Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
After roughly five years of dedicated service to the Church of the Advent and its Open Door ministry, JoAnn McIntosh, the Executive Director of Open Door will be moving on to new horizons at the end of this month. JoAnn came to the Church of the Advent with a commitment to prevent homelessness, hunger, and loneliness in the community of Walnut Hills and Hamilton county and an uncompromising faith in God.
Today, St. John tells us that our faith can “conquer” the world. “Conquer” and its hawkish connotations is a confusing translation, because we don’t necessarily think of faith as something to weaponize. A deep dive into St. John’s political context as well as an understanding of how linguistics and translation function in scripture interpretation would be helpful; but for our sakes, let’s keep things simple. The message that I think St. John is conveying is that faith in Jesus helps us achieve what seems unlikely considering the circumstances around us; and “victory” (the more common translation of the Greek word nikao) doesn’t always take the shape we customarily perceive it.
JoAnn, along with her colleagues Gail and Jon, may have not “conquered” systemic problems in our neighborhood per se, but they certainly, through their faith in Jesus, gave hundreds of the most vulnerable people in our community not only succor but also a sense of victory over the problems they faced. Thank you, JoAnn, Gail, and Jon for all that you accomplished because of your trust in Christ’s love.
