4th Sunday in Ordinary
Time
When I was growing up my Dad spent
a lot of time
Away from home…traveling for work
so letter writing was his way of
staying connected
He was, and still is, an avid
letter writer
And not only does he have beautiful
penmanship
he pays careful attention to his
choice of words
and the flow of his thoughts
I treasure those letters
And from time to time
I pull them out of my nightstand
drawer
to revisit them
When I left home for college,
The tone of his letters became more
serious
He wasn’t ready to give up his role as teacher and mentor
And the letters continued
And though he was totally in the
dark about the particulars of my life he nevertheless seemed to have a sixth
sense about
When a teachable moment existed
hundreds of miles away!
The Letter to the Corinthians…
Is…well…a letter…
There was a community on the other
end of the conversation
Paul didn’t sit at the writing desk
to compose
The most beautiful ode to love ever written
There was an occasion
And like my Dad, Paul had something
to say to them,
Something he really believed
They needed to hear…just then
There was an occasion...
there existed a teachable moment…
an opportunity arose to drive
something home.
The occasion?
The Corinthians weren’t being
the kind of lovers
Paul knew they could be.
If we listen to the words of Paul
With weddings and love poetry on
our minds
Then, all we’ll remember is the
“Love is this…and love is that” part
And…we’ll miss what Paul really
wanted
The Corinthians…
and now us to hear
So…also
my Dad’s letters…
They seemed, at first read,
to be sort of “ode’s to Cindy”
He would tell me how strong and
capable and blessed I was…
I would glow in the praise…
But it didn’t take long for the
challenge to kick in…
He was subtle about it…
but what he really wanted me to
hear was
SO…girl…hope you’re not wasting all that…
hope you’re not settling for just OK…
And that is what Paul is doing
Don’t be OK with
Noisiness
And moodiness
And selfishness,
And pomposity,
And hypocrisy
“you can do better than that…
I’ve taught you better than that”
So it is beautiful…love…
Love really is all those things
Kind, patient, enduring
But the reality is that we are
WAY too familiar with all that can
get in the way
And Paul gives us a letter
To pull out of the drawer from time
to time
As a reminder
That within us
Resides 100% pure potential
To exhibit this
Believing
Hoping
Enduring
God-Like Love
And that is a perfect message
Not only for for young couples
on the occasion of their wedding
But for all of us who have been
called by baptism
To imagine ourselves in a love
relationship with God
God-like love
The kind manifested in the life,
death,
and resurrection of Christ
Is a love that embraces a kind of
dying
A dying to my own…
convenience, my own
wants/needs/concerns
And so Paul reminds us
that God-like love is work
It grows in the giving and
receiving heart
where there is no keeping score
It unfolds…becoming more and more
fully
Kind
Patient
Hope-filled
Enduring
…
God-Like
And that love...is CONTAGIOUS!
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