PostScript: The excellent way
As Christians, divine love—agape—is crucial to our lives as individuals and as a community (1 Cor. 13.1-13).
Context
It is easy to find what agape is not. This was the first story to appear when I googled ‘news stories on love’.
More positive accounts come from looking for 'love in action'.
Out of the mouths of babes – here is a YouTube story that might not have made it across the Atlantic to the UK, but if this doesn’t move you, nothing will!
Reflection
- 1 Cor. 13.1-13 is both one of the best known and most ignored passages in the Bible! It is also regularly taken out of its context – i.e. Paul’s discussion of spiritual gifts, which comprises three full chapters (1 Corinthians 12–14). It is also more than a little ironic that Paul’s sublime description of agape comes in the middle of a section of writing aimed at settling disputes within the fledgling church at Corinth. Sadly, in today’s Church, we are not necessarily much better. Having managed a mediation team for church disputes, I have been saddened by how often mediation was rejected because people preferred their grudges and grievances over reconciliation. In fact, this was a rejection of the ‘excellent way’: agape.
- If you do an internet search on ‘love’ you will end up almost exclusively with examples of eros (see the first example above) and almost nothing of agape. However, when Christians fall out with one another, then we are not good examples of agape Agape isn’t always our first response when we read, see or hear something that goes against our life preferences. For instance, how much agape did Jesus stir up in his home town when he preached in the synagogue (Luke 4.21-30)? Rather, Jesus words ‘roused the whole congregation to a fury; they leapt up, drove him out of town, and took him to a brow of the hill…meaning to hurl him over the edge’. Perhaps the dearth of agape in our world is one reason why it stands out so brightly when we read or hear about someone like ‘President Austin’ in the YouTube example above!
- The English language has roughly 558 ‘emotion’ words. It is instructive to learn that 62 per cent of these words express anger, depression, envy and the like – not exactly ‘positive’ emotions. And, yes, only 38 per cent of the words express positive emotions such as love, joy, tenderness. In the same vein, studies have shown that, for newcomers to church, one negative experience can only be offset by six or seven positive experiences! As human beings, we seem biased towards negative emotions and experiences. We need to be much more mindful and deliberate about conducting our lives by the more ‘excellent way’ of love!
Prayer
Creator of all life, your ways are the ways of love;
and we have been created in your image.
Your love endures forever.
It is with and through your love that you sustain the living,
send healing to the sick, lift the fallen and give hope to the captive.
Your love endures forever.
Throughout the millennia, you have kept faith with us,
not because of our worthiness, but because of your abiding love.
Your love endures forever.
God of righteousness,
through scripture, spoken word and prophecy,
you have reached out to your children and taught us how you would have us live.
Your love endures forever.
God of salvation,
you have loved us so much that you came to us in human flesh,
to teach us how to love one another and to be agents of your reconciliation.
Your love endures forever.
Loving God,
help us each to recognise that your kingdom
will only begin to come when we live by your law of love –
loving our neighbours as ourselves,
and loving you, the source of all love.
We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ,
your love incarnate. Amen.
Questions
- Following on from the third reflection bullet-point above, why do we find it easier to express negative emotions as opposed to love? Is this the case for you or someone you love?
- There is an old hymn in which the refrain goes: ‘They will know we are Christians by our love’. Is this actually the case? When or how have you experienced it? What difference has it made in your life?
All-age activity
Think of all the ways that we use the term ‘love’ that lessen its meaning of agape –’love divine’. List them on a large sheet of paper. What words could we use in place of ‘love,’ so that we could reserve its usage for ‘the real thing’?
Young people
When Jesus taught his followers about love, he described it in a threefold way: the love of God, of one’s neighbour, and of oneself (Matt. 22.34-40). Too many young people these days do not seem to be able to love themselves. Low self-esteem is followed by self-harm, self-medication with illegal drugs and other risky behaviour. How we are loved by those closest to us can affect (for good or ill) how we love ourselves and others. Truly knowing that we are loved by God is critical for our love of others and ourselves. Have you experienced God’s love in your life? How might you share it with others? How might you help your friends value and love themselves?
The Revd Dr Jack Lawson is the Mission Implementation Coordinator for the United Methodist Church in central North Carolina. He also lectures in Hebrew Bible and is a free-lance author. He is the author of the novel ‘Doing Time’ which is based on his years as a chaplain in a Southern US women’s prison.
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