My Own Worst Enemy

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 2/24/13

Scripture- Philippians 3:17-4:1

So this morning I’m going to get a little nerdy on you. I may or may not have mentioned it but I am a huge fan of Star Wars. The originals, not the new ones they don’t count. I used to watch the original trilogy over and over again when I was a child. As I read the scripture for today, it reminded me of one of the scenes from The Empire Strikes Back. The hero, Luke Skywalker is on the planet Dagobah, training with the great Jedi leader, Yoda. He had been training with Yoda for a while, learning the ways of the force, and now Yoda had led him to a cave. This cave was a test for Luke, to overcome his fears, and to put what he had learned to the test. This scene may be one of the strangest scenes in the movie. Luke’s journey into the cave is like some psychedelic trip, which results in him imagining that he is fighting with Darth Vader, who is the bad guy of the movie for those who don’t know. They get into a great lightsaber fight, and Luke wins, cutting of the head of Darth Vader. Then unexpectedly, the front of Darth Vader’s helmet explodes, revealing Luke Skywalker’s face behind the mask. This test in the cave showed to Luke, that his biggest enemy, the one who was holding him back, the one making him weaker, and the one who would lead to his destruction was no one else but himself.

            Our scripture for this morning suggests that the same can be true for our lives. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul warns, “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.  Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.”  Enemies of the cross; that is an extremely harsh term for some group of people that Paul was talking about. So who was Paul talking about. The term enemies of the cross makes us at first assume that these people are not Christians. Maybe, Paul is referring to the pagans in the area, those worshiping false Gods, denying the salvific power of Jesus Christ. They certainly seem like enemies of the cross. Or maybe, Paul is talking about the Romans. After all it is the empire that in certain places had been persecuting Christians; the empire who after all authorized the crucifixion of Jesus. Paul certainly had every right to be angry at the Romans, after all he was imprisoned and sentenced for some capital punishment. This letter to the Philippians is after most likely written from a jail cell in or just outside of Rome. This is certainly who Paul must be talking about when he says enemies of the cross.

            Except, it’s not. Paul is not talking about the Romans, he is not talking about the Pagans, he is actually talking about a small group of  Christians, yes Christians. They are Christians who have misunderstood what it means to be freed by Christ. The hear Paul say that Christians are no longer law, and misinterpret it to mean that they are free to do whatever they please. They indulge themselves in food, in inappropriate sex, they store up goods and money. They see themselves as now being free from the law, meaning that they can do what they like. However, this is a misunderstanding of the freedom of a Christian. They lack the understanding that there is also responsibility in freedom. The fact that Jesus humbled himself even to the point of death on a cross, is not an excuse to live however we want, it is an invitation for us to follow that examples; To be imitators of Christ.

            For this reason, Paul starts of this passage by saying, “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. Paul is calling us to imitate his actions. At first this seems like a very arrogant thing for Paul to say, as if he is some perfect example, but that is because it is taken out of its context. Before this passage, Paul has talked about over and over again how he is seeking perfection but not yet there. How he much continuously humble himself and follow the example of Christ so that he may grow to be mature in his faith. For this reason, when Paul is asking for us to imitate him, he is not saying look at me because I’m such a wonderful Christian, but instead he is saying, join with me in humbling yourself, join with me striving towards Christian perfection, join with me as we imitate the example of Christ.

            Our freedom requires action. Our freedom requires us to imitate Christ, to constantly strive towards walking closer with God. Some may hear this and wonder, how is this freedom; if we can’t simply do whatever we want, is it really freedom at all? Paul addresses this question very subtly, and yet in a very poignant and powerful way. He says, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  At first this does not seem to provide any answers. On the surface, it seems like a simple way to separate those are who are of this world from those who are of heaven, a way of separating the sheep from the goats. At  first it simply seems to be a way to create a divide between worldy things and Godly things. At worst, this line can lead us to believe that we must be purely separated from anything of this world; that we should not be involved in public affairs, we should not care for the welfare of those who are not part of  “our citizenship.” It can also lead to a horrible theology that I saved and now I’m going to sit around and wait until I become a citizen in heaven.

