More than a Cliche take Two

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.   If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.  1 Corinthians 13:1-7, The Message

Paul starts off his challenge to the bickering, bitterness, and brokenness by pointing out that love is the source that can energize and enlarge our lives.  But he realizes that goes against the grain of conventional wisdom - both in his day and still in our time too. 

Conventional wisdom that says, "Might makes right."  Or, "Life is a game of winners and losers".  Or, "You gotta get yours while the getting is good....there is only so much going around...don't miss out."  Conventional wisdom that loved to listen to the poetic prose and be amused by someone's profound insights and ideas.  Conventional wisdom that wanted to be astonished by someone's amazing feats.   Conventional wisdom that even said you should sacrifice and be humble.

All those boxes were clearly labeled with permanent marker for you to compartmentalize and categorize your life.  You organized your mental furniture into something rationale and reasonable. 

Paul says, "Not so fast."

Yes, people who can enchant and enthrall us can be good, but what is the source beneath and behind the poetic prose?  Is it love or it is the love of the spotlight?  It is a question I ask myself on Sunday mornings.

Yes, people who do great things for 15 minutes of fame can be good, but what is the energy around those amazing moments?  Is it love or just loving the attention? 

Yes, people who are willing to walk into the fire and no longer sit on the sidelines of life can be good, but deep down in their hearts is it the action of God or just being an actor?

The questions are rhetorical.  I don't know if deep down I can ever know what motivates and moves within you.  And even deeper down, I am not even sure I can ever know what motivates and moves within me!  In fact, you might remember, later in this chapter Paul is going to talk metaphorically about "seeing in a mirror dimly"...that is because we don't even see/know ourselves!  The stranger isn't always out there, but can be within us.  We walk up and don't recognize the face of the one staring back at us.

I don't think Paul is against being entertained or amazed or the deep desire to do something great.  I don't think Paul is trying to suggest we should never go see a movie or magician or believe that the Spirit might stir something deep within us.  Sometimes the greatest moments are found in a story that transports us to truth we might not otherwise be able to see.  Or, we need folks, as poet Emily Dickenson wrote, "Who tell the truth, but tell it at a slant." 

But, we can also hold in paradox the sense that seeing is not always believing.  Or as Barbara Brown Taylor said, "Sight is one of our weaker senses."  Yet, we have elevated what we receive and perceive to be the ultimate.  Paul, two thousand years ago, called that into question.  And perhaps today, we might close our eyes for a few moments, enter deep into the shadows of our own souls, to listen and to feel and to smell what is swirling within us and around us.

May the traces of God's grace move in our midst in more than just amazing ways, but in subtle ways like a hug, a soft spoken word, and the stillness of your own soul.

Grace and peace ~~