Afterwards, born anew

Peter Neilson April 22, 2026 3 0

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1 Peter 1: 17-23 (NIV-UK)

17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 

“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

Jesus was the first newborn from the dead. We join the long procession of those who have been born anew into this resurrection life, joined to him by faith and love. We are the vanguard of the re-birth of all creation. That empty tomb marked a moment when a new world order was called into being in which Love will outlast all else.

Meanwhile we are to live our lives, accountable to our Father, as strangers, resident aliens, born from a different “imperishable seed” which is the life-giving Word of God. To be born of the Divine Word is to be born to love not to hate, to care not to be indifferent, to embrace not to exclude, to serve not to be served. These are the marks of our new-born, resurrected life.

After he had washed Peter’s feet, Jesus said, “By this shall all people know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 35). Peter echoes those words as he encourages his readers to “love one another deeply from the heart.”

From a room in Jerusalem to his readers in Galatia, Cappadocia and Bithynia, to where we now read these words, that remains the mark of authentic followers of Jesus in a love-hungry world.

Prayer:

Give to us, we pray, a greater love for You and for one another:

Love that is patient and kind,

Love that does not keep a record of wrongs,

Love that delights in what is true and resists what is false,

Love that perseveres even when it is rejected,

Love that forgives and forgives and forgives again.

God of love, who first loved us before we knew it

And continues to love us more than we know it,

As we have freely received Your love,

So may we freely give,

In the name and in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord. AMEN