            All of these things misunderstand what it means to be a citizen. Too many people thank that citizenship in heaven is like reservations at a restaurant. That citizenship is a ticket in, a passport showing proof that we belong, but that is not what it truly means. The word citizen is used very carefully, because of what the word entails. Think about what it means in terms of citizenship to a country, since we live in the U.S. let’s examine what it means for us. Yes, citizenship does mean that we are privileged with certain things. As citizens in the United States we are protected by the constitution, and are guaranteed the right to a fair trial. We are protected by the United States military, we have the freedom of speech. There are certainly benefits of being a citizen. The same is true with being a citizen of heaven, there are obviously benefits, the most obvious being of course heaven, but there is also faith, hope, and love. Alongside of the benefits of being a citizen, we know that there also come responsibilities. The most obvious is obeying the law, but as citizens we have much more than that. We have the responsibility to vote, if called upon the responsibility to serve in the military, the responsibility of jury duty and much more. Yet still there is more to citizenship than this. As a child as we were being taught what it means to be a good citizen, we were taught that it was not simply a checklist list of things to do, but a way of live. That a good citizen helps those in need, a good citizen is well informed of all of the issues being debated, a good citizen volunteers for different leadership roles in the community; that with citizenship there comes a responsibility for how we live. The same is true for us as citizens of heaven. We have responsibilities. We are called to lift each other and those in the world up in prayer, we have the responsibility to study scripture and do other things to learn as much as we can; we have the responsibility to help those who are in need. Part of our privilege as citizens of heaven, is the responsibility to be imitators of Christ.

            It is a responsibility that we quite frankly many Christians do not take very seriously. In our modern context, when we hear the phrase enemy of the cross we are so quick to point the finger at others, putting this label of enemy of the cross on them. This far too often leads to forms of discrimination or hate. We see non-Christian groups as being a threat to us, our beliefs, and our way of life. We see the actions of a few lunatics in the name of their religion, and grossly overgeneralize a whole faith tradition as being enemies of the cross. Or we see people like Richard Dawkins, someone who is antagonistically atheist, and we label them as the enemy; that atheists are destroying our faith. If we can’t find individuals or groups to label as the enemy, then we label our society or our government as being our enemies. This became quite evident in the wake of the horrible shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.  Countless Christians cried out that it was because prayer wasn’t part of public school that someone would not have done those horrible acts.

            We must remember however that the “enemies of the cross” that Paul talks about in our scripture are not the atheists, they are not the pagans, those who worshipped false Gods, it was not even the society or government, but it was those Christians in the area who were not living out their responsibility as a citizen of  heaven, a citizen of the Kingdom of God. If we stop to reflect upon this fact and think about it in our own context, then we will start to see that other faith traditions, atheists, society, or even the government are not the enemies of the cross, that label belongs to us. When we truly reflect upon ourselves and our sin, we will find that we are our own worst enemies. If we took our responsibility as Christians seriously atheists could have the chance to truly believe in God because they experienced God through us. If we took our responsibility seriously then we could find ways to work with other faith traditions to make the world a better place rather than battle about our differences. If we took our responsibility seriously then we would realize that it is not society’s or the government’s job to teach our children about Christ.  I mean honestly that’s absurd and quite frankly lazy. It is our job as the church, as followers of Christ to teach our children. It is our job as the church to reach out to those in need, those who are sick. If we are truly citizens of heaven, then this season of Lent should be a time for us to reflect upon whether we are fulfilling our civil duties, and by that I don’t mean to our country (though that can be a good thing as well), but are we fulfilling our duties to our heavenly citizenship, our duties to our God?

            And yet,  we must remember that our responsibilities, our acts of justice, our acts of mercy, our acts of piety and self-development are done because of  faith, hope, and love. We could give up all that we have to serve others, we could study scripture daily and pray for hours at a time and yet none of these things grants us that citizenship. As I said, we do these responsibilities because of faith, hope, and love. Faith in Jesus Christ, which does not mean simply believing in him, but means putting trust in him. We serves others, we study scripture and pray because we trust Jesus to lead our lives, and trust that he can do the same for others. We do these things with hope, a hope not simply for our salvation, but a hope that by doing these things Christ can use us to transform the world and the lives of others. Finally we do these things out of love, because after all “For God so loved the world” we are able to love because God first loved us. This morning and throughout this time of Lent I invite each and everyone one of us to see what it is in our lives that causes us to be an enemy of the cross, and then to seek to change it through faith, hope, and love so that we all may become faithful citizens of heaven.

