angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty ... the handle
, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others ... 8 Love never dies. Inspired speech ...
LOVE CONNECTION
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13 (THE MESSAGE) 1
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 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. 3 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 13:1-13 (THE MESSAGE) 4
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, 5 Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13 (THE MESSAGE) 8
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. 9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. 11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13 (THE MESSAGE) 12
We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
Ruins in Ancient Corinth: Apollo’s Temple
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NRSV)
Rembrandt van Rijn (and workshop?), The Apostle Paul, The National Gallery of Art, 1657
A LOVING PERSON IS: patient and kind; not envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. A LOVING PERSON: does not insist on her own way; Is not irritable or resentful; Does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. A LOVING PERSON: bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ENDURES ALL THINGS…
Love is patient and kind. Lord, it is hard to be patient when there is so much we want to do. When other people slow us down, it is easy to forget how to be kind.
Love is not jealous or conceited or proud. But we are, God. We look at some people and think of ourselves in a better light. We look at other people and feel jealous of what they have and what they can do. Forgive us.
Love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable. But we often blurt out rude, hurtful names and accusations—almost before we know what we are really saying. Help us learn how to think and pause before we speak.
Love does not keep a record of wrongs. But we remember those wrongs— even when we really have tried to forgive. We remember them and bring them up when we are angry or when we want our own way. We use them to hurt the people we love. Help us to forgive and let go.
Love is not happy with evil. Love is happy with the truth. But it is hard not to take secret delight when people get what they have coming to them. Teach us compassion, Lord.
Love never gives up; and when we love with faith—hope—and patience, love will never fail. But we give up easily. We give up on other people; we give up on ourselves. We give up on making a difference; we lose hope that anything will ever be any different. Forgive us, for we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon: Hear this about God’s great love: God is patient and kind. God does not keep a record of our wrongs. God does not remember our failings at loving, but celebrates each of our successes. God never gives up on us— because God’s love is forever!
