Can you think of a more famous passage from the letters of Paul? The only more famous lines out of the entire Bible might be John 3.16 or Genesis 1.1. But for my money 1 Corinthians 13, the “Love” chapter, is the most famous passage of the New Testament.
When we read this passage it is easy to get caught up in the soaring language about how love is patient and kind and rejoicing in the truth, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude or insistent on its own way and so forth. But the truth of the matter is this: This is not just soaring rhetoric about the nature of God’s Love. We, as followers of Jesus, should strive to be described in the same way.
How would the world be different if Christians were known as being like Love? If, as individuals and as a community, we were known by all those glowing words above, what could our impact be on the world? What if folks knew you by saying, “Rob is patience. Rob is kind. Rob is not arrogant or rude or boastful…”? What if they said “Christ Church can bear all things, can believe all things, can endure all things.”? As followers of Jesus, we are called to be these things and to carry them into the world. How much healing and wholeness could we bring to a world in need? How would you change if you thought of yourself in these flattering terms?
How will carry Love out into the world this week?
St. Augustine's Chapel 