The Scar and the Tattoo

Sermon as preached 2/13/13 at Evington UMC


Scripture- Psalm 51

Tonight is an exciting night for me. It is of course Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. And while it may sound strange to say but I actually enjoy Lent. It is not that I am masochistic and enjoy practices of discipline, self- control, and self-deprivation, but I truly treasure a season that forces me to stop and think about how I can walk closer to God. I must admit though that tonight is an exciting night for me for another reason as well. Tonight is the Duke-UNC, and for anyone who knows college basketball, that’s a big deal. But as I was reading through some of the articles leading up to the game, I came across one that caught my eye, and as I read it, I realized that it had a lot to teach us about Ash Wednesday.

            The article has nothing to do with Ash Wednesday, in fact it is not even religious other than a few references here and there, but yet still it seemed to me to be really help understand the importance of the mark of the ashes on our foreheads. The article is from the New York Times about Jay Williams, he was a former Duke basketball player in the early 2000s. He was an amazing player, an incredible athlete with so much potential. He helped Duke to one of their National Championships and then was drafted by Chicago Bulls, with so much expectation, some even thought he would be the one to fill Michael Jordan’s shoes. Life was going well for Jay, fame, money, living his dream, nothing seemed as if it could go wrong. At this time he probably felt invincible, so much so that he bought a motorcycle to fill his need for speed. But one fateful night as he was speeding down the streets of Chicago, he lost control of his bike and crashed. He was rushed to the hospital and was nursed back to health, but his left leg was severely injured, and Jay would never be able to play basketball again.

            What struck me in this article is how different symbols on his body affected him in his recovery. First there was the scar. The scar was a constant reminder of his foolishness, his immaturity, it was a constant reminder of everything that he had thrown away all on that fateful night. He wouldn’t wear shorts in public because he was embarrassed and ashamed of what that scar represented. But there is another symbol, that helped him as he recovered from the crash, from the depression, even from the thoughts of suicide, and that is a tattoo that he had gotten before the crash that had praying hands with the famous quote, “to err is human, to forgive is divine.” These two symbols, the scar and the tattoo played a large role in his recovery from the accident and the following depression, and helped him pick up his life, and now become a successful ESPN commentator.

            If those two symbols could be put into one symbol, I believe it would look a lot like a cross of ashes on one’s forehead. First the ashes work in much of the same way as the scar. It is a reminder that we are not invincible, that we are in fact mortal. That our death is not just a possibility, but that it is actually inevitable; that our time on this Earth will eventually come to an end.  “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is also a reminder of our sin. It reminds us to stop, makes us look deep within ourselves, and see the things that are separating from Christ. It makes us see that all of us truly are broken and sinful people. The ashes force us to acknowledge our faults, to see the ways in which we have distanced ourselves from God, the ways in which we have hurt or ignored others, and the ways in which we have hurt ourselves. As our psalm for this evening says, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.” The ashes on our heads remind us that this grace thing that we hear talked about all the time, the reason that it is so amazing, is because none of us deserve it. It reminds us as we begin Lent, a time of preparation for Easter, that the good news of Easter, resurrection and eternal life wouldn’t be that exciting if we didn’t desperately need it like we do; that we cannot truly appreciate resurrection until we wrestle with death.

            And that is why the ashes are also like the tattoo. They remind us that to err is human, but to forgive is divine. It reminds us that yes we are a broken, yes we all have faults, yes we all sin, and that it is something that we must acknowledge, but that the good news is that Jesus Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, and that proves God’s love for us. It reminds us that while we are in the wilderness these forty days of Lent, that there is still hope in the cross. That even ashes, in all of its grittiness, dirtiness, unpleasantness, in its representation of our own mortality, that in its representation of our faults and our sins, that this dark mark on our foreheads, is a reminder that the cross is greater than all of our sins.

            And so the ashes the we will receive this evening is a reminder of our sin and mortality, and yet also a reminder of the hope that we have through Jesus Christ. It is also however a call to action. That we do not just acknowledge our sin and move on, but that we truly strive to walk closer to God. Our scripture says, “You desire truth in the inward being;^[
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. ⁶ For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.  The sacrifice acceptable God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,¹⁹ then you will delight in right sacrifices.”

