Pursuing Love

Psalm 71:1-6   1 Cor. 13:1-13  Luke 4:21-30

If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Cor. 13:1)

Many of us have heard Paul’s writings about love.  Primarily at weddings.  The irony, of course, is that this text was not directed to couples or about marriage, it is about the need, meaning and purpose of love within the Christian community.  Paul is hoping that love can exist in a space that has room for both agreement and differences.  In this letter he is talking to a divided congregation.

In 1 Cor 13:14, Paul continues, “Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gift.”   Follow God.  Get involved.  Go all out to express your gift.  Advance God’s kingdom.  Then our communities will be strong.

How does Paul hope this love works?  With each other. Paul’s familiar, “faith, hope, and love,” speaks emphatically to what is needed. I think if Paul was preaching to us today, he would start with love.

Recall, that after Jesus’ baptism he went into the wilderness, not yielding to temptation but calling upon scriptures to put the devil in his place.  Then, Jesus went to his hometown to preach.  Why? I don’t know.  Was he thinking, after the devil I’m prepared for anything? Run for your life Jesus, this congregation doesn’t like your preaching.  Their rage seems extreme.

In our scripture last week, Jesus read from Isaiah.(Isaiah 61:1-2) He was talking about ways to pursue love: : to bring good news to the poor, to look for ways to bring freedom to those in bondage, to announce God’s acceptance of the undeserving, unwelcomed, and unexpected.  But what the hometown synagogue wanted, was miracles.  “Do for us, what you do for other towns!” Jesus refused.  He used the story of Elijah only healing one widow rather than all the Jews that were sick, to convey his message. When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

4:29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

4:30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Not only did they not accept him, they wanted to kill him.

We want to help and support the marginalized, vulnerable and oppressed people from our position of comfort- fully fed, clothed and housed.  We want to follow what Jesus said, right?  As Christians would we stand up and say, “Jesus, we disagree with you?  This just doesn’t work for us right now in the world we live.  Let’s just shelve it.”  Our mainstream churches would not say this.

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now…”

Those were the words of The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Diocese of Washington at a prayer service in Washington DC, as she asked President Trump to show compassion towards the LGBTQ+ community and to immigrants.   UCC Rev. Carol Lindsay,  says, Rev. Budde spoke truth to power.  “She preached the gospel and applied it to those in her hearing. The reaction was swift, and excerpts of her sermon went viral on social media.”The House of Representatives stated in a resolution that this was political activism and condemned it’s distorted message.

This statement, "if you are not offending people, you are not doing your job," is often used by preachers to say that we need to be unafraid to challenge deeply held beliefs and societal norms, even if it means causing discomfort or anger.  It’s important to have conversations and reflections about these things. Let’s talk about this. What I am saying today could be offending some of you.  Don’t bring politics, especially those I disagree with into our church, you might be thinking.  I am not. Today I am preaching Isaiah, Paul, Jesus, scripture.  I am preaching the mission of Jesus.  I am preaching about what I was anointed to do.

Rev. Budde spoke of unity, of dignity and responsibility.  I believe the thirst for these comes out of the power of love.  Not the love of power.  Paul speaks to the kind of love that Jesus pursues and proclaims as the acting out of God’s love for the world.  In this season of Epiphany, how can our pursuit of love bring the light of Christ to those in darkness — to all those who suffer.  As a community of Christ, can we reach out to those outside our comfort zone? Let’s make sure that others know by our actions that we are believers, that observation can be more powerful than anything we can say.

What is God’s love like?

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you. - Isaiah 54:10

Oh, If only we could love like this.  Love God and love each other.  Everybody. All of humanity.  Thanks be to God. Amen.

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