If I Have Not Love
Love Never Fails
February 5, 2023 • Dave Romoser
It can be difficult to experience the realities of the world around us and then read the apostle Paul's claim that "love never fails" and believe or perhaps even hold the hope that it's actually true. What if it's simply that we've never truly understood what he's actually saying?
Love Bears, Believes, Hopes and Endures All Things
January 29, 2023 • Lindsey Apple, Grant Romoser-Claunch
We will together, through contemplative reflections of Christ’s example, point to the presence of God who personally bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things - as a reminder and grounding for whatever circumstances we encounter in life so we can know that we are not alone.
Love Does Not Delight In Evil
January 22, 2023 • Grant Romoser-Claunch
What did Paul mean when he wrote to the Corinthians that "love does not delight in evil"? What does it mean to "rejoice in the truth"? And why are 'evil' and 'truth' being contrasted? It might just be that there is more depth to each of those words - and a connection to our real, daily lives - that can lead us to the transforming power of love.
Love Is Not Irritable
January 15, 2023 • Dave Romoser
Have you ever stopped to think of all the things, events, circumstances, etc. that you're exposed to every day that can be irritating? You get stuck in traffic... you catch up on the day's news... you drive away from the drive-thru lane only to realize that they forgot your fries... and on and on... What would it look like to go just ONE day without getting irritated? What would it take?... and what would be the benefit?
Love Is Not Rude or Self-Seeking
January 8, 2023 • Dave Romoser
In his most famous discourse on the primacy and supremacy of love (and despite fact that most of us only hear these words during a wedding ceremony) the Apostle Paul seeks to drive home the reminder that LOVE is THE criteria for everything that has to do with how we move and engage the world around us - period. In his list of "what love is" and "what love is not", he tells us that "love is not rude or self-seeking", which, on some level, is a no-brainer. But... we may just need the reminder
Love Is Not Boastful or Arrogant
January 1, 2023 • Lindsey Apple
As we begin a New Year, let’s draw our attention to the foundations that ground us in our faith journeys. Paul writes to the Corinthian church that “Love is not boastful or arrogant; Love is not puffed up.” As we explore these words, may we become more aware of our tendencies to nurture the tree of knowledge when we choose our fear-based need for certainty, our need to be right, and the driving force to be separate and superior. When we choose to trust True Love, we will experience the grounding wisdom of humility that leads us back to the Tree of Life
Love Does Not Envy
December 18, 2022 • Grant Romoser-Claunch
When the Apostle Paul begins offering the Corinthians pastoral insight about what love is not, the first thing he mentions is that love does not envy. Envy is a type of judgment - it's fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and can't lead to life. What we were made for is the fruit from the tree of life - it bears the fruit of love, which itself brings contentment: the opposite of envy.
Love Is Patient
December 11, 2022 • Dave Romoser
Most of us have heard along the way that the last you thing you should pray for is patience because it seems like that's when your world starts to fall apart. While we may know that's usually said as a joke, patience is often a hard thing to practice. What's fascinating is when Paul tells us that "Love is patient...", he's not actually telling us to practice patience. So how DO we become patient and why does it matter?
The Goal of Creation
December 4, 2022 • Dave Romoser • 1 Corinthians 13:1–3
You could say that according to Paul, love is the "all or nothing" energizing force of the Kingdom as he reminds us that "If I have not love..." nothing else matters. How is it that he makes this so clear and yet it's so easy for us to miss it?