            During this time of Lent we are called to Acts of piety, those disciplines that help turn our focus back to God, that allow God to teach us wisdom, that create within us a new heart. They can be scripture readings or devotionals, prayer and meditation, or fasting. We are also called to acts of mercy, acts that allow us to show the love of Christ to others. Working at a food bank, visiting those in nursing homes or Heart Havens, donating food or goods, writing letters to our troops. In doing these things we can truly prepare for the good news of Easter. And as we go forth with that sign of the cross in ashes on our forehead, we do not go forth wearing it as a sign of pride, we do not wear it with arrogance or judgment, but we wear it to show each other and the world that we are fallen and broken people just like everyone else, but that we all have hope through the cross.

The Law and the Prophets

Sermon as preached 2/10/13 at Lambs and Evington UMC

 

Scripture Luke 9:28-36

 

As I read our passage from scripture for today, I begin to think back to high school, and in particular to my time in English class. I remember being given a novel to read such as Lord of the Flies or The Canterbury Tales, or a poem from Walt Whitman or Robert Frost and reading it, putting the book down and thinking to myself, what did I just read? Of course I had a general understanding of what was going on; a bunch of kids stranded on an island go crazy, or there are two roads and the author chose one of them, but even with this slight understanding, I still would ask what does it mean? And then I remember the teacher taking us through the poem line by line, or pulling out passages from the books and showing us that the Pig’s head in the Lord of the Flies was symbolic, or that the characters in the Canterbury Tales were references to people and events happening at the time the book was written. Finally after learning all of these things the books and the poems started to make much more sense.

            Our scripture for today is a lot like one of those classic novels or poems. At first reading you understand that Jesus and the disciples went up on a mountain and something amazing happened, but you are still left with that question, what does this all mean? We have Jesus becoming brightly lit, we have the appearance of Moses and Elijah, we have a cloud descending over the disciples, a voice in the cloud, Peter making a proclamation about tents or booths, which apparently is the wrong thing to say, and then after all of it, the disciples say nothing to anyone else about what had happened. All of this leads us to ask what is the importance of this event that we call the Transfiguration? My hope this morning is to be like my English teachers and to help us understand what is going on in this passage, what are some of the importance symbols in this scripture, what references are being made, and once we start to understand some of these things, then we will start to understand why this event is so important.

            Before I start, let me just say that I will not be able to explain every part of this passage partly because of a lack of time, and partly because there are still parts of this story that even the greatest theologians still struggle to fully understand. For this reason I will show us some of the connections that will help us to take something meaningful away from this text. 

            And so we start with the probably the two most pressing questions, why the change of appearance and dazzling white, and why the appearance of Moses and Elijah? Luckily these questions can be answered together, but as we explore we will begin to see how deep these references go. To first answer these questions we must turn to Exodus 34: 29-32 which says, “ Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.  When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.  Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.”

            This is not the first time in the Bible that someone in the Bible had gone up on a mountain and had their face changed by light, here we have in the book of Exodus the story of Moses having his face shine after talking with the Lord on Mount Sinai. When reading  the transfiguration story from the Gospel of Luke, those familiar with this story in the time of Jesus would have made the connection back to this event with Moses on Mount Sinai. If for some reason they didn’t automatically think back to this story, the fact that Moses is one of the people appearing in glory with Jesus on the mountain would have jogged their memory. But still the question remains, what does it all mean?

            First, the light, or the brightness, or the dazzling white clothes, or however you want to describe it, indicates that this moment is a moment of true revelation from God.  It was on Mount Sinai where Moses received the law from God, we are told of a great storm, a sign of the power of God, and then we are told of that Moses face shone as he descended from the mountain. The shining represents the fact that Moses was in presence of God, and not just any presence, but that he was in a special revelatory presence, one that is the closest humans can be to God while on Earth. That is why they are up on a mountain, it was a symbol of being close to heaven, close to God. So in our story when Moses, Elijah, and Jesus are shining in dazzling white, it is a sign that they are in the true presence of God, and it is also a sign that they can expect some sort of revelation.

