Love is a vErb
On the way to church one day this week I was listening to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times. The podcast of course was on Covid, as so many podcasts have been over the past two years, but what was interesting about this podcast was that it was speaking of how where we are now as a nation and where we can go from here — it spoke of the deep polarization that Covid has caused between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated and disparity in the logical anxiety levels between the two. It spoke of how those who are vaccinated and boosted remain the most anxious about catching it, though statistically it has been show that should you get sick from it, being vaccinated and boosted, symptoms will be mild and you will recover — the danger of dying is much less than from that of the flu. It also spoke of how those at the greatest risk of dying from Covid (the unvaccinated), remained the least anxious about catching it.
It was speaking of how our actions and our anxiety levels do not necessarily at all match up to the reality of our particular individual situations.
Which caused me to think about how this is true for most of life. Sometimes our actions do not match up to our realities. Sometimes we let anxiety and fear control us. We allow things that should not be controlling us to control us. Things that we as Christians let in to our headspace that, while they may even have some validity, should not be the things that we allow to dominate our thinking and definitely not control our actions.
The New Testament passage today is 1 Corinthians 13. First Corinthians 13 is, perhaps, one of the most recognizable passages of the New Testament. A favorite text for many wedding homilies, this chapter of 1 Corinthians has far more to offer than merely a sentimental reflection on romantic love. I am not here to discourage anyone from using it to refer to romantic love, but this text is speaking to so much more. It speaks to a self-giving love.
It is important to put this text in its literary context, and to place it within its larger context of 1 Corinthians 12-14. In chapters 12 and 14, Paul is addressing issues related to spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of speaking in tongues. While it seems that the Corinthians themselves were over-emphasizing the importance of this single gift, Paul is encouraging the congregation to recognize the necessity of all spiritual gifts (chapter 12) and cautioning the congregation to temper the practice of speaking in tongues with the interpretation of these tongues and with prophecy (chapter 14).
Given this setting, the placement of chapter 13 is worth noting. It is central to Paul’s argument of not placing greater importance on the gift of speaking in tongues, and it appears that the Corinthian community was becoming starkly divided in a debate related to spiritual gifts, placing some above the others.
Paul, rather than taking a side in the debate, reminds them that even amid difference and dissent, that love abides. While not taking sides, and attempting to not getting caught up in which gift may be the greatest, he ends up stating, “Now faith, hope and love abide. And the greatest of these is love.”
This text makes for an interesting partner to today’s Gospel reading from Luke 4:21-30. In that text, Jesus’s audacity in pointing to the inclusion of outsiders (the widow of Zarephath in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian) is met with such outrage that he is nearly killed on the spot. Those in the synagogue did not want to consider or allow the possibility that God loved others, outsiders as much as them. That God’s love reached to those who were very, very different then them.
The differences and divisions that are arising in our nation at this time are disturbing. They are deeply disturbing to many of us. I am here to say to the Church that we need to remind ourselves of whose we are — and to be reminded of the importance of love across lines of difference.
Read together these two texts point to the significance of the topic of love and what things are important.
“Now faith, hope, and love abide. And the greatest of these is love”.
Pursue love amidst differences and dissent. Pursue love.
The context of dissent in Corinth makes Paul’s teachings about love all the more vivid. This context suggests that love, for Paul, is not just the cute subject of a Valentine’s Day card. Rather, love is a collection of intentional actions. Love is a verb. As the descriptors of love in this passage, as they are verbs, it may be better translated along the lines of, “Love waits patiently; love acts kindly” and so forth. What might seem like a stilted grammatical point is actually quite important. That is, the love that Paul is describing takes action; it is not a passive feeling toward another. Love is defined by action.
Which gets me back to the concept of how our actions should be defined by our realities, and not by some type of chronic anxiety or fear, or some other overarching thoughts that we allow to influence our actions, or some deluded thought that we may in some way be better than others; things that have no basis in reality.
What is our reality? Our reality is that we are children redeemed by a loving God. Our reality is, is that as God’s children we are called to a different way of thinking, a different way of being, a different way of interacting with the world around us. And with each other.
In the Jeremiah passage from today, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and said, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…before you were born I consecrated you…” Before we were born God knew us.
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,” Jeremiah 1:6
God was speaking specifically to Jeremiah in this passage, but I think the principle applies to us. God does not want us to live as if we have no impact, as if we are insignificant — he does not want us to say, “I am only a boy”… “I am only one woman”… “We only have a small congregation”… God wants us to live with the knowledge that God is with us and what we do while here on this earth, how we act, should reflect this awareness.
“Now faith, hope, and love abide, the greatest of these is love”.
This moment in time is going to pass away. Covid is eventually going to go away. Something new will pop up. Presidents will come and go. Sickness and illness will come and go. Governors will come and go. School superintendents will come and go. Wars will come and go. Priests at this parish will come and go.
