A Love that Never Ends

 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is one of the best known biblical passages because it is a huge part of pop culture.  It also happens to be one of the most common readings at wedding services.  Read the excerpt below and pick out those parts which seem most familiar to you:

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.  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. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

How do you read this? What do you think of?  I think about some of the interior decorations I've seen at Target and stores like it where "Faith, Hope and Love" are artistically adorned in reds and pinks, ready to be hung in a bathroom or along a staircase.  I also think of all the people I've known named Faith or Hope (no, I've never met anyone named Love).  Finally, I think of all of the weddings I've been to where this passage has been read.  None of these modern contexts is bad - in fact, it's nice to know that the Bible is as accessible now as it was when it was written.  But there is a challenge in keeping this sacred text sacred. 

     The passage is very accessible - so accessible that, at times, the importance of the passage's context is lost.  One substantial context in which this passage can be understood is in the Biblical context.  What does the Bible say about Love?  John writes a lot about love.  The Gospel of John contains perhaps the most famous Biblical passage: John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  There are so many passages that talk about how God is love.  The great thing is, this kind of Love is eternal because God is eternal.  "Love never ends."

     Our loving God creates opportunities for us to find happiness, contentment and the kind of love we see in Hallmark cards.  In these times, 1 Corinthians is easily remembered for its words, but not for its context.  But God's love isn't just present in the best of times, the times when we know our gifts (prophecy, tongues, knowledge) and when we've got all our stuff together.  This is where understanding 1 Corinthians' context is important.  

The passage teaches us the importance of having love.  But how do we get there when times are bad but we must persevere, anyway?  God's love is there when we are a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal; we are not perfect.  The rest of the Bible teaches us that, even when we are at our worst, when we don't even know we do things less than lovingly, God loves us, anyway.  God sent his son, Jesus, to us to live like us and die like us.  Jesus fills us up in love where and when we cannot find love.  

     When we remove 1 Corinthians 13 from the larger context where God is love, it becomes an instruction manual that sets a nearly impossible standard for how to live; it can be really hard to find love sometimes.  But, when we remember that God loves us and makes us eternally whole through his Grace, our efforts to live our lives in love is made possible.  God's love is always there.  

Something Old, Something New

      One of my favorite lessons came around in church this past Sunday.  It is 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31 where Paul writes to the people of Corinth and tells them the good news that each of us is called into God's fold inspite and because of our differences.  Each of us has different gifts, but we are all part of the greater Body of Christ.  As Paul writes,

                             But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, 
                             as he chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be? 
                            As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say 
                            to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "
                           I have no need of you."

Paul uses this analogy, comparing the physical body to the spiritual Body, to reinforce the idea that our differences are a necessary part of God's kingdom.  Not only should we value our differences, but we should understand them as necessary means to a fully-operating spiritual community.
     Appreciating differences is so important for these reasons and because, frankly, differences are inevitable and part of our human existence.  To deny our differences or to use them as means of creating hierarchy are poor alternatives.  Are these our only options?  Do we have the choice either only to celebrate differences or to shun them? No, because we are also invited to experience sameness.
     It is easy to read Paul's words and look solely at the message which tells us to cherish that which is different.  This is especially true in our modern contexts.  But what about that which is the same?  We all share in the human experience - we are all capable of feeling pain, joy, anger and love.  This interpersonal sameness helps us understand each other better and express compassion as Christ calls us to do.  Likewise, in our personal lives, sameness happens in our day-to-day activities and even throughout events in our lifetime.  We wake up and sleep, we eat and drink and we go about the work we have to do.
      So, how do we celebrate our similarities? The sameness in our lives?  In today's Prayer, we ask God to help us during the start of another semester to see his grace and presence in those things which we have seen so many times before.  Yes, it is easy to look at "sameness" and think "stagnant" or "monotonous," but the mundane (like the spontaneous or new) is also a part of God's creation.  How do we appreciate it?  Part of this is recognizing the small differences in seemingly similar experiences.  But the other part is understanding that our lives are patterned and sometimes repetitive because God is calling us to revisit something important: a person, a place or a virtue.
       We are called again and again by God to draw closer to Him and to the work he has set before us.  Sometimes he reveals new gifts, new challenges and new missions.  Sometimes, he calls us to practice that which will make us stronger through patience.  When we appreciate differences, between ourselves and others and between each of our experiences,  we can find harmony where there once was dissonance.  And, when we recognize sameness, we have an opportunity to practice patience and compassion.