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. 1 Corinthians 13:1
Where do people today sound like
clanging brass or crashing cymbals? My
first response is, “National, state, and local leaders!!” My second response is, “Christians who preach
hate, putting down beloved of God to push themselves/egos up!” My third response, from my shy soul, is to
softly say, “Um, sometimes me.”
Pastors sometimes love the sound of our own voices. We love to wax poetic and go on and on ~ not
only in sermons, but some pastors even post daily to a morning meditation
online ~ can you imagine such a thing!
(Insert my face turning red with embarrassment here). I can be a clanging brass and crashing
cymbal, only I think I am playing beautiful music everyone should hear!
Remember, Paul is writing to a church,
a community who were fighting and feuding about everything! They were putting each other down, saying
hurtful and hateful things. There were
factions in the church in Corinth. Some
elegantly said that Paul did the best baptism, while others said passionately
that such a perspective was “Hogwash!”
Paul was shining a light on the behavior of people who thought they
could convince each other through words and logic. And two thousand years later, we are still
stuck and stymied by the same mistake. I
invite you to meditate on this quote from Edwin Friedman: “The colossal
misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with
people who are unmotivated to change. If you want your child, spouse, client,
or boss to shape up, stay connected while changing yourself rather than trying
to fix them.”
To stay connected is to love,
which will demand much of us. May these
words of Paul roam around your heart and inspire your
living/speaking/words/presence this day and every day this year. Amen.
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