, loving, caring.

A minister in Illinois wanted to use a real shepherd's staff in the Christmas pageant.

He went to a sheepman to borrow one. The sheep rancher said, "You need to know that Eastern shepherds lead their sheep. Here in the West, we drive them!"

Leading is an act of love. Driving is an act of force, power. Our Good Shepherd leads us into green pastures.

Let us pray . . .