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Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth contains a passage of scripture that is one of the most quoted at weddings. 1 Corinthians 13 is all about the gift and value of love. Paul points out that love should be what motivates our actions. He goes on to describe the attributes of love noting, “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; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” At the end of the chapter Paul underscores the importance of love writing, “And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”
When, where, and how have you seen love expressed? I was fortunate to grow up in a home where I knew I was loved. I felt it and saw it expressed in action. The love we felt was regular and on-going. It was not relegated to a once-a-year celebration of romance highlighted on Valentine’s Day. In fact, my dad used to refer to Valentine’s Day as a “Hallmark Holiday.” In a monologue peppered with humor and sarcasm he would describe how he felt the day was manufactured to get people to unnecessarily spend money on roses, chocolates, cards, and the like. Suffice it to say my dad loved us and my mom well, but he rarely spent money on the trinkets that are seen in abundance around February 14th each year. I cherish the memory of being at my parent’s home for their 40th wedding anniversary. It would be their last. My mom died young (62), after a brief illness twenty years ago. I remember getting the phone call and my dad telling me when her memorial service would be. He had scheduled the service for February 14th. I called him back and asked, “are you aware what date that is?” He said, “yes, it's fine your mother has always been my Valentine.” He was expressing love in the midst of grief.
When, where, and how have you seen love expressed? When, where, and how, do you share love? As Christians love should be our navigational beacon. The love God calls us to goes far beyond romance. It is seen most fully in how we interact and treat all of God’s children particularly those that society often overlooks or ignores. We are called to be vessels of God’s light and love with our lips and our lives.
Some of my earliest memories center around feeling the warm embrace of God’s love. I felt it deeply in the family of faith at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Clair Mel City (part of Tampa). Every Sunday Erma Zimmerman would give me and my brothers a hug and ask us about our week. She did not just ask, she listened and remembered. She was one of the many that was the embodiment of love in that community as she lived out her baptismal vows. So was Ruth Gay my Sunday School teacher who helped the stories from the Bible come to life and relate to our lives. I am sure we all have fond memories of people that guided us as they embodied the love of Christ.
Many years later I felt the love of God deeper than ever while attending a youth conference in Montreat, NC. Steve Winwood’s song, Higher Love bounced off the walls as I entered Anderson Auditorium with more than 1,500 youth and adults we heard “Think about it, there must be higher love Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above Without it, life is wasted time Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine Things look so bad everywhere In this whole world, what is fair? We walk blind and we try to see Falling behind in what could be Bring me a higher love Bring me a higher love (oh oh) Bring me a higher love Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?”
I trust we know the answer to Winwood’s question. The higher love is found in the time and places where we reflect and share the love God has given us. Each time we love our neighbor we witness to the love of Christ, and we help to shine the light of love into the world. The opportunities to be vessels of that love are available every day.
Peace,
David
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