Day of the Church Year: 4th Sunday after Epiphany
Scripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
After twelve chapters of instruction by the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Corinth, after twelve chapters of helping them untangle the knots in their community, after assuring them the Holy Spirit empowers them with gifts meant to be used for the common good, Paul concludes the chapter with these words: And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Chapter 13 then opens: If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
More than wisdom or knowledge, more than generosity or faithfulness, love is the still more excellent way, the essence of the Christian life, the commandment to end all commandments. For Paul echos Jesus who taught that the first commandment was to love God and the second to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul invites the Corinthians to love with patience and kindness, without jealousy or arrogance, to love in action.
Just a couple months ago, long-time Grace member Alice Schilling died. I had the honor of being her pastor for 11 years, and every Sunday, she would greet me at the end of worship with a smile and a hug and an assurance that she was doing great. I assume she didn’t always agree with me, but I always knew I was loved by Alice. I remember once when I went to cheer on her grandson Sammy at a basketball game, and after the game, the kids on his team gathered around Alice as she congratulated them and hugged them. I later learned she was like a grandmother to all those kids, sewing names on jerseys, showing up at all their games. At Alice’s celebration of life, as Sara and Leiana and other grandchildren stepped up to the lectern, one after another, they assured us who were gathered that, indeed, they were the favorite grandchild. For though she didn’t always like what they chose to do, Alice supported them in their endeavors, showed up for their games and concerts, listened to them, received them into her arms at difficult times with no questions asked. Alice loved in such a way that everyone thought they were her favorite.
Who has loved you? Perhaps a parent or grandparent, a friend or co-worker, a neighbor or church member, a teacher or coach. Please turn to someone sitting near you, share the name of one person who loves you, and one way they show you they love you.
People took time to share about someone who loves them and one way that person shows them they love them.
As we consider Paul’s words today, the still more excellent way of love, the admonition to love, do not be weighed down by the command to love. Do not be burdened. Instead, remember those who have loved you despite all your shenanigans and all your imperfections, those who have rejoiced with you at times of triumph and sat with you as you cried. Remember those who have given of themselves that you might have life and have it abundantly. It’s not just our family members and our friends. It’s our teachers and coaches, health care professionals and scientists. It’s our public servants: police officers and military personnel, elected officials and all who make the lights go on and the water pour out of the tap. It’s those who volunteer across our culture to show compassion in countless ways. It’s the artists and poets and musicians who create beauty to inspire us and the farmers and gardeners—and those who drive the trucks and stock the grocery store shelves—who nurture life so that we may eat. It’s the church community that shows up for us and prays for us and has nurtured us such that we can hear the word of God today. We look divided right now in our world; we really do. But thanks be to God love is an action, not just a feeling. And by the looks of it, love actually is all around. And we, despite ourselves, love one another too.
When we remember the love all around us, we want to join that still more excellent way. We want to be bowled over by the Holy Spirit that leads us into love, that nudges us to love, that compels us to love. We want to be part of what God is doing all over the world, in every home, in every city, in every nation. God’s agape love, the love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, God’s agape love is all around this world, sprouting forth among us despite our jealous, boastful, arrogant selves. What at first appears to be an impossible dream, the agape love of 1 Corinthians 13, turns out to be all around. We who struggle to love realize that we participate in God’s loving work every day, with every way that we contribute to the common good, both paid and unpaid, with every word of encouragement, with every prayer, by even showing up this morning to help nurture the faith of someone else by our presence.
Without love, we are nothing. But friends, we are loved, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we do love. Thanks be to God! Amen.