A Message from Pastor Jon Anderson
1 Corinthians 13-“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”
The day after Christmas, the stores that were once filled with holly and tinsel and Christmas cards were filled with valentines, little stuffed animals, and boxes of candy. How well do I remember being in grade school and having to bring a box of those little valentines, one for each person in the class, and a special one for the teacher. I remember feeling bad when one year I was one valentine short, even though the girl who didn’t get one was new and I didn’t even know her. Valentine’s Day is a fun way to remember those we love. But, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the famous “love chapter”, reminds us that there’s far more to love than just remembering someone with a card or candy. The love described in that chapter is a translation of the Greek word agape, meaning unconditional love-love that always demonstrates care for others, not just on a certain day of the year-the same love that God has for each of us, despite the ways that we have failed Him. God is patient and kind to us, offering us forgiveness and mercy even when we don’t deserve it. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that this world, and the things associated with this world, will one day come to an end-but love-unconditional, gracious love-God’s love-never ends. Sometimes we wonder why, if God loves us so much, that life can be so difficult sometimes. When St. Paul wrote this text, mirrors were much poorer than they are today. When you looked in a mirror, you got only an approximation of what you looked like. In the same way, we don’t understand everything that goes on here, but one day we will understand, and we will be constantly experience the love of God. Until that day, may God’s peace be with you.
~ Pastor Jon.
