United Methodist Women Sunday Sermon, June 27th, 2021
1 Corinthians 13: 4-13
It all begins with LOVE and ends with LOVE. Love is indispensable, necessary, essential, and crucial. No matter your age, no matter where you live or your social status, EVERY GOOD THING begins with LOVE. The apostle Paul is stating here that LOVE is the centrality to a life of faith in God where hope abounds. All are necessary, one is the greatest, that which is LOVE.
“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
When I was about 6 years old, our family watched one of the David Copperfield magic shows where he sawed a woman in half, and she magically came out in one piece. We watched other amazing tricks that you could spend hours discussing how they managed to pull it off. In my 6-year-old mind, I wanted to give this magic thing a try, so I went to my room, broke open my piggy bank and pulled out a fresh one-dollar bill. I proceeded to get some scissors and my music box. Yes, I did indeed, cut up that one-dollar bill into pieces, placed it inside the ballerina music box and closed the lid. I waited for a few seconds, and opened the box hoping to see the dollar bill intact again. Bummer, it was still in pieces. Well, I shut the lid and held onto my faith. I thought I might try a different method. Maybe if I close my eyes and wave my hands over the box like I saw David Copperfield do, then it might work. Maybe I hadn’t done all the steps correctly, I thought. I took a deep breath, and once again….nothing. Only a shredded dollar bill laying at the bottom of the box. Now the worry had started to creep in. I mean, I had torn up a dollar bill behind my parents back, thinking I had the power to do something great, but I had made a mess of it. How was I going to fix it? So, I tried several more times, shutting and reopening the lid, waving my hands, closing my eyes, probably begging for it to go back together. In my 6-year-old mind, I wanted to have some power, strength to do something good, where I could take broken things and put them back together. This magic trick had started with me, alone in my room with the best of intentions and it ended with me alone in my room feeling like a failure.
In the scripture we heard today, Paul writes a persuasive letter to the church in Corinth about love’s credentials. Paul beautifully expounds on what love does and does not do, and he concludes his letter with this, “Do Everything in LOVE.” Paul persuades the community of believers in Corinth to take a posture of unity that honors distinctiveness and diversity; proper care for one another, including self-assessment of oneself that allows for spiritual maturity of faith that leaves no one out.
One such community that embodies this triad of faith, hope, and love is the United Methodist Women.
United Methodist Women are faith, hope, and love in action! They are a group of purposeful women on a mission to know God and to experience freedom in a life in Christ; they have a creative and supportive fellowship, and are faithfully committed to expand the concepts of mission in the local and global ministries of the church.
One of my first experiences with the UMW was attending the School of Christian Mission or Mission U as it’s now called. I attended the 2-day conference at DePauw University with my youngest daughter Tressa. I signed up for some book studies and other discussion events and as I look back, I find those times to be foundational to my understanding of my Christian faith and the broad expressions of service in Christ I found to be awakening, adding a sense of curiosity on my faith journey. I learned about and admired the faithful work of a team traveling to Haiti to provide safe housing each year. I learned about our faith walk having times of ups and downs, that I had not quite yet experienced through a book study. I met with other believers who shared stories about faith, love, loss, and hope and of course, we shared amazing songs!!! We lit candles, passed talking sticks, learned about scripture, and met each other in the midst of our faith, hope, and love in God.
I would continue to encounter various UMW circles over the years and saw the many faithful servants who would provide funeral dinners, Thanksgiving dinners, organize local rummage sales, and donated money toward necessary equipment for local churches like ovens, refrigerators, and donations for community agencies. This is the UMW love legacy that I came to know and continues to provide so many of us with opportunities for spiritual formation, justice initiatives, and maternal health programs.
Love does not exist in isolation; it is always linked to another, a context of mutuality where no one is ever alone where one is understood, felt, seen, heard by God. If I could go back and tell my 6 year old self a few things about the ripped up dollar bill, it would be this:
Dear Younger Self,
1) Love was your aim, keep going with that. 2) Your faith was misplaced. Your faith was in YOUR ability to change the ripped money into something whole. Full restoration can only happen through faith in the Lord. And, 3) your hope was to have the power to do something good. The real power comes from leaning into the strength of God. And, lastly, you were not a failure nor you were alone. God was there, God saw your heart, and God will use this later in your life when you will understand it.
If mountains come and go, but love endures; if love is greater even than faith and hope, then not only does our love endure beyond us, but our loving is the enduring legacy as well. IF we took it seriously that our loving was our enduring legacy, then what reorganization would be needed in our lives? What would need to change about our stewardship of our time, energy, and resources to honor and maximize that legacy? 1{New Interpreters Commentary}
In what other ways have we misplaced our faith? Are there places in my life right now where I have placed my faith and hope into rather than the Lord’s will? What would change if I placed my faith with God, whole-heartedly? What will I have to let go of, in order to leave a legacy of love?
May we never stop learning from the one whom created us. God, help us to see the ways we misplace our faith.
Sometimes I need to confess, God, it’s not my power, its not my special method or mode, but it’s your strength, your will and your power.
There is no special formula, our prayers begin with a simple yes. Yes, to a relationship with you, O Lord.
Almighty God, help us to say, yes!
Amen
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