Lenten Daily Reflection 2020-03-28
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
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. 2And 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. 3If 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.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
I can’t really imagine a more important message to hear today than the one of this text. For this reflection, I rewrote the verses to suggest how this message belongs with us this Saturday afternoon, March 28th, in the middle of a pandemic:
If I speak in the power of governors, world leaders, and politicians, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have medical training, and understand all mysteries of this virus, and if I have all the medicines, vaccines, supplies, so as to remove this illness, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I sacrifice my food or time in quarantine to help others,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient: It recognizes the gift of simplifying right now; it is gentle with our children, family, friends as we all sometimes poorly navigate this difficult time. Love forgives.
Love is kind: It compels us to pray for others, think of others, cry for others
Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant5or rude: Love finds peace with limitations, accepting that we are where we are—quarantined, isolated, or still going outside to go to work—and chooses to find breath, stillness, courage.
It does not insist on its own way: Love releases control, trusting God and inner resilience
it is not irritable or resentful;6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth: Love is genuine, honest, embracing all the parts of ourselves that show up in scary times—the grief, fear, anger, gratitude, panic, hope.
7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things: 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends: It never ends