            So what is the revelation that they experience. Well once again we have to look at the story of Moses to understand. So as we discovered, the last time someone went up on a mountain and had their face shine from encountering God was Moses. And what was the revelation that Moses received on Mount Sinai? Well, that of course is something that we are all familiar with. We have either seen it portrayed by Charlton Heston, or my favorite by Mel Brooks in History of The World Part Two. Where Moses comes down from the mountain with three stone slabs, raises them up and says “I have the 15”, and then drops one,  “10 commandments.” All kidding aside, wherever we know it from, we know that the revelation that Moses received on the mountains was the revelation of the Ten Commandments, or more accurately the law itself. Now keep that in your mind for just one second, that when we think about Moses on the Mount, we think about the Law, don’t forget it, in fact say it with Moses = Law.

            Good,  now fast forward back to our story, so we have Moses and (guide them in repeating Moses = Law) but we have another Biblical figure as well in Elijah, so let’s take a quick look at why Elijah. Elijah is one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. 1 and 2 Kings tell great stories of how he stood up to Ahab and Jezebel. He taunted the prophets Baal, a false God that was worshipped at the time. We may know the story where he exposes the prophets, seeing if their God will light the fire of an altar, and after they failed he poured water on his altar, called upon the name of God and had his altar lit in fire. But there are two other stories that he is probably most well known for, and one of them not surprisingly happens on a mountain. While Elijah is hiding in a cave he comes out to witness, fire, and winds, and earthquakes, and after it all, here experiences God in a still small voice. The other story is the story of Elijah being whisked away by a chariot of fire into glory. Because of all of these stories Elijah had come to be revered as one of the greatest prophets. In fact, we see in both the story of John the Baptist in the wilderness and the birth story of Jesus, that they are mistaken for Elijah returning. When you add this reverence for Elijah together with the story of him experiencing God on the side of mountain, and with the story of him being taken up in glory by the chariot, then is seems fitting that Elijah would be the perfect symbol for all of the prophets. So now we have Moses who symbolizes ____(the law)_________ and Elijah who symbolizes the prophets. But still what does it all mean?

            If you can recall, throughout this season of Epiphany there has been a theme of anticipation and fulfillment. We had talked about how the Jews at the had been for so long anticipating the Messiah. We talked about how the shepherds and the Magi were a sign of Jesus Christ not only being the fulfillment of that expectation, but one who would exceed all expectations. We also talked a couple of weeks ago about Jesus’ return to Nazareth reading the scroll of Isaiah and proclaiming that scripture had been fulfilled in him. This moment on the mountain, this transfiguration, once again shows the relationship between expectation and fulfillment. This year I have used the scripture in which Jesus says to love God with all of hearts, all of our minds, and all of our souls, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. In fact I just referenced it last week.  Often however we overlook what Jesus says after it. He says, “All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” All of the Law and the prophets.  You see in those times, the law and the prophets were extremely important. These were the ways in which the people knew God. We already discussed how Moses received the law through an intimate experience of God, but the law itself was revered. They were not seen as just a list of rules to follow, but they were seen as a way to be in relationship with God. God made a covenant with the people to be their God and for them to be his people, and the law was seen as a way of fulfilling that covenant. The other way in which the people experienced God  was through the prophets. God spoke through certain individuals who were normally called to either bring news of hope to a people in strife, or to preach words of repentance for a people who had broken their end of the covenant. The prophets and the law were the primary ways in which the people at the time experienced relationships with God. Not only that but the law and the prophets were the way in which God communicated how the people should live as the chosen people.

            But now on this mountain we have Jesus surrounded by Moses and Elijah, representations of the law and the prophets, of  the people’s experience with God, and in this moment the voice of God proclaims, “this is my son whom I have chosen, listen to him.” The mountain, Moses and Elijah, the dazzling white light, all of these things are signs that the disciples are in the presence of God, but in a new way. No longer simply through the law or through the prophets, but that now God can be experienced in person, because God has become flesh, Jesus Christ is Lord. The words from God are telling, “this is my son whom I have chosen, listen to him. Listen to him. Listen to him. These words are telling us we no longer have to labor through trying to figure out what the law is saying, the embodiment of the law is here in Jesus Christ. That we no longer have to look to prophets to tell us the word of God, because the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. Now let’s not think that this means the law and the prophets became useless, but instead now you can look at Jesus to see the words of the law and the prophet lived out. After all when asked which is the greatest commandment, he didn’t say that loving God and your neighbor replaced the law, but that they encompassed the law, in the same manner the law and prophets are not wrong, but Jesus shows us what they mean lived out.. On Christ hangs all the law and the prophets. We can now experience God in a new way, because God has dwelt among us.

