Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
— I Corinthians 13:4-7
If John 3:16 can be considered “the gospel in a nutshell,” I think we can call I Corinthians 13, discipleship in a nutshell. This passage we tend to think of in connection with weddings and the love of family and home. We think of it in terms of the sweet emotion of affection and passion. The love of home and family is a special and wonderful blessing. But there is more to this passage than just that. Through his words, Paul paints for us a picture of the world of light that has dawned in Jesus Christ and invites us to step toward the warmth and light of true love.
Self-giving love dawns in a darkened world in the person of Jesus Christ. It is the love that draws us to a new way of life. It is the love that drove Jesus to the cross, and even more the love that brought Jesus to life again. We do not manufacture such a love, we do not earn it, we barely even accept it. The truth is, we live in it, and allow it to transform us into a whole new reality.
As we continue this journey of Covid, we are called to be that light and love for our darkened world; called to embody care for our neighbors; called to give witness to the love we have found. If we can do that we may find the church renewed in ways we could not even have imagined.
Help Us Accept Each Other v. 1
Help us accept each other
as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us,
and bring us to believe
we are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live.
Teach your church, O Lord, to love with your love, teach us to see with your eyes, teach us to reach with your reach. Grant that we may be as you are: loving, caring, and giving. Amen.
Pastor Tom Greener