LAST SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY - Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13; Luke 9:28-36 - 18 February 2007 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

 

Growing In Love

 

A “TOP FIVE” BIBLICAL PASSAGE

 

Today we have a passage from the Bible that is probably in the top five all-time, in terms of people being familiar with it, even people who do not profess to be Christians - the 13^th chapter of the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Those who are not Christians won’t know which of Paul’s two letters to the Corinthians it is from, but they might have had it read at their weddings, just as many Christians do. It is one of those Bible passages that you can find on a greeting card. Among those of us who do profess to be Christians, if you say “the love chapter”, most people could say, “Oh yeah, Paul - Corinthians.”

 

You all know that I am into sports. I am a fan of sports. I like to play sports, watch sports, read about sports, talk about sports with others. There are a couple of phrases in sports that you hear used, especially when referring to people at the highest levels of their particular sport. You’ll hear, “He (she) has really been working on his game lately.” Or you might hear, “She’s taken her game to a whole different level.”

 

In Christianity, our “game” is love. God loves us so much that he sent His only Son to reconcile us back to God, to reestablish that love relationship. And that Son was asked one time, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” The Son’s answer has become another familiar passage to many of us. What did he say? “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.” The Son did not stop there. It might have been, at least in theory, an easier assignment if he would have. No. He also added, right away, “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

 

The Son reinforced that message in many different ways. In another place, he said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same... But love your enemies, do good... expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:32-33, 35-36)

 

Yet another time, the Son, the One we call Lord and Savior, said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) Just as Jesus loves us - that is the standard, that is the goal for us as Christians.

 

Our culture often talks about love as a feeling, or as that state you’re in when you have just met someone and you are in a state of infatuation - that state where you are walking on air.

 

That is a wonderful state to be in. There’s a problem, though: that walking-on-air state is not sustainable. Paul says “love never ends”. That’s because the Biblical notion of love doesn’t have very much at all to do with the cultural notion of love. Biblical love is sustainable, because it doesn’t take a holiday, and it isn’t based on the way we are feeling in any given moment.

 

OUR OPPORTUNITY DURING LENT

 

We are about to enter into one of our key seasons as Christians - the season of Lent. As Christians, our game is love. But our game is also transformation and growth. We are supposed to be open to the ongoing, transforming power of God. We are called “to grow up into him who is the head, into Christ...” (Ephesians 4:15) In other words, we are supposed to be growing in our capacity to love. Lent is the season that God gives us as a church, where he says to us, individually and communally, “How are you doing? How are you doing in learning how to love? Are you better at it this year than you were a year ago? Take some time to stop, and reflect, and examine yourselves, with my help. Pray, fast, confess how you fall short of who I call you to be, with respect to love. But don’t stop there. It’s time to work on your game. It’s time, especially during Lent, to grow in your capacity to love.”

 

God wants us to grow in love. God wants us to be better lovers, and when I say that, I am saying something very different from what the culture is saying. Because God is saying something different. God is saying, “You want to be a good lover? Then look at my Son. Pay attention, this Lent, to all the things he said. But especially pay attention to all the things he did. Take forty days, plus the Sundays during Lent, and reflect on Jesus’ life. Read the Gospels with this question in mind: how did Jesus love?” And I think God says to us today, as we prepare to begin our Lenten journey again, “You can start with the love chapter that Paul wrote. Paul, who knew something about being transformed, who knew something about growing in love - start with what he wrote.”

 

Let’s do that, shall we? Let’s see how we are doing in loving as Jesus loves us. Let’s see where we have room to grow.

 

1 CORINTHIANS 13

 

After saying that speaking in tongues (something that members of the Corinthian church were evidently good at) or having the gift of prophecy or being especially wise or being so gifted in faith that you can move mountains or being amazingly generous or even being a martyr isn’t worth a thing unless you have love, Paul continues:

 

“Love is patient.” Ask yourself, how am I doing in the patience department?

 

“Love is kind.” He doesn’t say “nice”. He says “kind”. We need to ask ourselves: am I a genuinely kind person?

 

Paul then goes on to say some things that love is not. In other words, if you are doing these things, or acting in these ways, you are not being loving.

 

Love is not envious.

 

Love is not boastful.

 

Love is not arrogant. People who are loving are not full of themselves, looking down their noses at others.

 

Love is not rude. But the culture seems to be telling me it’s cool to be rude!

 

Love does not insist on its own way. In other words, people who are loving will give up their need to be right, because they know the relationship is more important than being right.

 

Love is not irritable. Hmmm. Truth be told, I’m guessing we’ve all got some work to do in this area.

 

Love is not resentful. Other people around me are doing well, even better than me? Love is not resentful.

 

Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. “I don’t care if that person got treated unjustly. They had it coming!” No, Paul says. That is not love.

 

Love rejoices in the truth. Do I rejoice when others speak the truth to me?

 

Paul is just getting started.

 

Love bears all things. Now we’re getting to the reminders of how Jesus loves us.

 

Love believes all things. There is a deep faith dimension in love. When we believe God is for us, it is easier to love.

 

Love hopes all things. Jesus knew where his hope came from.

 

Love endures all things. We will be reminded of that during Holy Week.

 

Love never ends. As I said earlier, love doesn’t take a holiday. Jesus’ love knew no bounds. He took time out to get away and go pray, but he didn’t take a day off - when it came to loving.

 

A CHALLENGE FOR LENT

 

I suggest we all enter into the same challenge this Lent, which starts on Wednesday. Let’s enter into this time of self-examination together, and let’s ask our Lord: “Lord Jesus Christ, reveal to me one area where I need to grow in love. Help me work on my game. Maybe it has to do with patience. Maybe it’s kindness. Maybe I need to give up something I’m doing, or give up some character trait that I’ve developed. Maybe I’m a resentful or arrogant or envious person. Or Lord, maybe you want me to take my game to the next level. Maybe you want to teach me how to bear all things. Whatever it is, Lord, whatever area it is where you want me to grow in love, reveal it to me, I pray. And let me use this Lent to begin making progress in that area, so I become a better lover. Transform me, O God. Help me to live into Psalm 51. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Make be a better lover, I pray. Help me to love others as you love me, Lord Jesus.”

 

Let us be open to being transformed this Lent, no less than Moses and Jesus were transformed when they went up on the mountain to be with God. Let us commit ourselves to growing in love, even if it is only in one of the aspects of love that Paul talks about. This is our game. Let’s work on it. Let’s invite God to help us. Because He is the master of our game.