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| SERMON 4th Sunday after the Epiphany January 31, 2010 The Rev. Charles W. Messer |
| 667 Mount Road, Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 |
| Small Parish - Big Heart The little church you've been looking for! All are welcome! |
| Our Mission: To worship the Lord To serve the community To grow the church |
This morning we have one of the most recognizable passages of scripture; a
passage that some of you, no doubt, had it read at your wedding. “Love is
patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or rude. Love bears all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
We talk about love in such funny ways. We talk of "falling in it" as if it were a
hole. We use the same word when talking about our spouses, food, and
anything else. "I love my wife. I love pecan pie. I love you, man. I love watching
The Office. I’d love it if the Eagles won the Super Bowl.” If a Martian came and
asked us to define love, I bet we’d have a hard time However, love isn’t a state of
being or an emotion; love is something you do.
Growing up I had a neighbor who would sit on his front porch whittling. He
would take sticks and shape them into animals, mostly dogs. Watching him, I
wanted to carve a dog; I went home to get a steak knife from the kitchen drawer
and stick from the yard. It was easy at first, I was hacking away at the bark but
once all of it was gone that’s when it got hard. Frustrated, I asked him how he
does it; what’s the secret of whittling a dog. He said, “ I pick up a piece of wood
and whittle down what doesn’t look like a dog.”
Whittling down what it isn’t, the apostle Paul does the same thing by first telling
us what love is not. Love is not envious. Envy is the all consuming desire for
everyone else to be as unsuccessful as you are. Love is not boastful or arrogant.
Love is not rude. Love is not intent upon saying or doing anything that in any
way demeans or embarrass or takes advantage of someone else. Love doesn't
insist on its own way, isn't always "me first." Love doesn't butt its way to the
head of the line. Love doesn’t provoke others to do harm, nor does it fly off the
handle and freak out.
Love isn't resentful; it doesn’t hold a grudge or keep score. Do you know what
that's like; to have a memory of how someone has injured you and to feed that
memory? Resentment is a cancer that kills love every time. Love doesn't rejoice
in wrongdoing; that is, it finds no reason to celebrate the downfall of other
people or rejoice at their destruction.
So this is what we need to whittle away; all the things that love is not. Love is,
however, patient; love never gives up. Love is kind. Love takes pleasure in
what's right and true. Love bears all things; puts up with anything and love
believes all things; love is trust. Love hopes all things; always looks for the best.
And love endures all things; even death can’t destroy love.
If you take Christian faith and boil away all doctrine and denominational polity—
you find that one thing remains. What remains is not a doctrine, is not a set of
rules, is not a creed, not a confession. The true nature of the Christian faith is
absolute, unambiguous, undiluted love; the love of God through the person and
work of Jesus Christ. Love is sacrifice. Love is God hanging on the cross and
bursting open the grave. Love is God never leaving us orphaned. Love is the
shepherd who leads us to green pastures and still waters; even though we will
walk in the valley of the shadow of death, the love of God is guiding us.
Jesus showed us that love is always something you do. And this is what
distinguishes love from sentimentality and warm fuzzy feelings or good
intentions or flowery words on a Hallmark card. Love, in the end, is always
something you do.
Jesus said that others will know that we are his disciples by the love we
demonstrate, the love we live out in the open – not by what a preacher says or
the bumper sticker on our car – love is the evidence that we are followers of
Jesus.
There is a man, a Baptist pastor in Wichita, Ks who is known for his stance
against abortion and homosexuality. Fred Phelps is also known for
demonstrating at the funerals of fallen soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. Not
because he is against the war and seeks a world of peace, but because he is
convinced that God is punishing this nation from our tolerance of homosexuality
and allowing abortion to continue. Fred Phelps and his congregation pickets
funerals of fallen soldiers with signs that read, “God hates America,” and “God
killed this soldier,” because God is displaying his wrath with their deaths. He
was last seen picketing at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles two weeks ago with
signs that read, “God sent the Quake,” and “God hates Haiti.”
There was a man, also a Baptist preacher, from Georgia who was known for his
stance on Civil Rights. Martin Luther King was known to some as a rabble
rouser, a black preacher who wouldn’t leave well enough alone. He was also
known to others as a prophet who instilled hope that all people will be judged by
the content of their character than by the color of their skin. Through non-violent
protest and prayer, and ultimately by the violent end to his life, Martin Luther
King showed us that the power to love is stronger than hate.
Like Martin Luther King, Fred Phelps is a man of deep conviction but what
separates them is the noisy clang of a gong. What separates them is hate,
arrogance, resentment, taking delight at other people’s pain and tragedy. What
separates him from Martin Luther King is that one is a disciple of the Lord Jesus
and the other claims to be; one is a Christian and the other isn’t.
You and I are able to love because God loved us first. The cause of our loving
God is God. God is both the origin of love and its completion. God is the
occasion for Valentine’s Day, getting married, delighting in your children, and
sending money to Haiti. God is the ultimate end of desire. We love because God
loves.
Love is something you do. Disciples of Jesus display the love of God through
acts of kindness and compassion, through forgiveness and mercy, through
gentleness and hospitality. By what we do, does the world know that you and I
are disciples of Jesus?
