Last Sunday, we heard from one of the letters of John where the writer encourages us to love like Jesus. In the epistle the writer reminds us that how we love others is a reflection of our love for God. In this Sunday’s gospel reading, John tells us that our ability to love like Christ loves grows out of our relationship with Christ. John suggests that when our relationship with Christ is organic, like a branch connected to the vine, we are friends of Jesus and we bear the fruit of love. God initiates a relationship with us, and yet, we must respond. So, by spending time with Christ, hanging around Christ, abiding in Christ, as John says, we take on the character of Christ and develop the capacity to love God and others well.