WATCHWORD:
1 I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I do not have love, it will sound like noisy brass. 2 If I have the gift of speaking God’s Word and if I understand all secrets, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I know all things and if I have the gift of faith so I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give everything I have to feed poor people and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it will not help me.
4 Love does not give up. Love is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not put itself up as being important. Love has no pride. 5 Love does not do the wrong thing. Love never thinks of itself. Love does not get angry. Love does not remember the suffering that comes from being hurt by someone. 6 Love is not happy with sin. Love is happy with the truth. 7 Love takes everything that comes without giving up. Love believes all things. Love hopes for all things. Love keeps on in all things. 8 Love never comes to an end. The gift of speaking God’s Word will come to an end. The gift of speaking in special sounds will be stopped. The gift of understanding will come to an end. 9 For we only know a part now, and we speak only a part. 10 When everything is perfect, then we will not need these gifts that are not perfect.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I understood like a child. Now I am a man. I do not act like a child anymore. 12 Now that which we see is as if we were looking in a broken mirror. But then we will see everything. Now I know only a part. But then I will know everything in a perfect way. That is how God knows me right now. 13 And now we have these three: faith and hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Meditation:
God’s Love
In his great sermon, The Weight of Glory, CS Lewis, writing on the topic of God’s Love, makes this statement (perhaps with tongue in cheek): “(For some) the promises of scripture may be summarized in five points. First, that we shall be with Christ; second, that we shall be like him; third, we shall have “glory”; fourth, that we will in some sense be fed or feasted or entertained; and, finally, that we shall have some sort of official position in the universe. Perhaps we shall be put in charge of a city, or we shall be asked to judge an angel, or perhaps we shall become one of the pillars of the temple.”
Lewis then asks this question: “Can anything be added to the conception and goal of being with Christ?” He goes on to say that “he who has God and everything in the world has no more than he who has God only.”
At the start of this sermon, Lewis calls God’s love, the divine energy. It was the love that created this world, this universe, everything in it. With our limitations of language, of experience, of what might be called divine imagination, we humans have defined love in a most limited way. If we were to know God’s full definition of love we might be amazed, or terrified, we might be reassured or confused, we might be all of those things and more. We might conclude that our earthly definition of love is amazingly inadequate and much too small to encompass the love that God has for us.
The season of Lent is the prelude to the greatest event ever; the greatest expression of God’s love. Lent invites us to participate in that love; first by being introspective about our need for forgiveness and second by remembering that the love of God sent his son Jesus to provide that forgiveness. Faith tells us that once we have experienced that love, or have been reminded of that love, we can’t help but love others.
The question then becomes how do I truly love others as Christ has loved me? This is not a simple question, for Christ has loved us in ways that we do not know, at this time and place. Remember, for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. God’s love and our faith…
Vijay Singh, the great golfer, in the midst of a slump, tells the story of his young daughter coming to him before a tournament, and saying to him “remember, daddy, to trust your swing.” He says that after that he started to pay more attention to his swing and gradually he came out of his slump.
We talk about our faith as if it is a badge certifying us as believers in God. Faith is an active condition. It is a verb that implies following Christ. Maybe we should take that little girl’s advice to remember to actively trust our faith, in all ways.
May you fully experience God’s Love. So be it.
Closing Prayer:
God of such unwavering love, how do I “celebrate” the passion and death of Jesus? I often want to look the other way and not watch, not stay with Jesus in his suffering. Give me the strength to see his love with honesty and compassion and to feel deeply your own forgiveness and mercy for me. Help me to understand how to “celebrate” the gift of Calvary. I want to bring my weaknesses and imperfections with me as I journey with Jesus, so aware of his love. Amen.