Love is probably the most over used and misunderstood word there is. Love isn’
t an adjective but a verb. Love isn’t a feeling but action. Love bears all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
passage that some of you, no doubt, had it read at your wedding. “Love is
patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or rude. Love bears all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
We talk about love in such funny ways. We talk of "falling in it" as if it were a
hole. We use the same word when talking about our spouses, food, and
anything else. "I love my wife. I love pecan pie. I love you, man. I love watching
The Office. I’d love it if the Eagles won the Super Bowl.” If a Martian came and
asked us to define love, I bet we’d have a hard time However, love isn’t a state of
being or an emotion; love is something you do.
Growing up I had a neighbor who would sit on his front porch whittling. He
would take sticks and shape them into animals, mostly dogs. Watching him, I
wanted to carve a dog; I went home to get a steak knife from the kitchen drawer
and stick from the yard. It was easy at first, I was hacking away at the bark but
once all of it was gone that’s when it got hard. Frustrated, I asked him how he
does it; what’s the secret of whittling a dog. He said, “ I pick up a piece of wood
and whittle down what doesn’t look like a dog.”
Whittling down what it isn’t, the apostle Paul does the same thing by first telling
us what love is not. Love is not envious. Envy is the all consuming desire for
everyone else to be as unsuccessful as you are. Love is not boastful or arrogant.
Love is not rude. Love is not intent upon saying or doing anything that in any
way demeans or embarrass or takes advantage of someone else. Love doesn't
insist on its own way, isn't always "me first." Love doesn't butt its way to the
head of the line. Love doesn’t provoke others to do harm, nor does it fly off the
handle and freak out.
Love isn't resentful; it doesn’t hold a grudge or keep score. Do you know what
that's like; to have a memory of how someone has injured you and to feed that
memory? Resentment is a cancer that kills love every time. Love doesn't rejoice
in wrongdoing; that is, it finds no reason to celebrate the downfall of other
people or rejoice at their destruction.
So this is what we need to whittle away; all the things that love is not. Love is,
however, patient; love never gives up. Love is kind. Love takes pleasure in
what's right and true. Love bears all things; puts up with anything and love
believes all things; love is trust. Love hopes all things; always looks for the best.
And love endures all things; even death can’t destroy love.
If you take Christian faith and boil away all doctrine and denominational polity—
you find that one thing remains. What remains is not a doctrine, is not a set of
rules, is not a creed, not a confession. The true nature of the Christian faith is
absolute, unambiguous, undiluted love; the love of God through the person and
work of Jesus Christ. Love is sacrifice. Love is God hanging on the cross and
bursting open the grave. Love is God never leaving us orphaned. Love is the
shepherd who leads us to green pastures and still waters; even though we will
walk in the valley of the shadow of death, the love of God is guiding us.
Jesus showed us that love is always something you do. And this is what
distinguishes love from sentimentality and warm fuzzy feelings or good
intentions or flowery words on a Hallmark card. Love, in the end, is always
something you do.
Jesus said that others will know that we are his disciples by the love we
demonstrate, the love we live out in the open – not by what a preacher says or
the bumper sticker on our car – love is the evidence that we are followers of
Jesus.
There is a man, a Baptist pastor in Wichita, Ks who is known for his stance
against abortion and homosexuality. Fred Phelps is also known for
demonstrating at the funerals of fallen soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. Not
because he is against the war and seeks a world of peace, but because he is
convinced that God is punishing this nation from our tolerance of homosexuality
and allowing abortion to continue. Fred Phelps and his congregation pickets
funerals of fallen soldiers with signs that read, “God hates America,” and “God
killed this soldier,” because God is displaying his wrath with their deaths. He
was last seen picketing at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles two weeks ago with
signs that read, “God sent the Quake,” and “God hates Haiti.”
There was a man, also a Baptist preacher, from Georgia who was known for his
stance on Civil Rights. Martin Luther King was known to some as a rabble
rouser, a black preacher who wouldn’t leave well enough alone. He was also
known to others as a prophet who instilled hope that all people will be judged by
the content of their character than by the color of their skin. Through non-violent
protest and prayer, and ultimately by the violent end to his life, Martin Luther
King showed us that the power to love is stronger than hate.
Like Martin Luther King, Fred Phelps is a man of deep conviction but what
separates them is the noisy clang of a gong. What separates them is hate,
arrogance, resentment, taking delight at other people’s pain and tragedy. What
separates him from Martin Luther King is that one is a disciple of the Lord Jesus
and the other claims to be; one is a Christian and the other isn’t.
You and I are able to love because God loved us first. The cause of our loving
God is God. God is both the origin of love and its completion. God is the
occasion for Valentine’s Day, getting married, delighting in your children, and
sending money to Haiti. God is the ultimate end of desire. We love because God
loves.
Love is something you do. Disciples of Jesus display the love of God through
acts of kindness and compassion, through forgiveness and mercy, through
gentleness and hospitality. By what we do, does the world know that you and I
are disciples of Jesus?
Love is probably the most over used and misunderstood word there is. Love isn’
t an adjective but a verb. Love isn’t a feeling but action. Love bears all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
To contact us: Calvary Episcopal Church 667 Mount Road Aston, PA 19014 610-459-2013 OFFICE The Rev. Charles Messer, Rector Fr. Chuck: frmesser@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org Website: mail@calvaryepiscopalrockdale.org Office: calvaryoffice1@verizon.net |
