Sunday Homily - February 3rd, 2019 - What is Love?

Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) Icon

I.

Love.
 Is not.
  A feeling.

Love.
 Is.
  A choice that we make.

If you don't hear anything else from this sermon,
 at least hear that.
  Because it highlights a critical issue that we all are affected by
   whether we realize it or not.

The word "Love" is used so often
 by so many people
  in so many different contexts and different ways
   that the meaning of the word has simply lost all meaning.

For example, if you are a frequent listener to the Billboard Charts
 that highlights the top popular music tracks of the weeks,
  there is a high chance you will run across songs that deal with
   Love as being a feeling,
    an infatuation,
     an attraction,
      or something even lesser than those.

Love is so all-encompassing in the U.S.'s musical mind
 that there are even songs that make fun of this concept of love,
  such as Maren Morris's country song, in which she wants a love song
   that doesn't make her roll her eyes
   [Maren Morris, "I Could Use A Lovesong"]

Or Maroon 5's song "Payphone" in which the end of the chorus laments,
 "One more stupid love song, and I'll be sick."
  [Which, side note, is one of the most ironic things imaginable,
   because if you have ever listened to Maroon 5
    it is all love songs or breakup songs.]

Its kind of like when you say a word over and over again,
 such that the word begins to sound strange in your mouth
  and you lose all sense of what the meaning of the word actually is.

But there are some words that the meaning is that much more vital
 to the basic way that we live our lives.
  And if we lose the meaning of Love?
   It becomes dangerous, y'all.
    Especially for us Christians,
     in which we know that God IS Love!
      [1 John 4:8]

How do we begin to unwind,
 unfurl,
  re-capture the idea of Love
   as we are meant to know it?

Well, let's get back to the basics.
 What does Scripture say about love?

II.

"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."
    [1 Cor. 13:4-8a]

To get at the basic meaning of this Scripture,
 it is sometimes helpful to define Love by what it isn't.
  So, lets take it slow, and bit by bit.

"Love is patient,
 love is kind,
  love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude."

What do the opposites tell us?
 If it isn't patient, it isn't love.
  If it isn't kind, it isn't love.
   If it causes you to envy, to brag, to be arrogant or rude,
    it isn't love."

So what is Love?
"Love does not insist on its own way,
 it is not irritable or resentful;
  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing,
   but rejoices in the truth."

What's the opposite?
 If you insist on your own way, it isn't love.
  If it makes you irritable or resentful, it isn't love.
   If it resists the truth and instead is comfortable with deceit, it isn't love.

So what is Love?
 "It bears all things,
   believes all things
    hopes all things,
     endures all things.
      Love never ends."

What's the opposite?
 If it refuses to bear a burden, it isn't love.
  If it isn't something you have believed in,
   sold out in for the sake of others, it isn't love.
    If it causes you to lose hope, it isn't love.
     If it does not deeply endure, it isn't love.

III.

That's quite a list, y'all!
 But I can ensure you about one thing:
  The Billboard Top 100 songs does NOT stand the test
   of truly showing us what Love actually is.

In fact, the things we just heard from the Scripture
 can seem downright impossible.
  It is such a high attainment that we often can be distraught
   over how completely unloving we are day by day.

Which is why there is a fundamental truth about Love
 that we all must remember
  whenever we talk about it:
   Love is a spiritual gift from God.

It is a GIFT,
 given by God who IS Love,
  and it is something beyond feeling and emotion.

It is THE enacting power that creates, sustains, and redeems this world
 and all who live in it.

And the spiritual gift of love is a Gift of God,
 given through the selfless sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross,
  and was raised for our salvation,
   so that we may also walk in this selfless love
    that we hear in 1 Corinthians this morning.

Ask God always for this love.
 Every morning you wake up this week,
  ask God for the gift of love
   that you may then share the flames of love with all who you meet.

Ask God to manifest in you
 patience,
  kindness,
  giving up our selfishness so that others may flourish.

Ask God to help you resist resentment,
 to not be irritated easily,
  to be given courage to speak the truth in love.

And ask God for the divine love which
 bears burdens with others,
  believes in the healing found in God who is love,
   looks in hope to the resurrection found in Christ Jesus,
    and endures the hardships necessary to show forth that sacrificial love to the world.

As we walk from this place,
 ask God for the strength to walk in love
  just as Jesus loved us and gave himself for us,
   an offering and sacrifice to God.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.