What will not go is faith, hope and love. Love should be the defining characteristic of all our actions — not just a fluffy feel good word we like to say in some romantic embrace, not as just some flippant term we use.
We are the church. The body of Christ. And in these days of rampant dissension, let love define us. Let our actions, our words, reflect this. Only a few things are going to abide we are told. And the Greatest of these is Love.
Amen.
It was speaking of how our actions and our anxiety levels do not necessarily at all match up to the reality of our particular individual situations.
Which caused me to think about how this is true for most of life. Sometimes our actions do not match up to our realities. Sometimes we let anxiety and fear control us. We allow things that should not be controlling us to control us. Things that we as Christians let in to our headspace that, while they may even have some validity, should not be the things that we allow to dominate our thinking and definitely not control our actions.
The New Testament passage today is 1 Corinthians 13. First Corinthians 13 is, perhaps, one of the most recognizable passages of the New Testament. A favorite text for many wedding homilies, this chapter of 1 Corinthians has far more to offer than merely a sentimental reflection on romantic love. I am not here to discourage anyone from using it to refer to romantic love, but this text is speaking to so much more. It speaks to a self-giving love.
It is important to put this text in its literary context, and to place it within its larger context of 1 Corinthians 12-14. In chapters 12 and 14, Paul is addressing issues related to spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of speaking in tongues. While it seems that the Corinthians themselves were over-emphasizing the importance of this single gift, Paul is encouraging the congregation to recognize the necessity of all spiritual gifts (chapter 12) and cautioning the congregation to temper the practice of speaking in tongues with the interpretation of these tongues and with prophecy (chapter 14).
Given this setting, the placement of chapter 13 is worth noting. It is central to Paul’s argument of not placing greater importance on the gift of speaking in tongues, and it appears that the Corinthian community was becoming starkly divided in a debate related to spiritual gifts, placing some above the others.
Paul, rather than taking a side in the debate, reminds them that even amid difference and dissent, that love abides. While not taking sides, and attempting to not getting caught up in which gift may be the greatest, he ends up stating, “Now faith, hope and love abide. And the greatest of these is love.”
This text makes for an interesting partner to today’s Gospel reading from Luke 4:21-30. In that text, Jesus’s audacity in pointing to the inclusion of outsiders (the widow of Zarephath in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian) is met with such outrage that he is nearly killed on the spot. Those in the synagogue did not want to consider or allow the possibility that God loved others, outsiders as much as them. That God’s love reached to those who were very, very different then them.
The differences and divisions that are arising in our nation at this time are disturbing. They are deeply disturbing to many of us. I am here to say to the Church that we need to remind ourselves of whose we are — and to be reminded of the importance of love across lines of difference.
Read together these two texts point to the significance of the topic of love and what things are important.
“Now faith, hope, and love abide. And the greatest of these is love”.
Pursue love amidst differences and dissent. Pursue love.
The context of dissent in Corinth makes Paul’s teachings about love all the more vivid. This context suggests that love, for Paul, is not just the cute subject of a Valentine’s Day card. Rather, love is a collection of intentional actions. Love is a verb. As the descriptors of love in this passage, as they are verbs, it may be better translated along the lines of, “Love waits patiently; love acts kindly” and so forth. What might seem like a stilted grammatical point is actually quite important. That is, the love that Paul is describing takes action; it is not a passive feeling toward another. Love is defined by action.
Which gets me back to the concept of how our actions should be defined by our realities, and not by some type of chronic anxiety or fear, or some other overarching thoughts that we allow to influence our actions, or some deluded thought that we may in some way be better than others; things that have no basis in reality.
What is our reality? Our reality is that we are children redeemed by a loving God. Our reality is, is that as God’s children we are called to a different way of thinking, a different way of being, a different way of interacting with the world around us. And with each other.
In the Jeremiah passage from today, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and said, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…before you were born I consecrated you…” Before we were born God knew us.
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,” Jeremiah 1:6
God was speaking specifically to Jeremiah in this passage, but I think the principle applies to us. God does not want us to live as if we have no impact, as if we are insignificant — he does not want us to say, “I am only a boy”… “I am only one woman”… “We only have a small congregation”… God wants us to live with the knowledge that God is with us and what we do while here on this earth, how we act, should reflect this awareness.
“Now faith, hope, and love abide, the greatest of these is love”.
This moment in time is going to pass away. Covid is eventually going to go away. Something new will pop up. Presidents will come and go. Sickness and illness will come and go. Governors will come and go. School superintendents will come and go. Wars will come and go. Priests at this parish will come and go.
What will not go is faith, hope and love. Love should be the defining characteristic of all our actions — not just a fluffy feel good word we like to say in some romantic embrace, not as just some flippant term we use.
We are the church. The body of Christ. And in these days of rampant dissension, let love define us. Let our actions, our words, reflect this. Only a few things are going to abide we are told. And the Greatest of these is Love.
Amen.