Ethic of Love

 

We are beginning the month of January by focusing on Paul’s words to the church, not a couple in love, but how the body of Christ is called to be in the world.  Today, I invite you to re-read 1 Corinthians 13 using Lectio Divina ~ or Divine Reading.  To review this prayer practice as described by Brian McLaren. “The first step is Lectio, where you read, which really means you deeply listen to the text, you try to take it in, you just try to let the text reach you. Second, is Meditatio. That's where we meditate, or we have an internal conversation. Respond to the text, ask questions about what you’ve read and imagine the response, summarize the text in one word or one short, succinct sentence. Third comes Aratio, which simply means prayer.  In this step, we turn our words and express ourselves to God in a conversation with God. In step three, we want to see what is evoked and provoked in us that speaks to the sacredness of desire. Step three is to name the desires that shape us from the scripture, shining a light on our lives. What do you desire after hearing this passage? And then you end with Contemplatio, which simply means contemplation to sit or rest in silence, sense marinate in what we have read and meditated upon.”  Today, move slowly through the above steps with this passage from 1 Corinthians 13:

 

What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts.

Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. Love will never become obsolete. Now as for the prophetic gifts, they will not last; unknown languages will become silent, and the gift of knowledge will no longer be needed. Gifts of knowledge and prophecy are partial at best, at least for now, but when the perfection and fullness of God’s kingdom arrive, all the parts will end. When I was a child, I spoke, thought, and reasoned in childlike ways as we all do. But when I became a man, I left my childish ways behind. For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, I will fully know just as I have been wholly known by God. But now faith, hope, and love remain; these three virtues must characterize our lives. The greatest of these is love.

 

What was stirred, swirled, and spinning in your heart/mind/body/soul with these words?  What prayers did you pray during Aratio ~ I know I prayed, “Help!!!!” because I am not sure I can live this way on my own.  I think that is Paul’s point.  If left to our own scheming and dreaming, our humanness doesn’t naturally go this way.  But when we are inspired and invited by God, something shifts within us, and space opens for these words to sing to our soul.  Write down your thoughtful intentions and prayerful reflections on this passage as we continue to make the road by walking into this New Year.  Amen.