Sermon: All You Need Is Love

The Rev. Bryn Smallwood-Garcia
Congregational Church of Brookfield (UCC)
February 4, 2007

All You Need Is Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a, 13

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

This is probably my favorite chapter in the whole Bible, so I was very happy to see it come up in the lectionary as I begin my ministry here with you in Brookfield. If we can't manage to do anything else together as a church except remember to be loving, to bear public witness to God's love for the world, we will have at least fulfilled Jesus last and greatest commandment in the Gospel According to John, that we "love one another."

This text from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians is full of rich and profound insights about the importance and power of love and love's greatest qualities. This chapter 13 was read at my wedding to John, nearly 20 years ago. It was one of my grandfather's favorite passages too - so much so that he had copied several key verses out by hand and stuck it between the pages of his Bible. I just found his hand-written note in the pages of my Bible yesterday morning when I was getting ready for our Winter Privilege meeting, and I felt a surge of emotion as I remembered how it was read both at his funeral and, nearly 25 years later, at my mother's. How many of you had this passage read at your wedding? Even one of my Jewish friends had it read at hers.

In my candidating sermon back in October, I think I mentioned that John and I memorized our wedding vows from the United Church of Christ Book of Worship, but over the years, I think it might have been even better if we had memorized this chapter of First Corinthians. "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful. It is not envious or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful." John probably wishes I could remember all those things, especially when we've overslept a little and start rushing to get the kids out the door onto the school bus on time. I suspect I'm not alone in being kinder most of the time to strangers than I am to my own family, or even to myself, for that matter. And irritable? That's me all over - especially in the morning before I've had my first cup of tea. I also have to admit that patience is not my strongest suit. My favorite prayer, which I pray a lot, is the one that's on a magnet on my refrigerator: "Lord, give me patience, and give it to me right now!"

But you probably know, if you've heard a sermon on this text before, that this famous "love" chapter of Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians was not written for a wedding. It was written to a church that was forgetting its call to put love first. There's a lot we can put first instead, right? I haven't met yet with your worship committee, but I remember at my first church heated debates about how the Lord's Prayer should be said, or how offering plates should be passed, or even what color shoes the ushers should wear. I don't know yet what your hot issues are, but everyone has a few. Well, in Corinth, what was getting the most attention, and prestige, was the Holy Spirit-filled excitement of worship, and not necessarily the less flashy ministries of discipleship and service.

Corinth was an important town in the ancient world, a busy and wealthy trading city on the Mediterranean - known in the Roman world for its opportunities to explore various forms of vice and decadent living. Turns out they took joy and celebration very seriously in Greece, where worship had always been a great excuse for getting out and dancing with wild women, with wine and song flowing long into the night. Poor, pious Paul must have been horrified when word reached him in Ephesus that all kinds of pagan carousing had been going on during Corinthian worship.

Paul knew he had to put a stop to the showboating by various prophets and get the church to worship together decently, and in order. We can understand that, can't we? I wouldn't want all of you jumping up and shouting all at once, and I know you wouldn't want me to start channeling the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues like a traditional Corinthian priestess. Fortunately, I come from a Congregational tradition of thoughtful and orderly worship, because I grew up in a church much like this one. As a child growing up, I was blessed to have many kind and generous elders who really listened to what I had to say, and who I knew loved me no matter what. Part of the respect we give one another in a community of love is to listen carefully and talk one at a time. We cherish each voice because we are called to discern in each member the voice of the still-speaking God. This is the kind of love that Paul calls the church to embody. It's the kind of love that got Christians noticed in the ancient world. In the 2nd century, Tertullian wrote, "What marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness. 'Only look,' they say, 'look how they love one another.'"

Paul uses the Greek word "agape" for love, which is a kind of holy love that is bigger than any one of us. It is not the same as romantic love, which in Greek is "eros," or the love of friends, which in Greek is "philia." It is the same word used for love in the Letter of John, when he writes, "God is love," and "if you live in love you live in God and God lives in you." Agape is the mysterious and unconditional love that God has for the wayward people Israel in the Hebrew scriptures, the kind of love that can look truly irrational, until you have your own wayward child. Agape is the love described in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is the word for love Jesus uses when he reminds us to "love one another" or "love our neighbor" or love our enemies even. This is the kind of reckless and self-giving love we are to share if we are to really be a family, and conduct ourselves well together as the body of Christ. Agape is a big love, far more powerful than any other force in the universe - more powerful than any other force in the universe.

One of my favorite stories about my grandmother happened when she was still just in her mid-80s, but it was after my grandfather died. So we were a little worried about her walking to the grocery store alone. It was only about 3 blocks away from her house, but it went by a kind of shady creekside park where some surly teenagers were known to hang out. My parents offered to take her shopping, but she said she enjoyed the walk. One day when she passed the park on the way to the store, a young teenager confronted her and demanded that she hand over her purse. She told me she just looked him in the eye and said, "Oh, son, you know you don't want to start down that road. What in the world would your mother think if she could see you right now? What would your grandmother think, to see you try to take an old lady's purse?" The poor kid started to cry, and she ended up comforting him before he finally ran off.

That was agape - a love that takes risks, and calls us into relationship. It is the fearless, self-giving love that was poured out for us by Jesus when he went to the cross to die for our sins and reconcile us to God. It is the love that continues to call us, even today, to the table of the Lord's Supper, to communion. It is of that love that Paul writes when he says, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." It is true, isn't it? It is true, my brothers and sisters. It is true. "Faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love."
Thanks be to God for this Good News. Amen.