God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
1 John 4:16
- In a world of constant bad news what might it mean to share good news?
- What good news do you enjoy receiving or sharing? How do you share good news?
- Take some time to consider good news you have received recently. Pray for those who the good news involved. Give thanks to God for the good things that you are thinking about today.
When we talk about sharing “the Good News”, we are referring to the Gospel or the story of Jesus. The word translated as Gospel in the New Testament is euangelion, a compound word, eu means “good,” and angelion means “announcement.”
The Good News of Jesus is about love that is stronger than death, about forgiveness, about resurrection, about God’s Kingdom where the humble are lifted up and the mighty brought down.
- How would you describe the Good News of Jesus Christ? What is good about Good Friday?
Read this passage from 1 John 4:7-12
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
- Read the passage through a couple of times. What words or phrases jump out at you? What is the good news of this passage that you would want to share with someone else?
Sometimes sharing the good news feels too hard or too personal. Sometimes we are afraid of talking about our faith. Ponder how you feel about talking about faith.
- What gets in the way for you? What help might you want to ask God for in building confidence to share your faith?
On Good Friday we confront the death and suffering of Jesus Christ. We might see Christ’s suffering as solidarity with the world that suffers. Jesus shows compassion, he suffers alongside us.
- What acts of compassion or service might you be able to share with someone in your community which communicates the Good News of Jesus through action as well as words?
Jo Neary
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