“Speaking Love” Jeremiah 1: 4-10 & 1 Cor 13: 1-13
February 2, 2025 ~ Northwood United ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook
There is a long list of things that are very difficult to do. Things that you have improved at or even mastered over time. But to be sure, they were very challenging at the outset. Things on the list might include dancing or cooking or singing in tune. Practicing healthy habits such as organization, overcoming self-doubt, eating and sleeping well. Managing time or difficult people, accepting constructive criticism and leading people in your circles. But over time, you take on these challenges of life and we slowly come to master (or at least get better at) this thing we call…life.
Have you ever considered what it means to take on, and live, your faith? To the untrained eye, it might seem to be a simple task. Show up on Sundays…worship, commune, grow. But as Jesus taught, with his life that was brutally ended at the hands of the powers of Empire, the Christ life is a challenging undertaking. This challenge to the Christian life made headlines last week at the National Prayer Service in Washington as Bishop Mariann Budde delivered a sermon directly addressing newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. I don’t know about your news feeds, but I’ve had more attention to this one sermon than I have ever read!
I wanted for us to examine this news item in light of the calling of the faithful Christian. As a dialogue partner, we have Jeremiah’s calling story and Paul’s teaching on the way of love. What would you have done in Bishop Budde’s shoes? Tasked to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast, what would you say? Or not say? At the end, when Linda leads the important time for reflection, I’m hoping we can all form our own opinion on what it means to be a Christian who speaks love. And for those who might think that politics have no place in the church, we might recall theologian R.C. Sproul’s timeless words: “A nation’s laws will always reflect its theology, whether explicitly or implicitly."
So, you have all seen news clips, video footage, perhaps even downloaded the entire sermon. To quickly refresh our minds, Bishop Budde concludes her message by urging the newly inaugurated president to show mercy and compassion towards vulnerable groups, specifically mentioning the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, and refugees fleeing war.
Shifting back in time about two millennia, we find ourselves in the time of the early church. We arrive at a time of division, political strife, and cultural upheaval where the Roman Empire ruled with power and force. And into that era, as followers of Christ, Paul calls us to a higher standard: the rule of rule rather than power. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13 remind us that no matter how passionate we are about any of life’s aspect: politics, policy, or our beliefs, if we do not ground it in love, we are nothing. Let’s explore how this passage teaches us to speak love in an era that often rewards loud voices over loving hearts.
You will have noticed that Gwen read from “The Message” translation of the Bible because I wanted us to hear these familiar words in fresh new ways. I’ll use some more familiar ones as we explore the text now. Paul begins with a striking statement: "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." In today’s world, everyone has an opinion (and as well they should) And, more than ever, social media gives us an elevated platform to express it. But Paul warns that eloquence, intelligence, and even passion mean nothing if love is absent. We can have the best arguments, yet when expressed in arrogance, it is noise. We can even fight for justice, but when done without love, we gain nothing. Love must be the foundation of our words.
Paul goes on to define love: not as a feeling, but as a way of being. “Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not dishonor others.” Conversations that tear others down, are not grounded in love. Is our goal is to win arguments or winning hearts? Without love as the basis, we have lost sight of the love that is Christ. Does this mean we cannot stand for truth? Absolutely not! But it does mean that how we speak matters just as much as what we say.
Paul continues explaining how love is greater than any agenda. "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." As a student of history, you know that politics will change. Leaders rise and fall. Movements come and go. But Paul teaches of something that is eternal…love.
Paul concludes: "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." In other words, Paul’s call to speak love is a call to the way of maturity. It is a call to move deepening the way we live the Christ life. It’s easy: to react in anger, to label people. Spiritual maturity calls us to something deeper. And while we may never fully understand each other’s perspectives, Paul reminds us: "Now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." At the end of the day, faith, hope, and love are what truly matter.
We began pondering all the areas of life we slowly come to improve (or even) master through life. And among them all, the practical living of the Christ life. Last week’s question remains to be answered: ‘did Bishop Budde deliver the right message?’ Perhaps its an unfair question because no one among will ever be placed in that role. Yet, we will be asked to live the Christ life in many ways in throughout our lives. And that life may not require us to preach at a Prayer service, but it surely will call us to live the Christ life in our unique ways. You will be called to speak love in all of the many communities you are part of (home, work, church). You will be called to speak love when it might not be the most cost-effective, the most popular, the most awkward moment…you will be called to speak love.
And in those moments, when you are uncertain; in those times when you feel afraid and unable, we have the beautiful assurance that God gives the ancient prophet Jeremiah. Protesting to God that he wasn’t capable: “c’mon God. Leave me alone, I’m just a boy”. And God assures Jeremiah and assures us that “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you…before you were born I consecrated you a prophet to the nations…Do NOT say I am a child…Do not be afraid for I will deliver you”.
Let us live the Christ-life as we speak love. Speak love in your conflict; speak love in your intimacy and your indifference; speak love in your hopes for the world and your concern for the last and least. And when you aren’t sure what to say; when you are at a loss for words…speak love. For faith, hope and love abide and the greatest of these will be love.
Amen.