Scripture- John 13:35

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Prayer Focus: The middle and high school youth of Unity Presbyterian Church look forward to leading in worship this week for Youth Sunday! For this week’s devotions, we will give you a behind the scenes look at the process our youth went through to create this service. Back in December, a group of four high school seniors met to select the scripture text to guide worship. When asked about what it means to love, here are a few of the things they shared:

God doesn’t just call us to love our friends and family, but everyone, because we are all God’s family.

Saying “I love you” to people (and demonstrating it with your actions) matters, even though it isn’t always acceptable in society to express love so honestly.

It doesn’t matter if you grew up in the church or if it’s your first time here. Every single person should be welcomed and cared like they’ve been part of our family forever (because they have!)

After that initial brainstorm, it was clear that the Holy Spirit was calling us to dive into John 13:31-35! What do you hear and notice in this text and in these observations from our high schoolers? Today, I pray that we all might hear this familiar text with fresh ears.