10-13-21

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
October 13, 2021
Knowing who you are and what you believe is sort of essential if one wishes to live a full and joy-filled life. I’m sure it has been true for every generation, at least to some degree, but today I find a lot of folks claim to know who they are and what they believe based upon who they are not and what they do not believe. In a society that is angry and reactive, people tend to be drawn into accusation and hateful rhetoric. What would it be like if everyone started with a clear and concise statement of what they did believe; what ethics they embraced; what values they found to be life-giving? When Paul was writing about love in 1st Corinthians 13, he started with what love IS: “Love is patient; love is kind.” It was only then we find Paul telling us what love is not: “Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.” I have no proof, but I sense Paul pushing back here against something he knew about the Church in Corinth. I imagine Paul writing to specific people whose lives were giving mixed signals – they were claiming love, but they were envious and boastful, with plenty of arrogance and rude behavior. Paul might have felt the need to call it out, but in the end, it is a positive and constructive image of love that will be most compelling to those who do not know love.

Wherever love is needed, wherever love is in short supply, empower me, O Great and Holy God, to present an obvious and captivating expression of love like Jesus did. Amen.

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