twisting up love

If I speak eloquently in any language in heaven or on earth, but do not have love, I am like a loud gong or a crashing cymbal; noisy and meaningless. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I sacrifice my body, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant or rude; love is not self-serving, easily angered or resentful, it keeps no record of wrongs; love does not rejoice in unrighteousness or injustice, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails...
1 Corinthians 13:1-8 (blended translations)

If you've been to church or a wedding, you've probably heard this read many times. These verses have been the basis for defining the paramount attributes of love, the building blocks of marriage, and quite honestly I think we've missed the boat. Certainly many of these things speak quite pointedly at familial relations, without which a family will tear itself apart, but what's wrong with taking a look at this from a 10,000ft level so to speak? Couldn't this apply to more than just marriages? Shouldn't this passage be the definition of what it means to love your neighbor?

Jesus told us to love our neighbors, and it seems the first thing questioned every time is the definition of neighbor - rarely if ever do we ask first how to love. We always seem to be more concerned with who we must interact with, rather than how - which oddly enough follows rather well with the way we've analyzed, categorized, and programmed Christianity into rules, regulations, and formulas. We focus more on knowledge, and less on action.

So how should Christians act according to the aforementioned passage? We should be kind and patient, not pushy or rude. We should be selfless, not selfish. We should be humble and forgiving, not resentful, elitist, or grudge-bearing. In everything we do, there should be no subversive motivation; there should be only a loving heart that seeks to serve other's needs before our own. We are to be joyful, loving servants to the extent that each is able.

Remember, love never fails - despite our expectations for a certain outcome, we do not fail if we love. For example, we may not make that breakthrough that brings someone to Christianity, but if we were generous with our love (in whatever form it takes - time, resources, etc) we will have at least shown that we truly care about them, and it leaves the door open for another time and perhaps another person. We reap what we sow... are we truly sowing love?

This whole entry might sound like my own Treatise on Christian Love, but that is not the intention. I heard this passage of scripture over the weekend (during a wedding), and in a quiet moment of meditation and prayer it dawned on me that I had rarely ever heard these verses outside of a sermon preached on family values, marital values, or some other individualistic (i.e. one on one) setting. Rarely, if ever, have I heard someone speak on a more global scale using these concepts. Certainly we all understand that we should love our neighbor individually, but what does it look like to have a community that loves neighboring communities? When one person steps out as a Christian servant, a few are touched by the experience - but when an entire Christian community steps out in service, imagine the possibilities!

Think along the lines of Brian McLaren's The Story We Find Ourselves In - an entire church that reaches out to the local Muslim community in the wake of 9/11, by first having the women offer their time and friendship to the Muslim women so they can leave their homes without fear of being attacked because of racial biases. This wasn't done only to help out for that specific moment in time, it was the opening of relations with a group of people whom were stereotypically avoided by Christians. The attacks may have sparked the actions, but they were not the prime motivation, it was done out of love and the desire to begin a friendship that was long overdue. I can think of a few other groups we might need to think about loving and befriending...