The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians always seems to bring light into the day.
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. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)
Central to who we are is the power that never ceases to bring people together - love. There are many powers that come up with many reasons to be divided or stay divided or simply try to make one's self bigger and better than others...but only love never ceases to bring the gifts of God's people together. In fact, to suggest that the power of God's love allows or permits us to separate from one another is to use the name of that power for something quite antithetical to its definition. If we do not have love...we are nothing...we gain nothing. That is the case because without the love that binds us together, the community is as good as dead. It is not resurrected, it is simply dead. We can trust/have faith in all sorts of things but without love active in our lives to demonstrate that faith, what is there...nothing.
Connection: We will not know what there is to gain by loving one another unless we begin to take on the invitation to do just that...love one another. Then even as we are pulled into that love, the fullness of it is always just beyond what we would make of it. So go for it.
Lord of Love, you continue to use your power to take us in the depths of our separation and begin to bind us together into a new life. Inspire us to welcome you love and avoid the easy ways of separation and division. Amen.
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