So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (NLT)
Gracious Father,
You have shown us the way to love. You have given us the ways to be loving to each other by the ways that you love us. Oh, how we wish we could! So often, Lord, we are more interested in ourselves than we are of loving anyone else. We are more concerned about our own needs, than we are the hurts that are just next door. Open our hearts, Lord, to your love. Open our hearts, Lord, for the people around us. Help us to love more in the ways you desire, so that everyone will know you! In Christ’s name, Amen.
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Shannon
Shannon Blosser is the pastor of Mount Olivet and Benwood-McMechen UMC in the Wheeling, W.Va. area. He is an ordained elder in the West Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He is particularly focused on how the witness of faith creates inclusion and acceptance of those with disabilities within the church.
Before entering ministry, Shannon wrote professionally as a sports and news writer for West Virginia and North Carolina newspapers and policy organizations.
He lives in McMechen, W.Va., with his wife, Abbi, sons, Noah and Tad, and their cat, George. He is an alum of West Virginia University and Asbury Theological Seminary. In his spare time, you can find him watching WVU athletics, studying presidential history, cheering on the St. Louis Cardinals baseball, or attempting to play golf.
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Shannon Blosser 