           

           

What is Love?

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 2/3/13

Scripture 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Our scripture for today is probably familiar to most of us. We can  probably quote from memory different parts of, “Love is patient, love is kind.” Or “Faith, Hope, and Love abide, the three, and the greatest of these is Love.” In fact this scripture is such a popular scripture about love that I would guess that some of you here used it in your wedding. Even the movie Wedding Crashers plays on the popularity of this passage.  In the movie the two main characters well they crash weddings, and in one scene they make bets about which scripture is going to be read, and one of the bets was this passage from first Corinthians. It’s words about love are so beautiful, so deep, so inspiring, that it seems natural to have it at weddings. But what if I told you that the original intent of the text was not for marriage but was instead intended for a struggling church; and what if I told you that the words about love were not originally intended to be about two people in a romantic relationship, but rather the love shown to each other within that church? Well, its true, while these words are definitely fitting for the bond of marriage, Paul wrote these words as an attempt to calm disagreements happening in the church in Corinth.

            At that time, the church in Corinth had started to grow, and as it grew many different leaders started to emerge in the church. Some of the leaders had the gift of prophesy, some were able to speak in tongues while still there were others who were great teachers. While at first these many gifts seems like a blessing for the church, the diversity of these gifts started to cause a division with the church. Those who spoke in tongues thought that their gift was the most important and believed they were the clear leaders of the church, while those who were teachers and had other gifts all felt the same about their own gift.  As I said, this created a division in the church because each person believed that they knew what was best for the church. In the previous chapter Paul talks about the importance for the unity of the church, saying that all are members of the one body, each playing an important and significant role. From there he moves onto his words in this chapter, and focuses on the importance of love.   

            Paul doesn’t start by talking about what love is, but instead talks about the futility of Christian life without love. He says, “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.” Paul pretty much tells the people of Corinth that all of their spiritual gifts are useless if they do not have love. On the surface this seems like a no brainer, and yet how often do we find ourselves needing to be reminded of this simple fact. So often we ask questions like what do I have to do to get into heaven, or what makes me a good Christian? Our answers are usually that we must follow the precepts and commandments of the Bible, or that to be a good Christian we must always be in service, while others would argue that we must use the gifts that God has given us for ministry. None of these answers are actually wrong, but they are missing something. If I speak in the tongues of mortals but do not have love I am a noisy gong, if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing, If I give away all my possessions but do not have love, I gain nothing, All of these actions seem to be great indicators  of Christian life, but without love they are useless. After all when Jesus was asked by the Sadducees and Pharisees about what the greatest command was, or in other words the most important aspect of the religion, Jesus replied with, “Love your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus’ response was love.

            The reason love is so important is because we are a broken a flawed people. We’re not perfect, and we certainly don’t perfectly understand God or the ways in which God works in the world and in the church. And yet because of our brokeness, our pride, I desire for recognition or acknowledgment, or desire to feel important, we so often act as if we have all the answers. Just like the people of Corinth who each thought their gift was the most important for the church, we far too often act as though we have all of the answers. Paul addresses then when he says, “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.” Paul acknowledges our faults and our limitations, he tell us that when we think we have all of the answers we only have part of it, as if we were standing in front of a dimly lit mirror able to possible see the outline of the object that stood before us, but not able to fully see. Paul shows us that if we were to simply act upon our faith, or to simply act upon our hope that we have in Christ, then we can do more harm than good. You could have all of the faith in the world but without love you could be doing more harm than good. You could have the greatest gifts for ministry, or you could be walking the straightest line, but without love all of that would be useless. We do not see the full image in the mirror, we only can see in part, and that is why love is so important. Love is the remedy. As 1 John says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” We act in love because love comes from God. When we act in faith, when we try and use our gifts, when we go into the world in service, we do it with love so that even we fail, even when our faults are made visible, you are still showing God to others, because you are showing love.

            All of this leads to one final question,  what is love? If we are supposed to live in love what does that mean?  I could try to explain it the best of my abilities but all of it would fall short of the answer, and so I will simply leave you with the beautiful explanation that Paul gives, “ 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”