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Eventide Reflection – Feb. 5, 2019
February, the month of Valentine’s, brought us to our first Eventide supper in the Parish House. It was so cozy, with a warm fire burning, the attached words on love by Barbra Mousouris, a delicious green salad by David & Alyce Boyd, vegetarian ginger soup for supper, and yummy dessert treats from Robert Brown. We hope you will join us for this wonderful time of peace, reflection, music and companionship Wednesday evenings in the Parish House! Dinners will be monthly for now.
Good eventide.
The new testament reading for this fourth week after Epiphany is 1 Corinthians 13, which I am guessing is very familiar to most of you. I often quote it in weddings:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
We spiritual beings who attend church are truly surrounded by the teaching of Love…as well as the people who are actually walking the talk of love. For many, the All Saints community is family. And family hopefully loves one another unconditionally. We share a deep heart common bond as faithful Christians, and much of this dedication is the understanding and agreement that Love is paramount to our walking the talk of Christ. And so this word that we use so much, but still never seems trite or overused… Love.
So what IS love? It is not just an emotional feeling. Rather, it is a deep commitment to the happiness of others. In the case of a couple, your partner. Marriage is a most generous act of giving up your freedom for your partner’s needs and happiness. Marriage is a lifelong commitment to give love, care and support your partner. Marriage is a strong bond of love and compassion, not to be broken by any challenges that may occur during the entire lifetime. Your partner is the best and most immediate person to whom you give unconditional love, listen from your heart to his or her needs, concerns and feelings, and with whom you communicate deeply, honestly and clearly.
To love is not to possess, to own or imprison, not to lose one’s self in another. Love is to join and separate, to walk alone and together, to find a laughing freedom that lonely isolation does not permit. It is finally to be able to be who we really are, no longer clinging in dependency, nor living separate lives in silence, but to be perfectly one’s true self, and perfectly joined in permanent commitment to another—and to one’s inner self. Love only endures when it moves like waves, receding and returning gently or passionately. Moving lovingly like the tide in the moon’s own predictable harmony…in your heart, Where true and lasting love can abide.”
That is romantic love. What other kinds of love are there? The Bible tells us GOD IS LOVE, and Jesus Christ taught us to love one another.
Four unique forms of love are found in the Bible. They are communicated through four Greek words: Eros, or sensual romantic love, in the Bible predicated on marriage; Storge (“storjay”), or family love, the affectionate bond that develops naturally between parents and children, and brothers and sisters. Many examples of family love are found in Scripture, such as the mutual protection among Noah and his wife, the love of Jacob for his sons, and the strong love the sisters Martha and Mary had for their brother Lazarus. An interesting compound word using storge, “philostorgos,” is found in Romans 12:10, which commands believers to “be devoted” to one another with brotherly affection.
Philia (Pronounced: FILL-ee-uh) is the type of love in the Bible that most Christians practice toward each other. This Greek term describes the powerful emotional bond seen in deep friendships. Philia is the most general type of love in Scripture, encompassing love for fellow humans, care, respect, and compassion for people in need. The concept of brotherly love that unites believers is unique to Christianity. Jesus said philia would be an identifier of his followers: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” (John 13:35, NIV)
Agape (Pronounced: Uh-GAH-pay) is the highest of the four types of love in the Bible. This term defines God’s immeasurable, incomparable love for humankind. It is the divine love that comes from God. Agape love is perfect, unconditional, sacrificial, and pure. Jesus Christ demonstrated this kind of divine love to his Father and to all humanity in the way he lived and died. Following his resurrection, Jesus asked the apostle Peter if he loved him (agape). Peter replied three times that he did, but the word he used was phileo or brotherly love. Peter had not yet received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; he was incapable of agape love. But after Pentecost, Peter was so full of God’s love that he spoke from his heart and 3,000 people were converted.
All of us want to love like Jesus. We want to be generous, forgiving, and compassionate enough to love people unconditionally. But no matter how hard we try, somehow we fall short. Our humanness gets in the way. We can love, but we can’t do it perfectly. Learn the secret to loving like Jesus by abiding in him.
And in closing I would love to share one of my favorite poems on love by Roy Croft:
Love by Roy Croft
I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.
I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what You are making of me.
I love you For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find
I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple.
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good.
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
…And so I wonder, when is a time you have truly felt embraced by Love? Thank you for sharing your heart!
