What’s the message for the next Witness Sunday?
May 18
Revelation 21:1-6 and John 13:31-35
Sermon Theme: “New World“
Revelation 21 unveils the holy dream of God: a renewed world where grief, death, and separation are no more. This is not an escape from the world but God’s return to it—dwelling among people, making all things new. At the same time, John 13 drops us into the emotional tension of the Last Supper, where Jesus, fully aware of his betrayal and death, speaks a new commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.” These passages, placed side by side, suggest that God’s new creation begins not with thunder, but with love. In the UMC tradition, this week emphasizes the church’s call to love not just as duty but as witness. The future Revelation describes is built from the kind of love Jesus lived—and commands us to embody now. We love not because the world is perfect but because that love is how God is already remaking it.
The sermon will challenge us to ask: What does God’s “new thing” look like right now, and how does love make it possible? We’ll look at how faithful love—especially in broken places—participates in building God’s future.